Holden Karnofsky donations made (filtered to cause areas matching Global health)

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 2024. 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.

Table of contents

Basic donor information

ItemValue
Country United States
Affiliated organizations (current or former; restricted to potential donees or others relevant to donation decisions)GiveWell Open Philanthropy
Facebook username holden.karnofsky
LinkedIn username holden-karnofsky-75970b7
Websitehttps://medium.com/@holden0
Twitter usernameholdenkarnofsky
LessWrong usernameHoldenKarnofsky
Effective Altruism Forum usernameHoldenKarnofsky
Data entry method on Donations List WebsiteManual (no scripts used)
Org Watch pagehttps://orgwatch.issarice.com/?person=Holden+Karnofsky

Donor donation statistics

Cause areaCountMedianMeanMinimum10th percentile 20th percentile 30th percentile 40th percentile 50th percentile 60th percentile 70th percentile 80th percentile 90th percentile Maximum
Overall 4 0 564 0 0 0 0 0 0 256 256 2,000 2,000 2,000
Global health and cash transfers 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Global health 3 256 752 0 0 0 0 256 256 256 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000

Donation amounts by cause area and year

If you hover over a cell for a given cause area and year, you will get a tooltip with the number of donees and the number of donations.

Note: Cause area classification used here may not match that used by donor for all cases.

Cause area Number of donations Number of donees Total 2006
Global health (filter this donor) 3 3 2,256.00 2,256.00
Global health and cash transfers (filter this donor) 1 1 0.00 0.00
Total 4 4 2,256.00 2,256.00

Skipping spending graph as there is at most one year’s worth of donations.

Donation amounts by subcause area and year

If you hover over a cell for a given subcause area and year, you will get a tooltip with the number of donees and the number of donations.

For the meaning of “classified” and “unclassified”, see the page clarifying this.

Subcause area Number of donations Number of donees Total 2006
Global health/cleft surgery 2 2 2,256.00 2,256.00
Global health and cash transfers 1 1 0.00 0.00
Global health/malaria 1 1 0.00 0.00
Classified total 4 4 2,256.00 2,256.00
Unclassified total 0 0 0.00 0.00
Total 4 4 2,256.00 2,256.00

Skipping spending graph as there is at most one year’s worth of donations.

Donation amounts by donee and year

Donee Cause area Metadata Total 2006
Interplast (filter this donor) 2,000.00 2,000.00
Alliance for Smiles (filter this donor) 256.00 256.00
GiveWell Maximum Impact Fund (filter this donor) Charity evaluation/global health/poverty FB Tw WP Site 0.00 0.00
Against Malaria Foundation (filter this donor) Global health/malaria FB Tw WP Site GW CN GS TW 0.00 0.00
Total -- -- 2,256.00 2,256.00

Skipping spending graph as there is at most one year’s worth of donations.

Donation amounts by influencer and year

If you hover over a cell for a given influencer and year, you will get a tooltip with the number of donees and the number of donations.

For the meaning of “classified” and “unclassified”, see the page clarifying this.

Influencer Number of donations Number of donees Total 2006
GiveWell 4 4 2,256.00 2,256.00
Classified total 4 4 2,256.00 2,256.00
Unclassified total 0 0 0.00 0.00
Total 4 4 2,256.00 2,256.00

Skipping spending graph as there is at most one year’s worth of donations.

Donation amounts by disclosures and year

Sorry, we couldn't find any disclosures information.

Donation amounts by country and year

Sorry, we couldn't find any country information.

Full list of documents in reverse chronological order (12 documents)

