Causes and approaches
Start with what you care about.
Pick a cause to see the charities independent evaluators rate, or an approach to see how strong the evidence is behind it.
Causes
Saving lives
Some of the most proven ways to prevent deaths, mostly of young children in low-income countries: bed nets, malaria medicine, vitamin A and vaccinations.
Improving wellbeing
Programs judged by how much they improve how people feel about their lives, such as therapy for depression, measured by the Happier Lives Institute.
Malaria
Malaria kills many young children each year. Bed nets and seasonal preventive medicine are among the best-evidenced ways to give.
Nutrition
Vitamin A, fortified flour and treatment for acute malnutrition help children survive and grow.
Vaccinations
Helping more babies complete their routine vaccinations, so fewer die from preventable disease.
Mental health
Low-cost talk therapy, delivered by trained community members, for people with depression in low-income countries.
Safe water
Adding chlorine to drinking water to prevent the diarrhoeal diseases that kill young children.
Deworming
Regular, inexpensive treatment for parasitic worm infections in school-age children.
Lead poisoning
Reducing exposure to lead, a poison that harms children's development and can turn up in everyday products such as cosmetics.
Cash transfers
Giving money directly to people in poverty and letting them decide what they need most.
Quick answers
The short answer to common giving questions, with sources. All quick answers
- What's the most effective charity for saving lives?
- Which charities do the most for people's wellbeing?
- What's the best charity for malaria?
- What's the best charity for child nutrition?
- What's the best charity for childhood vaccinations?
- What's the best charity for mental health?
- What's the best charity for lead poisoning?
Approaches
What charities actually do, and how strong the evidence is. See every approach by strength of evidence
Seasonal malaria medicine
Preventive malaria medicine given to young children each month during the rainy season, when malaria spreads most.
Bed nets against malaria
Long-lasting insecticide-treated nets that protect families from malaria-carrying mosquitoes while they sleep.
Vitamin A supplements
Regular vitamin A doses for children under five, which help prevent deaths from common infections.
Cash incentives for vaccination
Small cash payments that encourage families to complete their babies' routine vaccinations.
Group talk therapy for depression
Group therapy for depression, led by trained lay counsellors rather than doctors, which keeps the cost low.
Problem-solving therapy
One-to-one talk therapy that helps people work through their problems, delivered by trained lay health workers.
Reducing lead exposure
Policy and market work to remove lead from everyday products and places.
Treating acute malnutrition
Treating severely malnourished children at home with ready-to-use therapeutic food.
Unconditional cash transfers
Sending money directly to people in poverty, with no conditions on how it is spent.
Mass deworming
Regular treatment for parasitic worms, usually given to children at school.
Water chlorination
Adding chlorine to drinking water at the source or in the pipes, so it is safe to drink.
Iron-fortified flour
Adding iron and other nutrients to staple flour, to reduce anaemia.
Syphilis screening in pregnancy
Testing pregnant women for syphilis and treating it, to protect their babies.
Kangaroo mother care
Continuous skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding support for small and premature newborns.
Malaria vaccine rollout
Technical help for health ministries adding the new malaria vaccines to routine childhood immunization.