Thanks for raising these questions! I work at GiveWell, and we’re planning to update the EA Global Health and Development Fund page to make the distinction between it and the Maximum Impact Fund clearer—we think we can do better to explain the difference.
Here’s a quick summary:
The Maximum Impact Fund is granted regularly to the highest-value funding opportunities we see among GiveWell’s recommended charities. This is a great option for donors who want to support GiveWell’s top charities and are open to their funding being used wherever it can do the most good among them.
You can read more about the Maximum Impact Fund, and see our past allocations, here.
The Effective Altruism Global Health and Development Fund has a broader remit, including programs that are new and about which little is known, as well as policy advocacy, public health regulation, technical assistance, and direct delivery programs, including GiveWell’s recommended charities.
There’s no minimum requirement for evidence for grantees’ work. The Fund Manager (Elie) takes an expected value approach to calculating the potential impact of grants from the Global Health and Development Fund. He’ll recommend higher-risk grants when they are more effective (in expectation) than GiveWell top charities. He’ll fund GiveWell top charities if no such higher-expected-value grant opportunity exists.
This is a great option for donors who are open to taking calculated risks when the expected value appears higher than GiveWell’s top charities, but are happy to support GiveWell’s top charities if not.
We don’t expect to change the overall portfolio of opportunities that we pursue in response to the allocation of donations between these two funds. In other words, as with most giving, there is fungibility. For example, if there are insufficient funds in the Global Health and Development Fund to support a high-leverage opportunity we want to fund, we would expect to seek funding for that opportunity from Open Philanthropy, with whom we work closely, or another donor.
Thanks for raising these questions! I work at GiveWell, and we’re planning to update the EA Global Health and Development Fund page to make the distinction between it and the Maximum Impact Fund clearer—we think we can do better to explain the difference.
Here’s a quick summary:
The Maximum Impact Fund is granted regularly to the highest-value funding opportunities we see among GiveWell’s recommended charities. This is a great option for donors who want to support GiveWell’s top charities and are open to their funding being used wherever it can do the most good among them.
You can read more about the Maximum Impact Fund, and see our past allocations, here.
The Effective Altruism Global Health and Development Fund has a broader remit, including programs that are new and about which little is known, as well as policy advocacy, public health regulation, technical assistance, and direct delivery programs, including GiveWell’s recommended charities.
There’s no minimum requirement for evidence for grantees’ work. The Fund Manager (Elie) takes an expected value approach to calculating the potential impact of grants from the Global Health and Development Fund. He’ll recommend higher-risk grants when they are more effective (in expectation) than GiveWell top charities. He’ll fund GiveWell top charities if no such higher-expected-value grant opportunity exists.
The list of past grants shows the breadth of programs that have received Global Health and Development Fund support. Here’s a grant for an RCT on the effects of mask-wearing on COVID-19, a grant for a policy advocacy organization, and a grant to GiveWell top charities.
This is a great option for donors who are open to taking calculated risks when the expected value appears higher than GiveWell’s top charities, but are happy to support GiveWell’s top charities if not.
We don’t expect to change the overall portfolio of opportunities that we pursue in response to the allocation of donations between these two funds. In other words, as with most giving, there is fungibility. For example, if there are insufficient funds in the Global Health and Development Fund to support a high-leverage opportunity we want to fund, we would expect to seek funding for that opportunity from Open Philanthropy, with whom we work closely, or another donor.
I hope that helps clarify!