As many of you might know, GiveWell is EAA’s primary evaluation partner. This means we seek to partner with GiveWell’s ‘top charities’ and list them on our website as our ‘recommended’ charities. These charities are rated as highly cost-effective with high confidence of impact. 

As part of their ongoing re-evaluation of charities, GiveWell recently announced a change to their list of top charities. In short, their bar is now ‘10x more impactful than cash transfers’ (e.g., GiveDirectly), and they are optimistic but not 100% certain about deworming because some important conclusions hinge on a small number of studies.

We recommend reading GiveWell’s full announcement as well as corresponding announcements from GiveDirectly and Evidence Action for more information. GiveWell are also introducing a new fund, the GiveWell All Grants Fund, and are renaming the Maximum Impact Fund to be the Top Charities Fund.

You can still donate to GiveDirectly and deworming programs via Effective Altruism Australia. In line with our inclusion criteria, the charities that no longer meet GiveWell’s Top Charity criteria will now become EAA ‘listed charities’ (not ‘recommended’ ones). This means you can still support these charities via our donation page.

We will continue to work closely with GiveWell on implementing Effective Altruism Australia’s grant making process. When you select “please distribute my donation to the most effective charities, based on evidence and need”, we will allocate it among ‘recommended’ charities based on where it can have the most impact at the time.

In the coming months we will be reviewing our inclusion criteria. This may lead to some changes, such as including some promising new charities as ‘listed’ charities. As we review and make any changes to our evaluation process or inclusion criteria, we will continue to update you.

At Effective Altruism Australia, we are excited to continue supporting GiveWell’s Top Charities as well as the broader effective giving community.

Like you, we recognise the enormous opportunity there is to improve the lives of others through giving effectively. We are excited to continue on this path with the Effective Altruism Australia community.

– The Effective Altruism Australia Team