Independent research and news on where charitable dollars go furthest: cost per life saved, cost per outcome, and what the evidence says about each cause area.https://impactperdollar.com/en-ushttps://impactperdollar.com/research/charity-dollar-vs-your-vote/https://impactperdollar.com/research/charity-dollar-vs-your-vote/Americans spent about $15.9 billion on the 2024 federal elections. The evidence says most of it changed almost no minds. Here is how a political donation, a charitable donation and a ballot compare on impact per unit of effort.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTresearchpolitical-donationsvotingcampaign-spendingcost-effectivenesselectionshttps://impactperdollar.com/rankings/best-places-for-a-charity-dollar-2026/https://impactperdollar.com/rankings/best-places-for-a-charity-dollar-2026/Global health leads on hard evidence. Lead removal and mental health look cheaper on paper but rest on models. Climate and animal welfare win on expected value with wide error bars. The full ranking, with the numbers and the caveats.Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTrankingsrankingcost-effectivenessglobal-healthleadmental-healthclimateanimal-welfarecash-transfershttps://impactperdollar.com/rankings/animal-welfare-charities-2026/https://impactperdollar.com/rankings/animal-welfare-charities-2026/Animal Charity Evaluators recommends ten groups, most working on farmed animals. Its August 2026 fund round shows where the money went and what it bought.Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTrankingsanimal-welfareacefarmed-animalsshrimpcorporate-campaignshttps://impactperdollar.com/guides/giving-after-a-disaster/https://impactperdollar.com/guides/giving-after-a-disaster/Disaster appeals raise the most money in the first days, for the phase that is usually best funded. A short guide to giving that actually reaches the people affected.Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTguidesdisaster-reliefhumanitarianhow-to-givehttps://impactperdollar.com/news/giving-usa-2026-americans-gave-617-billion/https://impactperdollar.com/news/giving-usa-2026-americans-gave-617-billion/Giving USA 2026 shows record giving, driven by bequests and the stock market. The split by cause says a lot about where the marginal dollar is scarce.Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTnewsgiving-usaus-givinginternational-aiddatahttps://impactperdollar.com/research/cash-transfers-what-the-evidence-says-2026/https://impactperdollar.com/research/cash-transfers-what-the-evidence-says-2026/Kenya's 200-village basic income study found more income, more savings and no drop in work. Lump sums beat monthly payments. Cash is the benchmark everything else is measured against, and that is its problem.Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTresearchcash-transfersgivedirectlyuniversal-basic-incomekenyagivewellhttps://impactperdollar.com/news/givewell-lowers-funding-bar-6x/https://impactperdollar.com/news/givewell-lowers-funding-bar-6x/The evaluator now funds programs estimated at six times its benchmark, down from eight in November 2025. It means more money is available relative to the very best opportunities, and more programs qualify.Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTnewsgivewellfunding-barcost-effectivenesscoefficient-givinghttps://impactperdollar.com/research/water-chlorination-quiet-program/https://impactperdollar.com/research/water-chlorination-quiet-program/A 2022 meta-analysis found water treatment cut under-5 deaths by about a quarter. GiveWell's own read is roughly half that, and it still funds the program at scale. Why the gap, and why both numbers are good news.Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTresearchwaterchlorinationchild-healthevidence-actiongivewellkremerhttps://impactperdollar.com/research/climate-donations-cost-per-ton/https://impactperdollar.com/research/climate-donations-cost-per-ton/Carbon offsets often deliver little. Policy advocacy groups are estimated at under a dollar per ton avoided, in expectation. Here is the case, the caveats, and where the money went in 2025.Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTresearchclimatecarbon-offsetsfounders-pledgegiving-greencatfhttps://impactperdollar.com/guides/give-now-or-invest-and-give-later/https://impactperdollar.com/guides/give-now-or-invest-and-give-later/Money invested for decades can fund far more later. That argument is real. So is the fact that the cheapest life-saving programs have open gaps this year. How to split the difference.Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTguidestimingpatient-philanthropyhow-to-givefounders-pledgehttps://impactperdollar.com/research/mental-health-charities-wellbys/https://impactperdollar.com/research/mental-health-charities-wellbys/Group therapy programs in Uganda and Zimbabwe score highest on a new happiness-based metric. The estimates are real, contested, and worth understanding before you give.Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTresearchmental-healthwellbysstrongmindsfriendship-benchhappier-lives-institutehttps://impactperdollar.com/guides/how-to-check-a-charity-in-ten-minutes/https://impactperdollar.com/guides/how-to-check-a-charity-in-ten-minutes/Five questions, in order, that separate programs with evidence from programs with brochures. No spreadsheets required.Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTguideshow-to-givechecklistevaluationdue-diligencehttps://impactperdollar.com/news/aid-cuts-lancet-9-million-deaths/https://impactperdollar.com/news/aid-cuts-lancet-9-million-deaths/US aid is projected to fall 56% from 2023 to 2026, with the UK, Germany and France cutting too. The gap is far bigger than private giving can fill, which is exactly why where you give now matters more.Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTnewsforeign-aidusaidlancetglobal-healthfunding-gapshttps://impactperdollar.com/news/open-philanthropy-becomes-coefficient-giving/https://impactperdollar.com/news/open-philanthropy-becomes-coefficient-giving/Open Philanthropy became Coefficient Giving in November 2025. The rename signals a shift from spending one couple's fortune to running funds other donors can join.Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTnewscoefficient-givingopen-philanthropygood-venturesfundershttps://impactperdollar.com/research/lead-poisoning-cheapest-health-fix/https://impactperdollar.com/research/lead-poisoning-cheapest-health-fix/Hundreds of millions of children have elevated blood lead. Getting lead out of paint costs a few dollars per healthy year of life, by one charity's own model. Here is what the evidence does and does not show.Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTresearchleadchild-healthleeppure-earthcost-effectivenesshttps://impactperdollar.com/guides/donor-advised-funds-326-billion-parked/https://impactperdollar.com/guides/donor-advised-funds-326-billion-parked/DAFs are the fastest-growing vehicle in US giving, and for good reason. They are also where a lot of charitable money sits. How to use one without parking your impact.Tue, 30 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTguidesdonor-advised-fundsdaftaxhow-to-givetiminghttps://impactperdollar.com/guides/the-marginal-dollar/https://impactperdollar.com/guides/the-marginal-dollar/A charity's average result is not what your gift buys. What matters is what the next dollar does, and that depends on how full the program already is.Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTguidesmarginal-dollarfunding-gapshow-to-giveeconomicshttps://impactperdollar.com/research/what-it-costs-to-save-a-life-2026/https://impactperdollar.com/research/what-it-costs-to-save-a-life-2026/GiveWell's four top charities save a life for an estimated $3,500 to $5,500. Here is where the figure comes from, what it leaves out, and why a claim of $10 or $50 per life should make you suspicious.Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTresearchcost-per-life-savedgivewellmalariavitamin-avaccinesmethodologyhttps://impactperdollar.com/news/givewell-november-2025-new-benchmark-8x/https://impactperdollar.com/news/givewell-november-2025-new-benchmark-8x/The evaluator's November 2025 model update replaces its cash-transfer benchmark with a fixed poverty-line yardstick and states its funding threshold as 8 times that benchmark. What changed and what did not.Tue, 02 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTnewsgivewellcost-effectivenessbenchmarkmethodologyhttps://impactperdollar.com/news/malaria-vaccine-price-cut-2-99/https://impactperdollar.com/news/malaria-vaccine-price-cut-2-99/A Gavi-UNICEF deal cuts the R21 price by about a quarter from late 2026. It frees roughly $90 million, enough to fully vaccinate about 7 million more children by 2030.Wed, 26 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTnewsmalariavaccinesgaviglobal-healthhttps://impactperdollar.com/guides/donate-or-impact-invest/https://impactperdollar.com/guides/donate-or-impact-invest/Impact investing is a growing market with real returns. For most causes, a donation to a top program still does far more good per dollar than an investment that also pays you back. Here is how to think about the trade.Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTguidesimpact-investingdonatinggiinhow-to-givehttps://impactperdollar.com/research/vitamin-a-two-cent-capsule/https://impactperdollar.com/research/vitamin-a-two-cent-capsule/A capsule costs almost nothing. Getting it to every child under five, twice a year, and the fact that most of them would have lived anyway, is why the honest cost per life saved is in the thousands.Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTresearchvitamin-achild-healthhelen-kellergivewellcost-effectivenesshttps://impactperdollar.com/guides/overhead-ratio-wrong-question/https://impactperdollar.com/guides/overhead-ratio-wrong-question/Two charities with identical 10% overhead can differ a hundredfold in what a dollar achieves. The ratio tells you about accounting, not impact.Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTguidesoverheadcharity-ratingshow-to-giveevaluationhttps://impactperdollar.com/research/deworming-cheap-treatment-messy-evidence/https://impactperdollar.com/research/deworming-cheap-treatment-messy-evidence/School deworming is nearly free and reaches hundreds of millions of children a year. The health evidence is weak. The long-run income evidence is strong but rests on one study. How to hold both.Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTresearchdewormingevidenceworm-warsevidence-actiongivewellhttps://impactperdollar.com/news/usaid-cuts-14-million-deaths-lancet/https://impactperdollar.com/news/usaid-cuts-14-million-deaths-lancet/USAID-funded programs prevented about 92 million deaths from 2001 to 2021, the authors estimate. Their projection for the cuts, and what a private donor should take from it.Tue, 22 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTnewsusaidforeign-aidlancetglobal-healthhttps://impactperdollar.com/news/gavi-raised-9-billion-of-11-9/https://impactperdollar.com/news/gavi-raised-9-billion-of-11-9/The vaccine alliance's June 25 pledging summit in Brussels fell about a quarter short of its 2026 to 2030 budget after the United States withdrew. What the gap means and what it does not.Tue, 08 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTnewsgavivaccinesforeign-aidglobal-health