The Top Charities Fund supports the highest-priority funding needs among our top charities.

We find and recommend outstanding giving opportunities and publish our research to help donors give more effectively and with greater confidence.

All donations here support our Top Charities Fund. Donations to the Top Charities Fund are granted on a rolling basis to support cost-effective funding opportunities at our top charities. We use our latest research to grant the funds to the top charity (or charities) where we believe they’ll do the most good.

Learn more and view past grants at https://www.givewell.org/top-charities-fund


Photo caption: At health centers in Sierra Leone supported by Helen Keller Intl, mothers who bring their children in for twice-yearly vitamin A supplemention can also receive comprehensive counseling about birth control options that are available to them free of charge. Combining family planning and children's healthcare services benefits both mother and child. 2019.

Top Charities Fund

Prevention, control and treatment of malaria and other communicable diseases  among vulnerable populations.

Our mission is to improve lives in Africa and Asia through sustainable, evidence-based programs  that combat targeted diseases and promote child and maternal health. 

We will accomplish this together with partners and all levels of government, by:

designing and implementing cutting edge research, surveillance and monitoring and evaluation;
selectively scaling up and delivering sustainable evidence-based health programmes;
providing technical assistance and consulting services that shape and strengthen national and international health policies, strategies and systems and build local capacity;
seeking to ensure that our experience, thought leadership, practical findings and research results are effectively communicated and contribute to the coordinated improvement of access to and quality of healthcare. 
Our areas of expertise include: 
disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment
disease control and elimination
health systems strengthening
research, monitoring and evaluation leading to best practice
behavior  change communication
national and international advocacy, and policy development


Malaria Consortium

One of GiveWell's top charities for the past several years, AMF provides anti-malarial bednets to people in need. 

From Givewell: 
What do they do? AMF (againstmalaria.com) provides funding for long-lasting insecticide-treated net (LLIN) distributions (for protection against malaria) in developing countries. (More)

Does it work? There is strong evidence that distributing LLINs reduces child mortality and malaria cases. AMF conducts post-distribution surveys of completed distributions to determine whether LLINs have reached their intended destinations and how long they remain in good condition. AMF's post-distribution surveys have generally found positive results but have some methodological limitations. (More)

What do you get for your dollar? We estimate that the cost to purchase and distribute an AMF-funded net is $4.95, or $4.65 excluding in-kind contributions from governments. The numbers of deaths averted and other benefits of distributing LLINs are a function of a number of difficult-to-estimate factors, which we discuss in detail below. (More)

Is there room for more funding? We believe that AMF is likely to be constrained by funding. We estimate that AMF could use up to an additional $37.8 million to support LLIN distributions that will occur between now and late 2023. 

AMF is recommended because of its:

Focus on a program with excellent evidence of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.
Processes for ensuring that nets reach their intended recipients and monitoring whether they remain in homes and in good condition over the long-term.
Room for more funding – we believe AMF will be able to use additional funds to deliver additional nets.
Transparency – AMF shares significant information about its work with us and we are able to closely follow and understand its work.

The Against Malaria Foundation

Support highly-impactful, evidence-based solutions to reduce animal suffering on a global scale. 

## The Founders Pledge Perspective

At least 75 billion farmed land animals and more than a trillion fish are slaughtered each year. That is more than 2000 land animals and 25,000 fish are killed every second. This is possible due to the mechanization and intensification of factory farming, driven by global increase in demand for meat.

Although this situation seems bleak - and the numbers almost too large to comprehend - there are reasons to be hopeful. Recent years have seen rapid progress in the animal welfare movement. Many large companies have pledged to phase out or drastically reduce some of their industry’s most harmful practices. Governments have banned some of these practices outright. And companies working to commercialize alternative proteins, such as plant-based meats, have raised billions of dollars from investors. 

Yet farm animal welfare remains highly neglected, with just 0.03% of US philanthropic funding going to this cause in 2017. By giving to the Founders Pledge Animal Welfare Index, you can spread your donation across several highly-impactful and neglected global initiatives to alleviate suffering and improve the conditions of factory-farmed animals. By pooling your donations, this Index fund allows you to make larger grants and thereby maximize your impact.

