How Open Phil uses back-of-the-envelope calculations for GHW

Link post

We just published two related items:

  1. A blog post briefly summarizing our approach to building BOTECs (back-of-the-enveloped calculations) for estimating the cost-effectiveness of grants under our Global Health and Wellbeing portfolio.

  2. The much less brief BOTEC guide used by our staff — lightly edited for external use, but largely untouched. Includes templates and sample calculations!

If you’ve been curious about our work, or trying to develop your own cost-effectiveness estimates, we hope you find these interesting.

We also shared a set of sample BOTECs earlier this year, showing the process in action across four different cause areas.