Title (URL linked)Publication dateAuthorPublisherAffected donorsAffected doneesAffected influencersDocument scopeCause areaNotes
Suggestions for Individual Donors from Open Philanthropy Staff - 20192019-12-18Holden Karnofsky Open PhilanthropyChloe Cockburn Jesse Rothman Michelle Crentsil Amanda Hungerfold Lewis Bollard Persis Eskander Alexander Berger Chris Somerville Heather Youngs Claire Zabel National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls Life Comes From It Worth Rises Wild Animal Initiative Sinergia Animal Center for Global Development International Refugee Assistance Project California YIMBY Engineers Without Borders 80,000 Hours Centre for Effective Altruism Future of Humanity Institute Global Priorities Institute Machine Intelligence Research Institute Ought Donation suggestion listCriminal justice reform|Animal welfare|Global health and development|Migration policy|Effective altruism|AI safetyContinuing an annual tradition started in 2015, Open Philanthropy Project staff share suggestions for places that people interested in specific cause areas may consider donating. The sections are roughly based on the focus areas used by Open Phil internally, with the contributors to each section being the Open Phil staff who work in that focus area. Each recommendation includes a "Why we recommend it" or "Why we suggest it" section, and with the exception of the criminal justice reform recommendations, each recommendation includes a "Why we haven't fully funded it" section. Section 5, Assorted recomendations by Claire Zabel, includes a list of "Organizations supported by our Committed for Effective Altruism Support" which includes a list of organizations that are wiithin the purview of the Committee for Effective Altruism Support. The section is approved by the committee and represents their views.
Suggestions for Individual Donors from Open Philanthropy Project Staff - 20182018-12-20Holden Karnofsky Open PhilanthropyChloe Cockburn Lewis Bollard Amanda Hungerford Alexander Berger Luke Muelhhauser National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls Texas Organizing Project Effective Altruism Funds The Humane League Center for Global Development International Refugee Assistance Project Donor lottery Donation suggestion listCriminal justice reform|Animal welfare|Global health and development|Migration policy|Effective altruismOpen Philanthropy Project staff give suggestions on places that might be good for individuals to donate to. Each suggestion includes a section "Why I suggest it", a section explaining why the Open Philanthropy Project has not funded (or not fully funded) the opportunity, and links to relevant writeups. The post continues a tradition of similar posts published once a year.
Good Ventures and Giving Now vs. Later (2016 Update)2016-12-28Holden Karnofsky Open PhilanthropyGood 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 supplementGlobal health and developmentExplanation of reasoning that led to $50 million allocation to GiveWell top charities
Suggestions for individual donors from Open Philanthropy Project staff2015-12-23Holden Karnofsky Open PhilanthropyChloe Cockburn Lewis Bollard Alexander Berger Nick Beckstead Howie Lempel Alliance for Safety and Justice Bronx Freedom Fund The Humane League The Humane Society of the United States Center for Global Development Center for Popular Democracy Ploughshares Fund Donation suggestion listCriminal justice reform|Animal welfare|Global healthOpen Philanthropy Project staff describe suggestions for best donation opportunities for individual donors in their specific areas. The post was originally published to the GiveWell blog.
Open Philanthropy Project: Progress in 2014 and Plans for 20152015-03-12Holden Karnofsky Open PhilanthropyOpen Philanthropy Broad donor strategyGlobal catastrophic risks|Scientific research|Global health and developmentThe blog post compares progress made by the Open Philanthropy Project in 2015 against plans laid out in https://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/givewell-labs-progress-2013-and-plans-2014 and lays out further plans for 2015. The post says that progress in the areas of U.S. policy and global catastrophic risks was substantial and matched expectations, but progress in scientific research and global health and development was less than hoped for. The plan for 2015 is to focus on growing more in the domain of scientific research and postpone work on global health and development (thus freeing up staff capacity). There is much more detail in the post.
Potential U.S. Policy Focus Areas2014-05-29Holden Karnofsky Open PhilanthropyOpen Philanthropy Broad donor strategyCause prioritization|Criminal justice reform|Drug policy|Migration policy|Macroeconomic stabilization policy|Global health and development|Climate change|Tax policyThe blog post reviews the current understanding of the Open Philanthropy Project of various cause areas that they are considering for their grantmaking. They break up the cause areas discussed as: Windows of opportunity: outstanding tractability (i.e., "the time is right"), Ambitious longshots: outstanding importance, and Green fields: outstanding "room for more philanthropy". Other causes of interest (that do not neatly fit into one of these boxes) are also discussed.
GiveWell’s top charities for giving season 20132013-12-01Holden Karnofsky GiveWellGood Ventures/GiveWell top and standout charities Against Malaria Foundation GiveDirectly Schistosomiasis Control Initiative Deworm the World Initiative GiveWell Evaluator consolidated recommendation listGlobal health and developmentAgainst Malaria Foundation not in top charities list (it was in 2013) due to room for more funding issues. Good Ventures allocations not included in this post
GiveWell Labs Update2013-09-26Holden Karnofsky Open PhilanthropyOpen Philanthropy Broad donor strategyMigration policy/labor mobility|Geoengineering research|Criminal justice reform|Animal welfare/factory farming|Open science|Global health/malaria|History of philanthropyThe blog post provides a general update on GiveWell Labs (that would later become Open Philanthropy). It lists seven causes that it considers promising and plans to investigate further.
Our take on “earning to give”2013-06-26Holden Karnofsky GiveWell Miscellaneous commentaryGlobal healthHolden Karnofsky writes about GiveWell's broad take on earning to give: as a broadening of the set of options available in order to do the most good, and a way to challenge the narrative that working at a nonprofit is the best way to have an impact. Karnofsky also points out that donation isn't the only way somebody at a for-profit job contributes to the world; their work could also have positive flow-through effects. Overall, Karnofsky advocates for "systematicity" in exploring various options and excitement about doing the most good possible.
Our top charities for the 2012 giving season2012-11-26Holden Karnofsky GiveWell Against Malaria Foundation GiveDirectly Schistosomiasis Control Initiative GiveWell Evaluator consolidated recommendation listGlobal health and developmentGiveDirectly promoted from standout to top charity, other two charities same as for 2011
Deciding between two outstanding charities2011-12-08Holden Karnofsky GiveWell Against Malaria Foundation Schistosomiasis Control Initiative GiveWell Reasoning supplementGlobal health/malaria and dewormingProvided more in-depth coverage of tradeoffs between the two top charities, supplementing the announcement post at https://blog.givewell.org/2011/11/29/top-charities-for-holiday-season-2011-against-malaria-foundation-and-schistosomiasis-control-initiative/
Top charities for holiday season 2011: Against Malaria Foundation and Schistosomiasis Control Initiative2011-11-29Holden Karnofsky GiveWell Against Malaria Foundation Schistosomiasis Control Initiative GiveDirectly Innovations for Poverty Action Nyaya Health Pratham Small Enterprise Foundation GiveWell Evaluator consolidated recommendation listGlobal health and developmentAgainst Malaria Foundation and Schistosomiasis Control Initiative were the top charities; the others were standouts

