In addition, I’m confused about the figure of $5-10m for spending on alcohol. This is roughly how much is spent by just two alcohol charities in the UK (Drinkaware and Alcohol Research UK). So global philanthropic spending on alcohol is presumably much higher—and then there’s also any government spending.
Perhaps the $5-10m figure is supposed to only apply to low and middle income countries, or money moved as part of development assistance for health?
The $5-10M for alcohol work is indeed LMIC only—GiveWell document from 2021 here. I think the main funder missed from that is the DG Murray Trust in South Africa, whose alcohol harms reduction work is exclusively South Africa oriented.
There isn’t a development assistance for health estimate from the IHME for alcohol policy work, lead exposure, or suicide prevention through means restriction in the way that there is for tobacco. One reason for displaying these funding estimates as a range is that they are very uncertain and vulnerable to questions of what gets included or not.
Interesting point about Drinkaware—I didn’t know it was partly industry-funded. Given this, even though I’d hope the information they provide is broadly accurate, I’m assuming it is more likely to be framed through the lens of personal choice rather than advocating for government action (e.g. higher taxes on alcohol).
I presume the $5-10M also only refers to alcohol-specific philanthropy? I would expect there to be some funding for it via adjacent topics, such as organisations that work on drugs/addiction more broadly, or ones that focus on promoting nutrition and healthy lifestyles.
That’s very true, and after a 30 second google search here’s a 15 million GiveWell grant recommended in December 2021 given to a bunch of Orgs in the space—Actually I think this may have been funded by OpenPhil directly but then does it count or not? Unsure.
Some excellent points.
In addition, I’m confused about the figure of $5-10m for spending on alcohol. This is roughly how much is spent by just two alcohol charities in the UK (Drinkaware and Alcohol Research UK). So global philanthropic spending on alcohol is presumably much higher—and then there’s also any government spending.
Perhaps the $5-10m figure is supposed to only apply to low and middle income countries, or money moved as part of development assistance for health?
The $5-10M for alcohol work is indeed LMIC only—GiveWell document from 2021 here. I think the main funder missed from that is the DG Murray Trust in South Africa, whose alcohol harms reduction work is exclusively South Africa oriented.
There isn’t a development assistance for health estimate from the IHME for alcohol policy work, lead exposure, or suicide prevention through means restriction in the way that there is for tobacco. One reason for displaying these funding estimates as a range is that they are very uncertain and vulnerable to questions of what gets included or not.
There is some HIC alcohol policy funding. I’d personally be leery of including Drinkaware, since it is funded by alcoholic beverage manufacturers (and some other broader industry participants) and so I think sits in quite a different category.
Thanks for clarifying!
Interesting point about Drinkaware—I didn’t know it was partly industry-funded. Given this, even though I’d hope the information they provide is broadly accurate, I’m assuming it is more likely to be framed through the lens of personal choice rather than advocating for government action (e.g. higher taxes on alcohol).
I presume the $5-10M also only refers to alcohol-specific philanthropy? I would expect there to be some funding for it via adjacent topics, such as organisations that work on drugs/addiction more broadly, or ones that focus on promoting nutrition and healthy lifestyles.
That’s very true, and after a 30 second google search here’s a 15 million GiveWell grant recommended in December 2021 given to a bunch of Orgs in the space—Actually I think this may have been funded by OpenPhil directly but then does it count or not? Unsure.
https://www.givewell.org/research/grants/RESET-alcohol-December-2021
The $5-10M figure is inclusive of $5M per year from that grant, which was recommended by GiveWell but funded by Open Philanthropy.