We have published a more recent version of this page. See our most recent version of this page.
Last Updated: November 2016
GiveWell’s experimental work aims to support the development of future GiveWell top charities.
The top charities we recommend to donors generally have a strong independent evidence base supporting the intervention they're implementing, a track record (enabling us to assess their effectiveness and ability to use additional funding), and monitoring and evaluation information to demonstrate their programs are working. In order to meet these criteria, charities tend to have existed for a number of years, and have typically received funding from other organizations by the point where we feel confident recommending them.
GiveWell's experimental work involves considering organizations for support at any point in their development, with the hope of identifying additional future top charities to recommend to our donors. We are interested in funding (by making grant recommendations to Good Ventures, the foundation with which we work closely) 'experimental' work in the following categories:
- Academic research to evaluate program evidence, in order to build the evidence base for a potential priority program.
- Early-stage funding for a promising organization.
- Monitoring and evaluation of an existing organization.
Good Ventures has made the following grants as part of GiveWell's experimental work:
| Grant | Organization Name | Amount | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charity Science: Health—General Support | Charity Science: Health | $200,000 | November 2016 |
| IDinsight—Embedded GiveWell Team | IDinsight | $314,752 | October 2016 |
| IDinsight—General Support (2016) | IDinsight | $1,985,000 | June 2016 |
| Results for Development—Childhood Pneumonia Treatment Scale-Up | Results for Development | $6,400,000 | May 2016 |
| Innovations for Poverty Action—Mindset Engagement in Cash Transfers | Innovations for Poverty Action | $350,000 | May 2016 |
| New Incentives—General Support (2016) | New Incentives | $300,000 | March 2016 |
| Evidence Action—No Lean Season | Evidence Action | $812,351 | March 2016 |
| J-PAL and IRD—Incentives for Immunization Studies | Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and Interactive Research and Development | $100,000 to J-PAL; $100,000 to IRD | September 2015 |
| New Incentives—General Support | New Incentives | $100,000 | March 2015 |
| IDinsight—Scaling Up a High-Potential Development Intervention | IDinsight | $34,382 | September 2014 |
| Evidence Action—Future Programs (No Lean Season) | Evidence Action | $250,000 and $170,792 | March 2014 and March 2015 |
| New Incentives—General Support (2014) | New Incentives | $100,000 | January 2014 |