## Our Approach to Grantmaking

When evaluating potential grants, we consider several key points:

- **Counterfactual impact**. Our grants are designed to create a meaningful outcome that would not otherwise have happened. In particular, we aim to make grants that otherwise wouldn’t have been made, rather than those which just take the place of other philanthropists’ donations. This means that you can rely on the Funds to create meaningful, real change, rather than just maintaining the status quo.
- **The grant’s potential outcomes**. We focus on outcomes (e.g. how many lives were saved), rather than outputs (e.g. how many products were delivered). We review all the available evidence and take into account cost-effectiveness to assess whether the grant money could produce more good if donated elsewhere.
- **The organization’s funding gap**. Not all organizations are set up to scale up their programming and many can’t productively absorb large amounts of unsolicited funding. We evaluate all potential grantees’ capacity for growth and consider how much money they could put to good use.
- **Organizational strength**. Particularly with unrestricted funding, it’s important to have trust in the leadership and capacity of the organizations we support. We look at their track record of success and their transparency about failures as well as successes, and we only support those organizations which are exceptionally well run. We also look for organizations that demonstrate a strong commitment to measuring outcomes and evaluating the impact of their programs.

Animal Welfare Index

Evidence Action scales evidence-based and cost-effective programs to reduce the burden of poverty. 

Our organization was founded in 2013 to address a big gap in the fight against global poverty--many of the most promising interventions are either implemented at a very small scale, or not at all. We set out to address this gap by building programs that would scale evidence-based and cost-effective interventions, leading to significant improvements in quality of life for hundreds of millions of people. 

Our model worked. In less than a decade, our two flagship programs, the Deworm the World Initiative and Dispensers for Safe Water, have grown to measurably impact over 280 million people each year. This success is achieved through the dedication and talent of our staff, the hard work of our partners, and the commitment of our supporters.

By 2024, we seek to double our impact. We are strengthening and expanding our existing programs, and working to identify a new generation of evidence-based and cost-effective interventions that we can scale to reach millions more. 

We currently operate three programs:

Dispensers for Safe Water 

Dispensers for Safe Water program delivers free and reliable access to safe water for 4 million people in rural Kenya, Uganda, and Malawi.
In rural parts of low-income countries, most water sources are untreated, meaning that water is not safe to drink directly from the source. Our uniquely-engineered chlorine dispensers are installed next to commonly-used water sources, enabling people to treat their water using a safe and pre-measured dose of chlorine. The chlorine stays active for 2-3 days, ensuring water doesn’t get recontaminated even when stored at home. Adding diluted chlorine to water is a WHO-endorsed approach to improving water quality. 
Dispensers for Safe Water is a cost-effective solution - just over $1.00 delivers safe water access to one person for an entire year. In 2019, our program averted over 380,000 cases of diarrhea among children, one of the main causes of childhood mortality in the countries where we operate.

Deworm the World Initiative

Deworm the World Initiative helps governments launch, scale, and sustain school-based deworming programs.

Over 868 million children globally are at risk of contracting parasitic worm infections. If left untreated, infections can lead to anemia, malnourishment, and impaired mental and physical development—ultimately affecting children’s educational outcomes and income as adults.Our program brings free treatment to children at their schools instead of placing the burden on the families to obtain it. We partner with governments to regularly treat all at-risk children in places where at least 20% are infected with worms, as recommended by the World Health Organization.  

Rigorous research shows that deworming leads to significant improvements to children’s health, education, and long-term wellbeing. In 2019, we helped governments treat over 280 million children in India, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Pakistan for less than US 50 cents per treatment.

Accelerator:  
 
Evidence Action Accelerator is our engine for new program development that selects, optimizes, and scales interventions with the highest potential to measurably improve the lives of millions of people in the world’s poorest places.  

Each intervention considered by the Accelerator must undergo a multi-stage process of program development, taking it from an evidence-based concept to a fully-developed solution that can be replicated in multiple geographies. We look for three critical aspects during the assessment process: rigorous evidence, cost-effectiveness, and potential for scale. 

