I work at GiveWell; thanks for your question. There are a few key differences with the Open Philanthropy Project:
Approach. While this work is still new and we’re unsure exactly how we’ll approach it, we continue to see our core activity as intensive critical assessment of specific giving opportunities to maximize the return of the funds we direct. By contrast, the core activity of the Open Philanthropy Project is intensive cause selection followed by intensive selection of Program Officers to lead grantmaking in those causes, and heavy reliance on the judgment of those Program Officers to identify hits.
In the post above, we aim to highlight how our approach to conducting intensive critical assessment of giving opportunities (our research process) has changed. GiveWell traditionally relied on empirical, quantitative evidence (often randomized controlled trials and academic papers) as the primary input into this assessment. In the last few years, we began to expand the scope of the information we rely in our assessments. Our recent write-ups of the case for a grant to the Innovation in Government Initiative and our evaluation of Phase 1 of our grant to Results for Development are examples of how we have assessed new types of information in recent years.
Transparency. Transparency remains a core GiveWell value. We continue to be committed to publishing the full details of our research and recommendations as we evolve our research process so that our donors and others who rely on our recommendations can follow our logic and evaluate our evidence to make their own determinations about how to allocate their charitable giving. The Open Philanthropy Project’s mission is to give as effectively as it can and share its findings openly so that anyone can build on its work, but it does not aim for comprehensive information sharing such that the reasoning behind every decision can be understood and critiqued. The Open Philanthropy Project describes its approach to transparency here.
Focus area. GiveWell is focused on improving as much as possible the lives of humans today, and we focus on global health and development to do so. Even as our approach to research changes, we do not currently expect to look to areas focused explicitly on the long-term future or animal welfare, which are among the areas in which the Open Philanthropy Project makes grants. (The Open Philanthropy Project also supports global health and development, such as by supporting GiveWell’s top charities and GiveWell Incubation Grants.)
Hi Raemon,
I work at GiveWell; thanks for your question. There are a few key differences with the Open Philanthropy Project:
Approach. While this work is still new and we’re unsure exactly how we’ll approach it, we continue to see our core activity as intensive critical assessment of specific giving opportunities to maximize the return of the funds we direct. By contrast, the core activity of the Open Philanthropy Project is intensive cause selection followed by intensive selection of Program Officers to lead grantmaking in those causes, and heavy reliance on the judgment of those Program Officers to identify hits.
In the post above, we aim to highlight how our approach to conducting intensive critical assessment of giving opportunities (our research process) has changed. GiveWell traditionally relied on empirical, quantitative evidence (often randomized controlled trials and academic papers) as the primary input into this assessment. In the last few years, we began to expand the scope of the information we rely in our assessments. Our recent write-ups of the case for a grant to the Innovation in Government Initiative and our evaluation of Phase 1 of our grant to Results for Development are examples of how we have assessed new types of information in recent years.
Transparency. Transparency remains a core GiveWell value. We continue to be committed to publishing the full details of our research and recommendations as we evolve our research process so that our donors and others who rely on our recommendations can follow our logic and evaluate our evidence to make their own determinations about how to allocate their charitable giving. The Open Philanthropy Project’s mission is to give as effectively as it can and share its findings openly so that anyone can build on its work, but it does not aim for comprehensive information sharing such that the reasoning behind every decision can be understood and critiqued. The Open Philanthropy Project describes its approach to transparency here.
Focus area. GiveWell is focused on improving as much as possible the lives of humans today, and we focus on global health and development to do so. Even as our approach to research changes, we do not currently expect to look to areas focused explicitly on the long-term future or animal welfare, which are among the areas in which the Open Philanthropy Project makes grants. (The Open Philanthropy Project also supports global health and development, such as by supporting GiveWell’s top charities and GiveWell Incubation Grants.)