Full list of donations in reverse chronological order (4 donations)

Graph of top 10 donees (for donations with known year of donation) by amount, showing the timeframe of donations

Graph of donations and their timeframes
DoneeAmount (current USD)Amount rank (out of 4)Donation dateCause areaURLInfluencerNotes
Against Malaria Foundation----2015-12-09Global health/malariahttps://blog.givewell.org/2015/12/09/staff-members-personal-donations-for-giving-season-2015/GiveWell Though not directly involved with top charity selection, found the top charity vetting process much more convincing this year, and placed more confidence in cost-effectiveness estimates. Considered other top charities seriously. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%.
GiveWell Maximum Impact Fund----2014-12-17Global health and cash transfershttps://blog.givewell.org/2014/12/17/staff-members-personal-donations-giving-season-2014/GiveWell Giving opportunities in 2014 better than 2013, so giving a bit but to regrant to top charities. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%.
Interplast2,000.0012006Global health/cleft surgeryhttps://blog.givewell.org/2007/01/02/the-2006-holden-awards/GiveWell Donor reason for selecting the donee: The blog post announcing the donation says: "Cleft was the cause I specialized in researching over the last few months, so this was partly a relationship-building donation. But I also think corrective surgery is the cheapest and most concrete way I’ve seen to convert a full life of misery to a much more reasonable (if still poverty-stricken) one. There’s a good chance I’ll change my mind as I learn more about fistula, child slavery, etc., but this is what I’m confident in for now."

Donor reason for donating that amount (rather than a bigger or smaller amount): The donor explains the large amount of the donation, as well as its largeness as a share of his total donation amount, as follows: "I think it’s crazy to make 10 small donations when you could make 1-2 big ones. None of your small donations will solve the problems they’re attacking (i.e., there will still be plenty of the problem left), so why not spend all the money on the most important one? Plus, big donations get you attention: they give you the opportunity to tell a nonprofit what you do and don’t like, and have them listen. The most important reason to concentrate your giving, though, is exactly the reason that most people don’t want to: it forces you to make hard decisions. And that forces you to raise the stakes, learn more, and think harder."
Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 22.16%

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): The donation is made along with the donor's other 2006 end-of-year donations, based on the best information available to him at the time, including the research GiveWell has been able to do so far.

Donor retrospective of the donation: As part of his work at GiveWell, the donor (Holden Karnofsky) would continue investigating Interplast and mentioning it in blog posts; Interplast would briefly make it to the GiveWell top charity list as well.

Other notes: In the blog post announcing the donation, Karnofsky writes: "These are the ones I determined (based on about .01% of the information I wish I had) to be the best." He hopes that the research that he and Elie Hassenfeld are doing at GiveWell will ultimately lead to greater justified confidence in where best to donate. The donor also considered Alliance for Smiles for the donation that ultimately went to Interplast, and donated $256 to Alliance for Smiles to thank them for being open and helpful.
Alliance for Smiles256.0022006Global health/cleft surgeryhttps://blog.givewell.org/2007/01/02/the-2006-holden-awards/GiveWell Donor reason for selecting the donee: The blog post announcing the donation says the donation is a "thank-you to Alliance for Smiles for being open and helpful (though I ultimately went with Interplast)"

Donor reason for donating that amount (rather than a bigger or smaller amount): The amount of $256 is the amount chosen by the donor for each of four smaller donations made for a variety of personal reasons or due to varous obligations perceived by the donor. In total these account for about 1/9 of the donor's total donation budget.
Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 2.84%

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): The donation is made along with the donor's other 2006 end-of-year donations, based on the best information available to him at the time, including the research GiveWell has been able to do so far.

Similarity to other donors

Sorry, we couldn't find any similar donors.