We are currently accelerating two promising health solutions: working with the Liberian government to detect and treat maternal syphilis, with the aim of preventing thousands of child deaths and disabilities each year; and supporting the Indian government to improve the distribution of iron and folic acid supplementation to millions of children and adolescents —treating iron deficiency anemia, one of the main causes of disability in the country.





Evidence Action

The END Fund is the only private philanthropic initiative solely dedicated to ending the most common neglected tropical diseases.

Our Mission: To control and eliminate the most prevalent neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) among the world's most vulnerable communities and people by 2030. 


NTDs are a group of parasitic and bacterial diseases largely prevalent in tropical regions that currently receive little attention on the global health agenda yet have a significant impact hampering the potential of individuals and communities at large. The devastating effects of NTDs include irreversible blindness, severe disfigurement, stunted cognitive and physical development, especially in children, malnutrition, social isolation, and more. NTDs also cause 170,000 deaths per year. Their comprehensive impact on all aspects of daily life means that the presence of NTDs costs affected countries billions of dollars per year in lost productivity, out-of-pocket expenses, and reduced socioeconomic and educational attainment. 

Currently, 1.7b individuals are affected by such diseases. However, the treatments and knowledge required to eliminate these diseases are readily available, with the annual cost of treatment per individual averaging 50 cents per year. Demonstrating the uniquely cost-effective impact of NTD treatment, studies have shown treatment is the single most efficient means of improving children’s school attendance and capacity to learn. A recent report by Deloitte on Nigeria showcases the significant gains affected economies stand to make should NTDs be eliminated, with Nigeria’s economy estimated to receive an $18.9b boost from now until 2030. The report is available to view here - https://www2.deloitte.com/za/en/nigeria/pages/strategy/articles/Ending_The_Neglect.html

The END Fund helps ensure those at risk of NTDs need not experience such preventable suffering but can live healthy and prosperous lives instead. We do so by working in close partnership with stakeholders across the global NTD community to identify and fulfill gaps and needs in NTD funding, design programs, strengthen the capacity of local actors, provide technical support, and assist with monitoring and evaluation, amongst various additional activities. Our work helps children stay healthy and in school, prevents advanced cases that cause disability and restrain individuals' productive potential, and alleviates the disproportionate disease burden faced by women and girls, as well as the economic burden of disease on families. We have distributed more than 1.2b treatments since our founding in 2012, with 118m individuals treated in 2021 alone.

We envision living in a world in which all have the opportunity to achieve their full potential, with these diseases that have plagued humans for millennia confined to history once and for all.

The END Fund

Helen Keller, our co-founder, envisioned a world without barriers to human potential. We are continuing her work.


Helen Keller, our co-founder, envisioned a world without barriers to human potential. Guided by her fierce optimism, we have been working on the front lines of health and well-being for more than 100 years. We deliver life-changing health care to vulnerable families in places where the need is great, but access is limited. Our proven, science-based programs empower people to create opportunities in their own lives.


Helen Keller International

StrongMinds provides life-changing mental health services to women in Africa using innovative community-based group therapy.

According to the WHO, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and is a major contributor to the global burden of disease. In Africa, an estimated 66M women have depression and 85% have no access to treatment. Since 2014, StrongMinds has treated over 200,000 individuals for depression symptoms, with 80% measuring as depression-free after therapy. When a woman recovers from depression, she is more engaged in the community and her economic activity increases. Her family eats more meals and her children go to school more often. When you invest in mental health, you invest in the future of an individual, their family, and their community.

StrongMinds Inc

Founders Pledge is a global nonprofit empowering entrepreneurs to do the most good possible with their charitable giving. 

We equip members with everything needed to maximize their impact, from evidence-led research and advice on the world’s most pressing problems, to comprehensive infrastructure for global grant-making, alongside opportunities to learn and connect. We’re grateful to be funded by our members and other generous donors. 

Founders Pledge

We search for the charities that save or improve lives the most per dollar.

Our goal is to produce the world's top research on where to give. Free, for everyone.

We recommend a small number of charities that do an incredible amount of good. 

If you would like to donate to our giving funds or individual top charities, please see our projects below. You can donate here or on the Unrestricted Fund page below to make an unrestricted gift to GiveWell to support the full spectrum of our grantmaking and underwrite our ability to continue doing what we do.