We begin our evaluation of all international charities by reviewing their websites. (How do we identify charities for review?) We reviewed The GENESIS Network's website to determine whether it met any of the following criteria, which we believe indicate whether a charity is likely to eventually be able to meet our full criteria for a recommendation: (Why do we rely on information found on a charity's website?)
- Does the charity publish high-quality monitoring and evaluation reports on its website? A charity meets this criterion if it freely publishes - on its website - substantial evidence regarding impact that (a) discusses how the impacts of projects or programs were evaluated, including what information was collected and how it was collected; (b) discusses the actual impact of the evaluated projects. (Why is monitoring and evaluation so important?) We seek enough evidence to be confident that a charity changed lives for the better - not simply that it carried out its activities as intended. Different programs aim for different sorts of life change, and must be assessed on different terms. We do not hold to a single universal rule for determining what "impact" we're looking for; rather, what we look for varies by program type. (For more, see, What constitutes impact?)
- Does the charity stand out for program selection? A charity meets this criterion if it focuses primarily on (or publishes enough financial information to make it clear that 75% of its recent funding is devoted to) what we consider "priority programs." These programs have particularly strong evidence bases, enough to lower the burden of proof on a charity running them. (Why do we look for charities implementing proven programs?) Such programs include administering vaccinations, distributing insecticide-treated nets, and treating tuberculosis, among many others. (For more, see our full list of priority programs.)
- Is the charity focused on a program that, if it worked, would have very high upside? A charity meets this criterion if it is (a) focused on an approach that could help a large number of people with minimal resources (i.e. it could be an order of magnitude more cost-effective that the most cost-effective organizations we have identified so far); (b) trying to create a beneficial program that will ultimately not need donations with some preliminary evidence of progress towards this goal; or (c) has invented new technologies or generated knowledge that has the potential to significantly help a large number of people
The GENESIS Network did not meet any of these criteria. This doesn't mean that it isn't doing good work; it simply means that, based on best process we've developed for identifying outstanding charities, we didn't find it to be a good enough fit for further evaluation.
If you have documentation that demonstrates that The GENESIS Network does meet any of these criteria, please send it to us using our charity submission form for international aid charities.
More information:
- Overview of international charities
- Our top charities
- Full list of charities that we have considered
Published: June 2011