If you're looking for a last-minute Christmas gift for humanity, my #1 pick is the GiveWell recommended charity fund. I just gave $10,000. They've researched the most cost-effective ways of helping people, and settled on basically four things:
Deworming: Parasitic worms are a huge health problem in developing countries, causing problems from malnutrition to blindness. Fortunately, a year's supply of worm pills costs only 25 cents. That makes deworming one of the most cost-effective educational improvements -- kids go to school more often and do better when they aren't sick with worms.
Malaria prevention: Partly because of good work by aid groups, the malaria death toll has been halved to around half a million people per year over the last decade. Pills and mosquito nets are about the cheapest way we have to save lives. We just need more of them.
Nutrition: In places where a limited food supply prevents people from getting essential nutrients, a simple solution is to just add them to flour at grain mills. Rich countries are already doing this, and it's easy enough to set up in poorer countries with a little money.
Direct cash transfers: A simple and scalable solution to poverty is to just give the poorest people money. GiveDirectly can do that with great efficiency. Research detects substantial improvements in children's health, and in adults' earning capacity five years later.
In the past I'd donate to the specific charities involved here -- for example -- Deworm the World, SCI, the Against Malaria Foundation. Now I donate through GiveWell's fund because it keeps in touch with the charities to see who's in best position to use money. This avoids inefficiencies where one charity got more than it can use and another got less.
At this link, you can donate as I did, pick individual charities, or click "GiveWell" at the top to find out more about the organization. The depth and detail of their research into the effects of giving to various organizations is better than anything I've seen anywhere else, and it makes sure that your money is really helping people.
Deworming: Parasitic worms are a huge health problem in developing countries, causing problems from malnutrition to blindness. Fortunately, a year's supply of worm pills costs only 25 cents. That makes deworming one of the most cost-effective educational improvements -- kids go to school more often and do better when they aren't sick with worms.
Malaria prevention: Partly because of good work by aid groups, the malaria death toll has been halved to around half a million people per year over the last decade. Pills and mosquito nets are about the cheapest way we have to save lives. We just need more of them.
Nutrition: In places where a limited food supply prevents people from getting essential nutrients, a simple solution is to just add them to flour at grain mills. Rich countries are already doing this, and it's easy enough to set up in poorer countries with a little money.
Direct cash transfers: A simple and scalable solution to poverty is to just give the poorest people money. GiveDirectly can do that with great efficiency. Research detects substantial improvements in children's health, and in adults' earning capacity five years later.
In the past I'd donate to the specific charities involved here -- for example -- Deworm the World, SCI, the Against Malaria Foundation. Now I donate through GiveWell's fund because it keeps in touch with the charities to see who's in best position to use money. This avoids inefficiencies where one charity got more than it can use and another got less.
At this link, you can donate as I did, pick individual charities, or click "GiveWell" at the top to find out more about the organization. The depth and detail of their research into the effects of giving to various organizations is better than anything I've seen anywhere else, and it makes sure that your money is really helping people.
