• Partner With Us
  • Focus Areas
    • Cause Selection
    • Global Health & Wellbeing
      • Abundance & Growth
      • Effective Giving & Careers
      • Farm Animal Welfare
      • Global Aid Policy
      • Global Health & Development
      • Global Health R&D
      • Global Public Health Policy
      • Scientific Research
    • Global Catastrophic Risks
      • Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness
      • Forecasting
      • Global Catastrophic Risks Capacity Building
      • Potential Risks from Advanced AI
    • Other Areas
      • History of Philanthropy
  • Grants
  • Research & Updates
    • Blog Posts
    • In the News
    • Research Reports
    • Notable Lessons
  • About Us
    • Grantmaking Process
    • How to Apply for Funding
    • Careers
    • Team
    • Operating Values
    • Stay Updated
    • Contact Us
  • Partner With Us
  • Focus Areas
    • Cause Selection
    • Global Health & Wellbeing
      • Abundance & Growth
      • Effective Giving & Careers
      • Farm Animal Welfare
      • Global Aid Policy
      • Global Health & Development
      • Global Health R&D
      • Global Public Health Policy
      • Scientific Research
    • Global Catastrophic Risks
      • Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness
      • Forecasting
      • Global Catastrophic Risks Capacity Building
      • Potential Risks from Advanced AI
    • Other Areas
      • History of Philanthropy
  • Grants
  • Research & Updates
    • Blog Posts
    • In the News
    • Research Reports
    • Notable Lessons
  • About Us
    • Grantmaking Process
    • How to Apply for Funding
    • Careers
    • Team
    • Operating Values
    • Stay Updated
    • Contact Us

2020 Allocation to GiveWell Top Charities

  • Focus Area: Global Health & Development
  • Content Type: Blog Posts
  • Content Type: GiveWell Top Charities
Published: December 11, 2020 | by Holden Karnofsky

We believe that every life has equal value — and that philanthropic dollars can go particularly far by helping those who are living in poverty by global standards. Currently, many of the best giving opportunities we’ve found in the Global Health and Development focus area are recommended by GiveWell, a nonprofit dedicated to finding outstanding giving opportunities and publishing its full analysis to help donors decide where to give. (Learn more about our relationship with GiveWell here.)

GiveWell recently announced its recommendations for giving, a list that focuses on programs with a strong track record and excellent cost-effectiveness, can use additional funding to expand their core programs, and are exceptionally transparent. We have allocated an additional $100 million for GiveWell top charities, GiveWell standout charities, and GiveWell Incubation Grants in the year-end period (beyond what we’ve already granted to GiveWell-recommended charities earlier this year).

We arrived at the $100 million number through a process that was spiritually similar to last year’s (i.e., starting from the assumption that 10% of total available capital will eventually go to a “straightforward charity” bucket that is reasonably likely to line up with GiveWell’s work and recommendations) but involved a much more extensive modeling effort to try to optimize our recommended spending levels across time. With significant input from GiveWell, we built a Monte Carlo model with estimates of parameters that affect the good we can do by spending (or saving) within that “straightforward charity” bucket, including, among others, how quickly opportunities get worse as we spend more money within a given year, how fast philanthropic opportunities decline over time as the world improves, how fast other donors ramp up their spending, and our expected asset returns. We also incorporated GiveWell’s view that they expect to find more cost-effective opportunities in the coming years and accordingly would prefer funding to gradually grow (at least in the near term) rather than experience a rapid shift to a faster, but roughly constant, pace of funding. One of the results of our analysis was that a range of spending levels looked nearly equally optimal, and so we took on board Cari and Dustin’s all-else-equal preference to spend faster and recommended a round number at the top of the model’s recommended range. We’re still working to write up and vet the model and hope to share the full details in the future.

After we had arrived at our overall giving season recommendation, GiveWell recommended that Open Philanthropy grant $70 million this year, allocated to its top and standout charities as listed below, and hold the remaining $30 million to grant in January, when it may have more information on potential new GiveWell Incubation Grants as well as which top charities have the greatest remaining need for funds.

  • Malaria Consortium’s seasonal malaria chemoprevention program — $27 million
  • New Incentives — $16.8 million
  • Helen Keller International’s vitamin A supplementation program — $8.1 million
  • Against Malaria Foundation — $6.7 million
  • Evidence Action’s Deworm the World Initiative — $4.1 million
  • SCI Foundation — $3.1 million
  • Sightsavers’ deworming program — $2.8 million
  • The END Fund’s deworming program — $0.5 million
  • GiveDirectly — $0.5 million
  • Standout charities (combined) — $400,000

More detail on GiveWell’s reasoning in recommending this allocation is available here.

Four of these top charities’ work primarily focuses on reducing deaths and five implement programs that aim to increase recipients’ incomes and consumption. Though some of these recommendations are still working their way through our full grantmaking process, we expect the funds will be distributed in coming weeks, and we are excited to support these cost-effective organizations.

Subscribe to our blog
Open Philanthropy
Open Philanthropy
  • We’re Hiring!
  • Press Kit
  • Governance
  • Privacy Policy
  • Stay Updated
Mailing Address
Open Philanthropy
182 Howard Street #225
San Francisco, CA 94105
Email
info@openphilanthropy.org
Media Inquiries
media@openphilanthropy.org
Anonymous Feedback
Feedback Form

© Open Philanthropy 2025 Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International License.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT