How do I choose among these charities and funds?
Best Charities
Backed by thousands of hours of rigorous research, these charities represent some of the best opportunities we know of to make your donation go further.
Research Note
Expand NoteBy giving to the charities and funds listed below, you can do substantially more good per dollar. We base our recommendations on the research of independent, impact-focused charity evaluators whose research methodology we've rigorously assessed.
Aidan Whitfield
Researcher
Global Health & Wellbeing (6)
Millions die each year from preventable and curable diseases, including ~14,000 children every day. The programs below are the best we know at preventing this type of suffering. With a strong evidence base and proven track record, they are inexpensive to implement but chronically underfunded.
Against Malaria Foundation
Malaria nets
Read moreMalaria kills ~600,000 people per year. Most are children under 5.
$6 buys a net for 2 people for 2 years.
Malaria Consortium
Medicine to prevent malaria
Read moreMalaria kills ~600,000 people per year. Most are children under 5.
$7 protects a child through the malaria season.
Helen Keller Intl
Vitamin A for children
Read moreDespite being easily preventable, vitamin A deficiency is a major contributor to childhood mortality in the developing world.
$2 provides a year’s worth of Vitamin A.
New Incentives
Incentives for vaccination
Read moreVaccines save millions of lives each year, including a large share of deaths in children under 5.
$146 provides a child with all routine vaccinations.
GiveWell
Expert funding
Read moreGiving via a fund can often be more impactful than donating directly to individual charities.
Support high-priority funding needs in global health.
GiveWell
Expert funding (wider range)
Read moreThis fund supports high-impact programs in global health, including newer or higher-risk projects that could become future top charities.
Your donation can support promising projects across global health.
Animal Welfare (2)
Farmed animals experience the vast majority of human-inflicted animal suffering, living lives of extreme physical and emotional distress. In the US alone, over one million land animals are slaughtered every hour. The funds below support promising projects addressing farmed and wild animal suffering through scalable avenues like policy, legislation, and consumer change.
EA Funds
Animal welfare initiatives
Read moreBillions of farmed animals endure suffering each year. This fund supports some of the most promising ways to reduce this suffering, from corporate advocacy to alternative protein research.
$10 can protect dozens or hundreds of farmed and aquatic animals.
Animal Charity Evaluators
Movement building
Read moreBillions of animals suffer, yet the animal advocacy movement is still relatively small. This fund supports emerging and innovative projects around the world — building a more resilient & effective global movement.
Even small gifts can help seed new approaches that reach millions of animals.
Global Catastrophic Risks (2)
Pandemics, rogue AI, and nuclear threats could endanger humanity's future, yet funding and research remain limited. The funds below grant to promising projects and research to improve biosecurity, nuclear safety, and AI alignment, leveraging expert grantmakers to tackle these high-stakes, hard-to-measure risks.
Longview Philanthropy
Addressing emerging challenges
Read moreAI, bioengineering, and nuclear weapons could pose catastrophic risks to humanity. This fund supports promising projects addressing global security risks.
Your donation can help secure a positive future.
EA Funds
Supporting the long-term future
Read moreRisks from advanced AI and other global threats could shape the long-term trajectory of civilisation. This fund supports independent researchers, early-career shifts into AI safety and policy, and projects that strengthen long-term resilience.
Your donation can help secure a positive future.
Don’t see what you’re looking for?
The recommendations above have been thoroughly researched and vetted as exceptional opportunities for impact. However, our donation platform also supports a number of other programmes that broadly align with our principles — they address a high-impact problem and take a reasonably promising approach.
See all programsEasy impact with our cause area funds
A convenient option for donors. Our cause area funds allow you to set up a single donation that will be strategically allocated to high-impact programs and projects within a cause area, based on our most up-to-date evaluator research. These funds are managed by our research team.
Global Health & Wellbeing Fund
Support high-impact projects improving health and wellbeing. Allocations are determined based on our evaluator research. Currently grants to GiveWell.
Learn moreEffective Animal Advocacy Fund
Support high-impact projects improving animal welfare. Allocations are determined based on our evaluator research. Currently splits allocations between the Animal Welfare Fund (EA Funds) and the Movement Grants Program (Animal Charity Evaluators).
Learn moreRisks and Resilience Fund
Support high-impact projects addressing global catastrophic risks. Allocations are determined based on our evaluator research. Currently splits allocations between the Long-Term Future Fund (EA Funds) and the Emerging Challenges Fund (Longview Philanthropy).
Learn moreRecommendations FAQ
Why is your list of recommendations so short?
Where can I find more donation options?
What are the Giving What We Can cause area funds?
What’s the difference between your top-rated charities and a list like Charity Navigator’s?
How do you decide which charities to recommend?
Why do you highlight charities or funds that you haven’t recommended?
Why did you decide to more deeply investigate the third-party evaluators you use?
Why don’t you recommend charities working on my favourite cause?
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