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 Notes
Expand Note

The charities and funds listed below do substantially more good per dollar than average, in part because they work in cause areas that are large in scale, underfunded, and solvable — such as global health and wellbeing, animal welfare, and reducing global catastrophic risks.

Aidan Whitfield

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.

Cause Overview
Against Malaria Foundation

Malaria nets

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Malaria kills ~600,000 people per year. Most are children under 5.

$7 protects a child through the malaria season.

Malaria Consortium

Medicine to prevent malaria

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Malaria kills ~600,000 people per year. Most are children under 5.

$6 buys a net for 2 people for 2 years.

Helen Keller Intl

Vitamin A for children

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Despite 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

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Vaccines 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

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Giving 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)

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This 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.

Cause Overview
EA Funds

Animal welfare initiatives

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Billions 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

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Billions 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.

Cause Overview
Longview Philanthropy

Addressing emerging challenges

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AI, 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

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Risks 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 programs

Easy 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.

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Effective 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).

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Risks 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).

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Recommendations FAQ

How do I choose among these charities and funds?
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Why don’t you recommend charities working on my favourite cause?
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