We follow the evidence, not our own opinions
We don't run our own charity ratings. For saving lives we follow GiveWell; for mental health and wellbeing we follow the Happier Lives Institute. Both publish their methods and reasoning in detail. Our job is to bring their conclusions to you clearly, with nothing added and nothing left out.
We only compare charities that are measured the same way. Lives saved and improvements in wellbeing are different kinds of good, and weighing one against the other is a moral judgment. That judgment is yours, so we keep them side by side rather than folding them into one score.
Every number has a source and a date
Each figure on this site is copied exactly as published by GiveWell, the Happier Lives Institute, Animal Charity Evaluators, WHO or IHME, and links to where it was published. When an evaluator hasn't published a figure, we show “not yet rated”. We don't estimate, extrapolate or round a gap into a number.
Estimates are modeled, not guaranteed
A figure like “$3,500 per life saved” is an evaluator's best average estimate over a stated period, built from studies, surveys and many assumptions. It is not a price. Your gift could do more or less than the average, funding needs change over time, and evaluators update their numbers as they learn. When we show what a gift could do, we say so plainly, and we show what the evaluators themselves are unsure about.
No one can pay to change a ranking
We don't sell placement, take referral fees or fundraise for any charity. If a listing were ever marked as sponsored or featured, that label could not change a ranking, a figure or a confidence level. We test for this automatically every time the data changes.
We never touch your money
There is no checkout here. We don't take, hold, process or route donations. When you decide to give, you give directly on the charity's own site, through an evaluator's fund, or through your own donor-advised fund sponsor or advisor.
We don't give tax advice
Where public IRS records list a charity, we may note what they show, along with the charity's legal name and EIN for your paperwork. Whether and how a gift is deductible for you depends on your circumstances; please confirm with your tax advisor or fund sponsor.
How to check our work
- Every figure links to the evaluator page it came from.
- Every estimate we show is also kept as a permanent, dated follow-up record, with a fingerprint that would change if it were edited and a date when we will check it again.
- Each charity has a profile in our research library, with its sources and the date it was last reviewed.
- Analysts and developers will find the raw data and our technical rules through the link at the foot of every page.