GiveWell Conversations

Pressure-Testing Our Research as GiveWell Grows

GiveWell works to continually improve our research so we can make better grant decisions and direct donations where we believe they can do the most good. GiveWell’s Cross

Announcing Our Largest Grant to Date

GiveWell, with co-funding from Coefficient Giving, recently made our largest grant to date: $276 million to the Against Malaria Foundation (AMF) to support the procuremen

Finding the Bottlenecks in Family Planning Access

When GiveWell investigates a new cause area, we’re often focused on two priorities: directing funding where we think it can help people most and generating evidence to in

Tackling Diarrheal Disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan

Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of death for children under five, killing more than 400,000 children every year. GiveWell has funded several programs to prevent and

Casting a Wider Net for Cost-Effective Programs

GiveWell tends to be known for its work in areas like malaria prevention, water treatment, and nutrition. But as our research team has grown, so has our ability to search

Expanding Our Search for Cost-Effective Ways to Reduce Poverty

In September 2025, we created a livelihoods research subteam to specifically focus on programs that increase the economic well-being of people in extreme poverty. While w

What a Decade of Iron Funding Has Taught Us

Anemia, which is commonly caused by iron deficiency, can cause fatigue, cognitive impairment, and complications during pregnancy—and it affects roughly a quarter of the w

Behind the Analysis: Assessing Past Malaria Nets Grants

GiveWell’s research doesn’t end once we’ve made a grant. We evaluate a subset of completed grants, comparing what we thought would happen to what actually took place, the

Evaluating and Funding a New Kind of Grant (Clubfoot Treatment)

Clubfoot, a congenital condition where children are born with one or both feet twisted inward, affects roughly one in 800 newborns globally. Most of those cases are in lo

Scrutinizing One of Our Longest-Funded Programs

Vitamin A supplementation is one of the programs GiveWell has supported the longest, and we’re currently funding it in many African countries. The program has an unusuall

Investing in Information for Greater Future Impact

GiveWell’s primary focus has always been researching, identifying, and directing donations to programs we believe will do the most good. When GiveWell first started, we a

Following the Data on Dispensers for Safe Water

GiveWell aims to find and fund programs that will do the most good per dollar. To do this, we carefully evaluate potential grants before making them—assessing academic ev

Testing New Strategies to Increase Vaccination Coverage

Vaccines are remarkably effective at preventing deadly diseases, and, while global needs for them are great, vaccines already receive substantial global funding. This cre

Generating Evidence for the Future of Malaria Prevention

Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC)—a program that provides preventive antimalarial medication to young children during the months when malaria is mostly likely to be

Evolving Our Research Approach for Greater Impact

GiveWell is often thought of for its Top Charities, but over the last several years, we’ve been substantially broadening our work. We’ve developed new ways to identify po

Testing Our Assumptions through Local Insights

GiveWell has built its reputation on rigorous research—analyzing randomized controlled trials, building cost-effectiveness models, and reviewing monitoring data to identi

Taking Lessons from a Year of Aid Cuts into 2026

Global health programs faced major disruptions to their funding in 2025. Back in March, we published our first podcast episode to share a timely snapshot of the immediate

Growing Needs, Shrinking Aid Webinar Recording

On Thursday, December 4, 2025, GiveWell hosted a live webinar titled “Growing Needs, Shrinking Aid: Cost-Effective Action in a Year of Funding Cuts.”  Major cuts to fore

Behind the Planet Money ALIMA Grant Story

This episode follows up on the November 26, 2025 episode of Planet Money, “Saving lives with fewer dollars,” which covered GiveWell’s evaluation of a grant to the Allianc

Bridging an Uncertain Time for a Lifesaving Program

Despite significant progress over the past several decades, malaria remains a leading cause of death globally for children under five. This year’s cuts to foreign aid fun