Policy on Working Arrangement Between GiveWell and Good Ventures

Last updated May 17, 2016

GiveWell is a public charity whose mission is to find outstanding giving opportunities and publish the full details of its analysis to help donors decide where to give. Good Ventures is a philanthropic foundation whose mission is to help humanity thrive. Cari Tuna, the co-founder of Good Ventures, is a member of GiveWell's Board of Directors. The two organizations share some core values:

• Both Good Ventures and GiveWell are aiming to do as much good as possible, from a global humanitarian perspective.
• Both are willing to consider any group and any cause in order to accomplish this goal.
• Both are highly interested in increasing the level of transparency, accountability, and critical discussion and reflection within the world of giving.

Currently, the two organizations work closely together, under the Open Philanthropy Project, to find — and publish information about — outstanding giving opportunities. This means that

• Staff of the two organizations share office space. Good Ventures currently holds the lease on the office space and donates GiveWell's share.
• Staff of one organization may sometimes represent the other organization in meetings and other settings. Representation only occurs when one organization explicitly authorizes the other to represent it for a specific meeting or purpose.
• Staff of one organization will sometimes perform work in support of the other organization, including helping to assess giving opportunities. GiveWell's support is governed by the terms of its Policy on "general support" provided by GiveWell to other organizations with mission overlap.
• The two organizations may sometimes assist each other with hiring. For example, staff from one organization may interview a candidate on behalf of the other. In some cases, the organizations may jointly assess a candidate, and in cases where both organizations want to hire the candidate, both may make an offer, allowing the candidate to decide which offer to accept.
• The two organizations are close advisors to each other and therefore exchange information relatively freely. This sometimes includes sharing information that is informally specified as confidential (i.e. not via a formal confidentiality agreement) on the condition that the other organization also treat it as confidential. When a formal confidentiality agreement is used, the specific terms of the agreement prevail.
• Despite close informal coordination, the two organizations are separate entities with separate financial and human resources and separate governing bodies. Each organization determines how to allocate its own resources.

GiveWell also makes grant recommendations to Good Ventures as part of its work to find and recommend evidence-backed, cost-effective, global health and development organizations.