GiveWell
GiveWell is a charity evaluator founded in 2007 by former Bridgewater Associates analysts Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld, whose cost-effectiveness rankings of global-health charities and whose GiveWell Labs project, funded by Good Ventures, became Open Philanthropy.
GiveWell is a nonprofit charity evaluator founded in 2007 by Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld, two former hedge-fund analysts at Bridgewater Associates, that ranks charities by cost-effectiveness and directs donors toward a short list of proven global-health interventions. Its research methodology and its incubated "GiveWell Labs" project, bankrolled by the Good Ventures foundation of Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna, produced Open Philanthropy, and GiveWell became one of the foundational institutions of the Effective Altruism movement.12
The 2007 Founding
Karnofsky and Hassenfeld met as investment analysts at Bridgewater Associates, the Connecticut firm run by Ray Dalio that is the world's largest hedge fund. In 2006 they formed an informal group of eight colleagues to research where they could give charitably with the most measurable impact, applying the data-driven, transparency-oriented analysis they used in finance and finding that charities published little evidence of results. In 2007 Karnofsky and Hassenfeld left their jobs, raised about 300,000 dollars in startup funds from former coworkers, and incorporated the organization, originally called The Clear Fund, publishing their first business plan, "The Case for the Clear Fund," on April 7, 2007.13
The new organization's defining premise was that information about how to help people should never be secret and that cost-effectiveness, the dollars required to achieve a given amount of good, should be published openly so that ordinary donors could direct their money toward the most effective programs. GiveWell tracked just over 30,000 dollars in donations to its recommended charities after its first year, roughly 1 million dollars in 2009, and over 5 million dollars by 2011, growing as it narrowed its focus to a handful of causes where the evidence was strongest.34
The 2007 Marketing Controversy
In December 2007 GiveWell's credibility was damaged by an online promotion scandal. Karnofsky posted on forums including Ask MetaFilter, Lifehacker, and Wall Street Journal comment sections under fabricated identities such as "geremiah," "Holden0," and "Research24," in some cases posing a question about how to choose a charity and then answering it himself with links to GiveWell. He also sent emails to bloggers impersonating a GiveWell staffer. Hassenfeld posted comments on Marginal Revolution, Boing Boing, and other sites, including under the alias "Talia," without disclosing his affiliation.56
When the conduct was exposed by users on MetaFilter, GiveWell's board investigated and issued reprimands and penalties. Karnofsky was removed from his position as executive director in early January 2008 and the board imposed a financial penalty, cutting 5,000 dollars from his compensation and requiring him to take a professional-development course; he apologized for what he called a horrible lapse of judgement. Karnofsky was subsequently reinstated to a leadership role, and he and Hassenfeld remained at the head of the organization, with Hassenfeld continuing as chief executive into the 2020s.56
GiveWell Labs and Open Philanthropy
In 2011 the foundation Good Ventures, newly created by Moskovitz and Tuna, made its first grant of 50,000 dollars to GiveWell and gave a further 1.1 million dollars to GiveWell-recommended charities, and Tuna joined GiveWell's board. In 2012 GiveWell moved its small staff from New York to San Francisco to be nearer Tuna and other technology donors, and the two organizations launched a joint research project called GiveWell Labs to look for high-impact giving opportunities beyond direct-aid charities. GiveWell Labs was renamed the Open Philanthropy Project in August 2014 and spun off as a separate organization in June 2017, taking on the larger and riskier giving (including AI-safety and pandemic work) while GiveWell kept its focus on measurable global-health charities.12
GiveWell's published top charities have centered on a recurring set of interventions: the Against Malaria Foundation for insecticide-treated bed nets, Malaria Consortium for seasonal malaria chemoprevention, Helen Keller International for vitamin-A supplementation, New Incentives for vaccination incentives in Nigeria, and GiveDirectly for unconditional cash transfers. Money moved through GiveWell rose from about 27.8 million dollars in 2014 to 110.1 million in 2015 and to roughly 152 million by 2019, with Good Ventures grants accounting for a large share of those totals, and in 2025 GiveWell directed about 31 million dollars to charities hit by the freeze in USAID funding. Critics, including the Happier Lives Institute in November 2022, have challenged GiveWell's cost-effectiveness models for malaria prevention, deworming, and cash transfers.47
Sources
- "Giving in the Light of Reason," Stanford Social Innovation Review, on Karnofsky and Hassenfeld's Bridgewater Associates background, the 2011 Good Ventures partnership, GiveWell Labs, and the August 2014 and June 2017 transitions to Open Philanthropy. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/giving_in_the_light_of_reason ↩
- "How Dependent is the Effective Altruism Movement on Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna?" EA Forum, on the Good Ventures, GiveWell, and Open Philanthropy structure. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/4BJSXH9ho4eYNT73P/how-dependent-is-the-effective-altruism-movement-on-dustin ↩
- "Our Story," GiveWell, on the 2007 founding, the eight-person finance-industry group, the 300,000-dollar startup funding, and the original Clear Fund name. https://www.givewell.org/about/story ↩
- "Our Progress," GiveWell, on money moved (over 30,000 dollars after year one, roughly 1 million in 2009, over 5 million in 2011, 27.8 million in 2014, 110.1 million in 2015, and about 152 million in 2019). https://www.givewell.org/about/progress ↩
- "Full account of GiveWell staff's inappropriate online promotion in December 2007," GiveWell, on Karnofsky and Hassenfeld's undisclosed forum posting and fabricated identities. https://www.givewell.org/about/official-records/board-meeting-3/FAQ-on-inappropriate-marketing/full-account ↩
- "GiveWell in turmoil after 'horrible lapse of judgement' by founders," Alliance magazine, on the board's removal of Karnofsky as executive director, the 5,000-dollar penalty and required course, and his apology and later reinstatement. https://www.alliancemagazine.org/news/givewell-in-turmoil-after-horrible-lapse-of-judgement-by-founders/ ↩
- "GiveWell," InfluenceWatch, on the top charities (Against Malaria Foundation, Malaria Consortium, Helen Keller International, New Incentives, Sightsavers), the 2024 financials with Hassenfeld as chief executive, the 31-million-dollar 2025 USAID response, and the Happier Lives Institute critique. https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/givewell/ ↩
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