Robin & Bruce’s 50th Anniversary Donations

Robin & Bruce’s 50th Anniversary Donations Page

GiveWell searches for the charities that save or improve lives the most per dollar. GiveWell recommends a small number of charities that can do an incredible amount of good. Your donation can make a meaningful difference for some of the poorest people in the world.

See below for a message from the couple.

A message from Robin and Bruce

Dearest Family and Friends,

When you are blessed with abundance, we believe, in accordance with the Jewish tradition of Tzedakah, that you are obligated to share that abundance with others.

We have invited you to our 50th Anniversary Celebration as the people who have been among the most important to us during our time together. In lieu of gifts, we ask you to honor this event with a donation to one of our favorite charities: GiveWell's Top Charities Fund, which supports the highest-priority funding needs of its most highly-rated charities. The Fund has recently supported charities that provide critical healthcare resources for poor children in Sub-Saharan Africa. This helps fill the gap left by the administration’s dismantling of USAID. Through its efforts, GiveWell estimates that it saves about 86,000 lives each year.

As an illustration of what a $100 donation can accomplish: $100 is roughly the cost GiveWell estimates of delivering a full season of preventive malaria treatment to about a dozen young children, which substantially reduces their risk of malaria, a debilitating and potentially deadly disease.

HOW TO MAKE A DONATION

1. On this page, click the orange "DONATE" rectangle at the top.

2. On the "Donate to" page, you will see in a box "All Grants Fund (default)". You need to change this to "Top Charities Fund". To do this, click on the box and from the dropdown menu, choose "Top Charities Fund" (the second item). Then insert the "Amount" of the donation.

3. On the following page, choose "Credit" [card] or "Bank Account" and provide requested information.

4. On the final "Your information" page, provide the requested information. Then, to let us know you have made a donation, check "I would like to dedicate this donation to someone" and insert the following information:

Dedication Name: Robin and Bruce
Notification Name: Robin and Bruce
Notification Email Address: brucecogan@gmail.com

We encourage you to add a message in the "Personalized Message" box. To send the notification without delay, do NOT fill in "When should we send the notification?" Finally, to complete the donation, at the bottom of the page click on the orange "Donate" rectangle.

We thank all of you who make a donation. You are enhancing the sweetness of our celebration.

With love,

Robin and Bruce

1
books icon

Backed by 50,000+ hours of research each year

We’ve been researching and funding charities since 2007. Our work aims to understand how charities work and how much they help the people they serve
2
rosette icon

Only the best, according to our high standards

We’ve reviewed hundreds of charities. Very few meet our high bar for funding.
3
hands giving banknotes icon

GiveWell takes zero fees

Our operations are funded by donors who choose to support us. 100% of all other donations (minus standard bank and credit card fees) will go to the fund or organization of your choice.

The gold standard for giving.

Boston Globe logo

As seen in

3 ways to donate.

Most common

Top Charities Fund

How will my donation be used?
Your donation will be granted to one of our top charities. These are the most reliably high-impact and cost-effective charities we’ve identified. We’ve evaluated them extensively and have high confidence that donations to them will do a lot of good.
Is there a downside?
We have a high bar for the evidence and scalability of these opportunities. This may limit the cost-effectiveness ceiling for these grants.
Best for
If you want high confidence in the effectiveness of your donation, donate to the Top Charities Fund.

All Grants Fund

How will my donation be used?
Your donation will be granted to the highest-impact programs across all our grantmaking in global health and wellbeing. Some programs may be much more cost-effective than our top charities, but we may also be much more uncertain about their impact.
Is there a downside?
It’s riskier than our Top Charities Fund. For example, we may not have as much confidence in the evidence base or may not have the same extensive history working with the grantee.
Best for
If you want the highest possible expected impact and are comfortable with higher risk, donate to the All Grants Fund.

Direct to charities

How will my donation be used?
You can make a donation to any of our top charities through the GiveWell site, and your donation will be granted directly to that program.
Is there a downside?
You may select a top charity that has lower-priority funding needs at the time of your donation. In contrast, donating to the Top Charities Fund ensures your gift will go to the highest-impact grant opportunities among any of our top charities.
Best for
If you’d like to choose the specific charity that will receive your gift, any of our top charities are great options for making an impact.
We also offer an Unrestricted Fund, which includes donations at GiveWell’s discretion – including to our own overhead.
Please note that fungibility affects your gift to all donation options. Read more about this concept here.

Our Research Process

We research each program extensively before funding it, and assess what the program accomplishes with that funding.

1
Gather independent evidence

We look at independent studies, such as randomized controlled trials, of charity programs to understand if they achieve their goals. We also consult experts to gain practical and context-specific insights.

2
Model cost-effectiveness

We build in-depth models to analyze programs’ cost-effectiveness. We refine these throughout our evaluation process, based on budgets and monitoring data, to estimate impact per dollar spent.

3
Conduct interviews and site visits

We conduct extensive interviews with staff from potential grantee organizations. We may visit them to see their work in action.

4
Review budgets

We review potential grantees' past spending and forecast their future spending to better understand their track record and expected impact.

5
Ask for program data

We ask organizations to share data so we can better understand how successful the programs have been.

6
Follow up on progress

We continually assess the work, progress, and future plans of the programs we fund. We will stop funding a program if we no longer believe it meets our criteria.

person holding baby graphic

More than 125,000 donorsiBased on our records of donors who've contributed either to GiveWell or to our recommended charities.
— Learn more
have trusted GiveWell to direct their donations. Together, they have given over $2 billioniBased on our records of the money we've directed to our recommended charities since 2011.
— Learn more
to the organizations we recommend.

hands giving money graphic

These donations will save over 200,000 lives.iBased on our cost-effectiveness analysis and our records of money we've directed to our recommended charities since 2009.
— Learn more