In this open, dynamic document (with Nick Fitz, Janek Kretschmer and Luke Arundel), we:
- make the case that there’s a puzzle: people give a lot, but rarely to the most effective causes;
- lay out the possible barriers to effective giving, and how they connect;
- critically assess the general and specific evidence, as groundwork for meta-analysis;
- suggest tools and approaches for overcoming these barriers. This fed into the (now past) EA Market Testing team’s trials.
The most detailed part is the synthesis of how donors respond to analytical “effectiveness information”: Effective giving: responses to analytical effectiveness information.
Links
- Increasing effective charitable giving: the puzzle, what we know, what we need to know next
- Related research: When does charity effectiveness matter to donors? (with Janek Kretschmer and Paul Smeets, 2025 working paper) and other work on the Research page
- EA Market Testing team (past project)