Every month we send an email newsletter to our supporters sharing recent updates from our work. We publish selected portions of the newsletter on our blog to make this news more accessible to people who visit our website. For key updates from the latest installment, please see below!
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GiveWell in the Media
We’re excited to share two recent media features that offer an in-depth look at GiveWell’s work. GiveWell CEO and co-founder Elie Hassenfeld joined The Ezra Klein Show to discuss our distinct approach to helping donors do the most good they can, and NPR’s Planet Money did a deep dive with our team as we researched a potential grant responding to foreign aid cuts.
The Ezra Klein Show: “The Simplest Way to Save Lives With Your Money”
Elie joined Ezra Klein, a longtime GiveWell supporter, for a conversation exploring the rigor and methodology behind the grants we make with our donors’ funds. They discuss how we weigh different program outcomes (such as lives saved versus income increased), our approach to transparency, and the value of supporting GiveWell’s evidence-based opportunities. The conversation also covers how this year’s foreign aid cuts have intensified grantmaking and includes stories from Elie’s recent visit to Malawi. The full episode is available on the New York Times website and wherever you get your podcasts.
NPR’s Planet Money: “Saving Lives with Fewer Dollars”
Planet Money followed along with our research team over several weeks as we evaluated whether to fund the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) to maintain primary healthcare and malnutrition treatment in North Cameroon following unexpected aid cuts earlier this year. The episode follows researchers Rosie Bettle, Alice Redfern, and Teryn Mattox as they work through the grant investigation and ultimately decide to approve a $1.9 million grant, filling the funding gap left by USAID for that program for one year. Listen to the full episode here.
GiveWell Conversations: “Behind the Planet Money ALIMA Grant Story”
We published an episode following up on Planet Money—diving deeper into the ALIMA grant investigation with Program Officers Rosie Bettle and Alice Redfern and discussing the grant’s timeline, our modeling approach, and what ultimately led us to make the grant.
Elie, Rosie, and Alice discuss:
The grant investigation timeline: Due to the urgent need created by unexpected aid cuts, GiveWell completed the investigation in about six weeks from start to finish, despite this program’s wide scope.
How we adapted our modeling: As part of evaluating this