This is an online portal with information on donations that were announced publicly (or have been shared with permission) that were of interest to Vipul Naik. The git repository with the code for this portal, as well as all the underlying data, is available on GitHub. All payment amounts are in current United States dollars (USD). The repository of donations is being seeded with an initial collation by Issa Rice as well as continued contributions from him (see his commits and the contract work page listing all financially compensated contributions to the site) but all responsibility for errors and inaccuracies belongs to Vipul Naik. Current data is preliminary and has not been completely vetted and normalized; if sharing a link to this site or any page on this site, please include the caveat that the data is preliminary (if you want to share without including caveats, please check with Vipul Naik). We expect to have completed the first round of development by the end of July 2025. See the about page for more details. Also of interest: pageview data on analytics.vipulnaik.com, tutorial in README, request for feedback to EA Forum.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | |
| Wikipedia page | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_Media_International |
| Cause area | Count | Median | Mean | Minimum | 10th percentile | 20th percentile | 30th percentile | 40th percentile | 50th percentile | 60th percentile | 70th percentile | 80th percentile | 90th percentile | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 8 | 121,031 | 258,879 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 | 121,031 | 121,031 | 250,000 | 250,000 | 250,000 | 950,000 | 950,000 |
| Global health | 6 | 100,000 | 166,667 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 | 250,000 | 250,000 | 250,000 | 250,000 | 250,000 |
| FIXME | 1 | 121,031 | 121,031 | 121,031 | 121,031 | 121,031 | 121,031 | 121,031 | 121,031 | 121,031 | 121,031 | 121,031 | 121,031 | 121,031 |
| 1 | 950,000 | 950,000 | 950,000 | 950,000 | 950,000 | 950,000 | 950,000 | 950,000 | 950,000 | 950,000 | 950,000 | 950,000 | 950,000 |
| Donor | Total | 2020 | 2017 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mulago Foundation (filter this donee) | 950,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 950,000.00 |
| Good Ventures/GiveWell top and standout charities (filter this donee) | 850,000.00 | 0.00 | 350,000.00 | 250,000.00 | 250,000.00 | 0.00 |
| Wellcome Trust (filter this donee) | 121,031.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 121,031.00 | 0.00 |
| Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (filter this donee) | 100,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 100,000.00 | 0.00 |
| Open Philanthropy (filter this donee) | 50,000.00 | 50,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Total | 2,071,031.00 | 50,000.00 | 350,000.00 | 250,000.00 | 471,031.00 | 950,000.00 |
| Title (URL linked) | Publication date | Author | Publisher | Affected donors | Affected donees | Affected influencers | Document scope | Cause area | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recommendation to Open Philanthropy for Grants to Top Charities | 2019-11-26 | GiveWell | Open Philanthropy | Malaria Consortium Helen Keller International Sightsavers Against Malaria Foundation The END Fund GiveDirectly Development Media International Dispenses for Safe Water Food Fortification Initiative Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition Georgetown University Initiative on Innovation, Development, and Evaluation Iodine Global Network Living Goods Project Healthy Children | GiveWell | Periodic donation list documentation | Global health and development | The document details GiveWell's recommendation in 2019 for grants by Good Ventures (via the Open Philanthropy Project) to GiveWell top and standout charities. The overall amount of money recommended for allocation is $54.6 million, and the document explains that Open Phil's calculation that it may make sense to spend down more slowly was the reason for reducing the allocation from last year. It discusses the principles used for allocation: (1) Put significant weight on cost-effectiveness estimates, (2) Consider additional information not explicitly modeled about the organization, (3) Consider additional information not explicitly modeled about the funding gap, (4) Assess funding gaps at the margin, (5) Default to not imposing restrictions on charity spending, (6) Default to funding on a 3-year horizon, and (7) Ensure charities are incentivized to engage with the process. The three charities that get significant grants are Malaria Consortium for its SMC program ($33.9 million), Helen Keller International ($9.7 million), and Sightsavers ($2.7 million). Against Malaria Foundation, The END Fund, and GiveDirectly receive the minimum "incentive grant" amount of $2.5 million that all top charities should receive. The top charity Deworm the World Initiative is not given an incentive grant because it received a previous grant through GiveWell discretionary grant that more than covers the incentive grant amount. 8 standout charities get $100,000 each | |
