FARHAD MANJOO: How to know your donations are doing the most good
Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021 -- GiveWell is a charity and research organization that was founded in 2007 by Elie Hassenfeld and Holden Karnofsky, two former employees of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates who had, like me, been confounded by the moral dilemmas involved in giving money away. For more than a decade, GiveWell has been investigating the central question in the philanthropic movement known as "effective altruism": What is the best way to help other people? Every year, GiveWell distills its in-depth research into a list of top charities -- the organizations that accomplish the most good in the world (in terms of lives saved or improved) for the least cost.
