Last updated: December 2024
GiveWell is dedicated to finding outstanding giving opportunities and publishing the full details of our analysis to help donors decide where to give. The table below describes our financial performance in 2022 and 2023.1
| 2022 | 2023 | Y/Y Growth | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funds Raised | $602,889,435 | $355,070,034 | -41% | |
| Funds Directed | $439,391,295 | $216,305,835 | -51% | |
Donations generally remained steady, with more than 30,000 donors other than Open Philanthropy giving a total of around $255 million in 2023 compared to around $253 million in 2022, but we received less funding from Open Philanthropy in 2023 than we did in 2022.2
Most donors who give via GiveWell rely on GiveWell to allocate their donation rather than choosing to restrict their donation to a particular organization. Our giving funds allow donors to contribute to the most impactful grant opportunities our researchers have identified. In 2023, GiveWell recommended allocations for 90% of the donations we raised, compared to 91% in 2022 and 86% in 2021.3
| Category | Amount | % of Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GiveWell-recommended funds | $319,202,416 | 90% | |
| - Top Charities Fund donations | $93,834,608 | 26% | |
| - All Grants Fund donations | $30,256,052 | 9% | |
| - Unrestricted funds | $70,739,619 | 20% | |
| - Funds from Open Philanthropy | $100,000,000 | 28% | |
| - Other GiveWell-recommended funds4 | $24,372,137 | 7% | |
| Donor-designated funds | $35,867,618 | 10% | |
| Total | $355,070,034 | 100% | |
In 2023, we directed around $197 million to the organizations we recommend, and spent an additional $19 million on our operations.
| 2023 Funds Directed by Category | 2022 | 2023 | Year/Year Growth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funds directed to organizations | $425,224,570 | $197,474,318 | -54% | |
| - Funding directed to Top Charities5 | $342,811,054 | $102,162,580 | -70% | |
| - Funding directed to other programs | $82,413,516 | $95,311,738 | 16% | |
| GiveWell’s operations | $14,166,724 | $18,831,517 | 33% | |
| Total | $439,391,294 | $216,305,835 | -51% | |
We directed about $139 million less in 2023 than we raised in 2023. We wrote about our new approach to fiscal planning in this blog post, which explains GiveWell’s approach to making cost-effective grants in a context where the amount of funds we raise each year varies.
Of the funds we directed to organizations and programs in 2023, 52% went to our four Top Charities, with $32 million (16%) going to Against Malaria Foundation for insecticide-treated nets to prevent malaria, $27 million (14%) to Malaria Consortium for its seasonal malaria chemoprevention program (SMC), $25 million (13%) to New Incentives for its program of conditional cash transfers to promote immunization (CCTs), and $18 million (9%) to Helen Keller International for its vitamin A supplementation program (VAS).
GiveWell directed more than $95 million (48% of funding directed to organizations and programs) to organizations and programs other than our Top Charities. This includes grants to incubate newer programs, promote policy change, fund relevant research, or support other potentially high-impact cost-effective initiatives that don’t fit neat categorization; it also includes approximately $7 million directed to former Top Charities.
We’re very grateful for the donations that supported these programs in 2023. For more information on our 2023 funds raised, funds directed, operational expenses, and donor metrics, see the full metrics report.
GiveWell Metrics Report – 2023 Annual Review
Previous metrics reports
- 2022 metrics report
- 2021 metrics report
- 2020 metrics report
- 2019 metrics report
- 2018 metrics report
- 2017 metrics report
- 2016 metrics report
- 2015 metrics report
- 2014 metrics report
- 2013 metrics report
- 2012 metrics report
- 2011 metrics report
- 2010 metrics report
- 1
GiveWell’s metrics year runs from February 1 through January 31, so metrics year 2023 ran from February 1, 2023, through January 31, 2024. Our metrics report is typically published at least six months after the close of the metrics year because we need to collect data on donations we influence from third parties and then cross-check that data to ensure we aren’t double-counting any funds.
- 2
Historically, Open Philanthropy has been the largest single donor to GiveWell-recommended funds. In October 2023, Open Philanthropy announced that it planned to give $300 million for GiveWell to spend from 2023 through 2025; we allocated $100 million of that total for 2023. The amount for 2023 is less than Open Philanthropy gave in 2021 ($300 million) or 2022 ($350 million). The decrease in funds raised between 2022 and 2023, which totaled $248 million, can be explained primarily by the decrease in Open Philanthropy funding between 2022 and 2023.
- 3
This includes grants we recommend that other funders make; the vast majority of those come from Open Philanthropy, which generally disburses funding directly to the organizations we recommend. Note, however, that Open Philanthropy retains the discretion to approve or reject grants.
- 4
This includes donations to All Grants Fund and Top Charities Fund equivalents (such as funds created by charity aggregators who rely on our research and recommendations), as well as donations for specific grants.
- 5
As a result of changing the criteria for Top Charities in August 2022, the 2022 Metrics Report included funds directed to former Top Charities in the total for Top Charities. This year, we’ve moved funds directed to these former Top Charities (which totaled $7,267,818 in 2023) into “Funding directed to other programs.”