| Our top charities for giving season 2017 | 2017-11-27 | Natalie Crispin | GiveWell | GiveWell Maximum Impact Fund Good Ventures/GiveWell top and standout charities | GiveWell top charities Against Malaria Foundation Schistosomiasis Control Initiative Malaria Consortium Deworm the World Initiative Helen Keller International Sightsavers The END Fund No Lean Season GiveDirectly Development Media International Dispensers for Safe Water Food Fortification Initiative Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition Iodine Global Network Living Goods Project Healthy Children | GiveWell | Evaluator consolidated recommendation list | Global health and development | GiveWell annual top charity refresh, also announced amounts recommended for Good Ventures to donate to top charities. Added two new top charities |
| Good Ventures and Giving Now vs. Later (2016 Update) | 2016-12-28 | Holden Karnofsky | Open Philanthropy | Good Ventures/GiveWell top and standout charities | GiveWell top charities Against Malaria Foundation Schistosomiasis Control Initiative Deworm the World Initiative GiveDirectly Malaria Consortium Sightsavers The END Fund Development Media International Food Fortification Initiative Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition Iodine Global Network Living Goods Project Healthy Children | GiveWell | Reasoning supplement | Global health and development | Explanation of reasoning that led to $50 million allocation to GiveWell top charities |
| Our updated top charities for giving season 2016 | 2016-11-28 | Natalie Crispin | GiveWell | Good Ventures/GiveWell top and standout charities | GiveWell top charities Against Malaria Foundation Schistosomiasis Control Initiative Deworm the World Initiative GiveDirectly Malaria Consortium Sightsavers The END Fund Development Media International Food Fortification Initiative Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition Iodine Global Network Living Goods Project Healthy Children | GiveWell | Evaluator consolidated recommendation list | Global health and development | GiveWell annual top charity refresh, also announced amounts recommended for Good Ventures to donate to top charities. Added three new top charities |
| Our updated top charities for giving season 2015 | 2015-11-20 | Elie Hassenfeld Josh Rosenberg | GiveWell | Good Ventures/GiveWell top and standout charities | GiveWell top charities Against Malaria Foundation Schistosomiasis Control Initiative Deworm the World Initiative GiveDirectly Development Media International Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition Iodine Global Network Living Goods | GiveWell | Evaluator consolidated recommendation list | GLobal health and global poverty | No change to charity list; significant funding recommended from Good Ventures. This would be later classified as Open Philanthropy Project spending |
| Our updated top charities | 2014-12-01 | Elie Hassenfeld | GiveWell | Good Ventures/GiveWell top and standout charities | GiveWell top charities Against Malaria Foundation Schistosomiasis Control Initiative Deworm the World Initiative GiveDirectly Development Media International Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition Iodine Global Network Living Goods | GiveWell | Evaluator consolidated recommendation list | Global health and development | Against Malaria Foundation returned to top charities list. Amounts donated by Good Ventures would later be classified as Open Philanthropy Project spending |
Graph of top 10 donors (for donations with known year of donation) by amount, showing the timeframe of donations
| Donor | Amount (current USD) | Amount rank (out of 8) | Donation date | Cause area | URL | Influencer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Philanthropy | 50,000.00 | 8 | Global health | https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-health-and-development/miscellaneous/development-media-international-general-support-december-2020 | GiveWell | Donation process: The grant is based on GiveWell's recommendation. GiveWell made the recommendations as part of its end-of-year recommendations to Open Philanthropy, along with allocations to other GiveWell top and standout charities. The total budget of $100 million is set by Open Philanthropy, but GiveWell decided to allocate only $70 million in end-of-year grantmaking and defers the remaining $30 million to early 2021. GiveWell explains the process in detail at https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities/2020/open-philanthropy-recommendation (published February 2021). Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support Donor reason for selecting the donee: At the time of the grant, Development Media International was a GiveWell standout chraity, per https://www.givewell.org/charities/other-charities/November-2020-version and https://www.givewell.org/charities/DMI-July-2021-Version (July 2021 review). It therefore qualified for the $50,000 end-of-year incentive grant recommendation that all GiveWell standout charities received. Donor reason for donating that amount (rather than a bigger or smaller amount): The amount of $50,000 is the amount of the incentive grant chosen for standout charities in 2020. https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities/2020/open-philanthropy-recommendation#Size_of_incentive_grants explains the reason for chosing the amount: "We also reduced our incentive grant recommendations for standout charities [from $100,000] to $50,000. Once a standout charity has been added to our list, we ask it to have one conversation with us each year and to review the notes we write to summarize what we learned from that conversation. We believe a smaller grant of $50,000 is appropriate for the time commitment this requires from standout charities." Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 0.07% Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Part of GiveWell's end-of-year recommendations for Open Philanthropy, so the timing is determined by the timing of end-of-year recommendations (which is usually the week after Thanksgiving in the United States). The grant is made by Open Philanthropy shortly after the recommendations. Donor retrospective of the donation: https://blog.givewell.org/2021/10/05/discontinuing-standout-charity-designation/ (November 2021) announces discontinuation of the standout charity designation, and says: "We’ve recommended that Open Philanthropy make a $100,000 exit grant to each standout charity on our list." |
|
| Good Ventures/GiveWell top and standout charities | 100,000.00 | 6 | Global health/development communication | http://www.goodventures.org/our-portfolio/grants/development-media-international-general-support-december-2017 | GiveWell | Grant is the $100,000 for being a standout charity. Grant announced on 2017-11-27 at https://blog.givewell.org/2017/11/27/our-top-charities-for-giving-season-2017/ along with GiveWell top and standout charities list. | |
| Good Ventures/GiveWell top and standout charities | 250,000.00 | 2 | Global health/development communication | http://www.goodventures.org/our-portfolio/grants/development-media-international-general-support2 | GiveWell | Grant for general support to a 2016 GiveWell standout charity. Grant announced on 2016-11-28 at https://blog.givewell.org/2016/11/28/updated-top-charities-giving-season-2016/#Sec3a along with GiveWell top and standout charities list. | |
| Good Ventures/GiveWell top and standout charities | 250,000.00 | 2 | Global health/development communication | http://www.goodventures.org/our-portfolio/grants/development-media-international-general-support1 | GiveWell | Grant to standout charity announced on 2015-11-20 at https://blog.givewell.org/2015/11/18/our-updated-top-charities-for-giving-season-2015/#Sec4a along with grants to other GiveWell top and standout charities. | |
| Good Ventures/GiveWell top and standout charities | 250,000.00 | 2 | Global health/development communication | http://www.goodventures.org/our-portfolio/grants/development-media-international-general-support | GiveWell | Grant to standout charity announced at https://blog.givewell.org/2014/12/01/our-updated-top-charities/ based on GiveWell charity recommendations in the same post; see also https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities/November-2014 and the review https://www.givewell.org/charities/DMI/2014-review. | |
| Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation | 100,000.00 | 6 | Global health/Reproductive health care | https://iatiregistry.org/publisher/bmgf | -- | to promote maternal and child health in Burkina Faso by producing short entertaining films in the local language on health-related topics such as the importance of breastfeeding to be viewed and easily shared via mobile phone.; Aid type: Project-type interventions. Affected countries: Burkina faso. | |
| Wellcome Trust | 121,031.00 | 5 | FIXME | https://wellcome.ac.uk/sites/default/files/wellcome-grants-awarded-2000-2016.xlsx | -- | Can mass media campaigns reduce child mortality?. Affected regions: Greater London; affected countries: United Kingdom. | |
| Mulago Foundation | 950,000.00 | 1 | -- | https://mulagofoundation.org/Portfolio/development-media-international | -- | Donation date is not a single date but rather when funding began. Rainer fellow in . Mulago’s reasons for investing: “DMI uses intensive media campaigns to drive life-saving behavior. By saturating markets with clever radio spots and talk shows, DMI is able to reach a national audience deeply enough to change cultural norms and make a lasting difference. A three-year rigorous study in Burkina Faso showed that their programming drives up demand for essential health services and saves kids’ lives at very low cost. Media is one of the most scalable interventions we know of and DMI is one of the best at using it to achieve social change.”. |