A big thank you to everyone who wrote in after our July edition! I loved hearing your ideas and thoughtful questions — please keep them coming.
One question came up often: how should we think about crises like Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine when we want our donations to do the most good? These conflicts are heartbreaking and dominate the news. It’s natural to want to respond.
Humanitarian aid in these contexts is vital, but it’s also hard to evaluate and extremely costly. When I was in Somalia managing the UN’s response to El Niño flooding in 2023-2024, we operated 14 helicopters for months, each flight costing over $10,000. We flew several missions per helicopter each day, delivering supplies. It’s the hardest I’ve ever worked, but when I reflected, I knew that in other areas, the funds we were using could go much further.
For example, around 15,000 children die every day from preventable diseases like malaria. We can save a child’s life for roughly $3,000–$5,000, with trusted organisations like the Against Malaria Foundation doing just this! But sadly, these interventions remain seriously underfunded – because they aren’t hitting the headlines.So what’s the solution? I think it’s complex, and value-dependent. Some may feel the most compassionate choice is to give where impact is clear and outsized, especially when it’s uncertain how much emergency aid will reach those in need. Others may feel it’s worth trying anyway, given the dire circumstances and the very real injustices.
If you find these decisions hard, you’re not alone. I certainly do too.
Personally, I use three “buckets” for my spending (an idea from this paper by Prof. Paul Smeets): one for myself and loved ones, one for causes I care about even if impact is uncertain, and one — my 10% Pledge — for the most effective charities I know.
I find that this balance helps me give with head and heart.
(By the way, if the 3-bucket approach resonates, you might also be interested in using Giving Multiplier for bucket 2 – it’ll match donations to your personal “favorite” charity with something more impact-driven.)
When we asked for your feedback on our newsletter last month, many of you responded that you’d like to hear more about the impact we’re driving as a community. We hear you and in short, it’s epic!
Watch out for future editions of this newsletter where we’ll share even more about our impact as a community.
For now, we wanted to share the short video above from one of the organisations you can support through our donation platform: The Humane League, showing what Giving What We Can donors have achieved together.
Motivations for Pledging
Here are some of our favourite responses from people who took a 🔸10% Pledge or 🔹Trial Pledge last month:
🔸 It’s the antidote to apathy. - Gina Williams from the US 🇺🇸
🔸 Because I want to effectively contribute to reducing the suffering that non-human animals endure in their lives. -Valentina Verasay from Chile 🇨🇱
🔸 Because there is enormous suffering, yet so many opportunities to make the world better! -Jim Maar from Germany 🇩🇪
🔹 I consider it the very least I can do to give back to the community. I feel privileged to be in a good place economically and socially, and I want to share it with others, especially those who are in need. -Devyani Lambhate from India 🇮🇳
🔹 Suffering is real and avoidable, and well-being is real and attainable! - Isaac Smalley from the US 🇺🇸
🔹 So I could donate regularly. -Elena Ciobanu from Moldova 🇲🇩
News & Updates
GWWC
New blogs, announcements, & news from Giving What We Can
We published two new blogs:
An exploration of Will MacAskill’s famous “100x multiplier”, explaining the logic & limitations behind the claim that your money goes 100x further overseas
A spotlight on Lewis Bollard’s TED talk: How to end factory farming, highlighting the reforms and strategies already moving the needle, and what we can do to help
We’re looking for partners to help make effective giving the norm! This past year, GWWC has teamed up with organisations to create new ways for people to learn about and take giving pledges – directing more funds to highly impactful opportunities. Most collaborations begin with small, low-effort experiments and grow from there. Are you/do you know an organisation who might be a good fit? Contact us to connect with our Partnerships Manager, Lucas Moore.
Community
Highlights from our community & the wider effective giving ecosystem
High Impact Athletes and HYROX launched a global partnership called Race for Impact, where athletes can easily raise funds for effective charities by racing for impact, not just time. Race for Impact is already live in 8+ cities globally, with 3000+ fundraisers signed up in the first full month. Check it out and spread the word!
Oct 7th, Oxford Martin School (University of Oxford), 6-6:45 PM BST, 34 Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3BD
Attend the book launch of Death in a Shallow Pond: A Philosopher, a Drowning Child, and Strangers in Need by David Edmonds (Distinguished Research Fellow at the Oxford Uehiro Institute) in Oxford. David will be in conversation with Professor Roger Crisp. This event is followed by a drinks reception. Register here.
EAGx conferences are great opportunities to learn from and connect with others interested in having a positive impact on the world. Read more about each conference via the links below.
Open Philanthropy is also hiring Program Associates and Senior Program Associates to help allocate tens of millions annually to reduce catastrophic biological risks by generating project ideas, recruiting grantees and collaborators, overseeing performance, and streamlining grantmaking processes. Apply by October 20th.
Other opportunities
Applications are open for the Impactful Philanthropy Round of Ambitious Impact’s Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program! The Impactful Philanthropy Round is a special edition of the Incubation Program dedicated to improving the effectiveness of the philanthropic sector. Like the other rounds, it’s a fully cost-covered, 8-week program that supports talented people to launch new high-impact nonprofits, and will take place in June-July 2026. Applications will go through the standard application form, which means you’ll also be considered for the other two 2026 program rounds, which focus on farmed animals and global health. Learn more and apply here before October 5th.
Cause Area News
Highlights from the high-impact programmes we list on our platform along with evaluators & grantmakers in the effective giving space
In case you missed it above, The Humane League released a video thanking Giving What We Can donors for sparing hundreds of thousands of hens from cages
Is growing its global university chapter program, the Alt Protein Project, which helps students advance alternative protein education, research, and innovation at universities. Kicking off the 2025-2026 school year with 13 new chapters, the now 76-campus program includes a rigorous application process, a six-week training course, KPI reporting, and more.
published The Grazer, a bimonthly roundup by the science team on the latest in global alternative proteins research, funding opportunities, jobs, and resources; if you’re not currently a subscriber and would like to change that, you can do so here.
Wild Animal Initiative has selected its latest cohort of research grants. The 15 research projects awarded grants this year cover a range of animal groups, from spiders to fish to badgers, and confront a range of wild animal welfare issues, from drought to disease to forestry disturbance.
Global Health and Wellbeing
In 2024, GiveWell directed $397 million through 55 grants, which they estimate will reach around 34 million people and save 74,000 lives. You can access GiveWell’s full, recently-published 2024 Metrics Report via this summary on the GiveWell blog.
In GiveWell’s latest podcast episode—the first to feature an external guest—CEO and co-founder Elie Hassenfeld speaks with Dr. Neil Buddy Shah, CEO of the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). They dive into the real-world impact of the foreign aid cuts: how these cuts are affecting vital programs, what it takes to build a strategic response, and how this pivotal moment could shape the future of global health. Check out previous episodes here and subscribe for the latest updates.
NTI | bio published a statement in support of using AI to strengthen compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), and emphasized that technology should be part of a broader strategy to support the BWC.
80,000 Hours released a review of key organisational changes, decisions, and milestones from 2023 to mid-2025, including the decision to focus primarily on helping people work on safely navigating the transition to a world with AGI.
Evaluators, Grantmakers, and Incubators
(News from evaluators, grantmakers, and incubators that relates to global health, animal welfare, or global catastrophic risk reduction is now included in the “Cause Area News” section above!)