We complete two types of evaluation:

• Internal reviews of our progress over the past year, focusing on the research we’ve completed, growth in the organization, and key metrics such as donations influenced and web traffic. A full list of these reports is available at our annual reviews page.
• External assessments of the quality of our research, focusing on the quality of our methodology, the usefulness of our recommendations, and the accuracy [bad word] of our findings. We ask two types of individuals to complete these assessments: subject matter experts (often academics who work in relevant fields) and individual donors (the types of people likely to use our research to decide where to give).

Internal reviews and plans

GiveWell’s mission is to find outstanding giving opportunities and publish the full details of our analysis to help donors decide where to give. The ultimate goal is to have significant impact on the flow of donations, moving toward a world in which donors reward effectiveness in improving lives.

Each year we complete an internal review of our progress over the previous year and publish a plan of our goals for the coming year.

Most recent self-evaluation

Our most recent self-evaluation (February 2011) is made up of the following documents:

• GiveWell metrics report: key stats on GiveWell's money moved and web traffic.
• Annual review introduction: a big picture change in priorities.
• Annual review: evaluating GiveWell as a donor resource.
• Annual review: evaluating GiveWell as a project.
• Plan: top-level priorities.
• Plan: specifics of the research.

External reviews

External reviews are a relatively new part of our evaluation; we began this process in July 2010. Thus far, we have only created assignments to vet our international aid report, the main area in which we had completed research by July 2010.

We created five separate external vetting assignments, each evaluating a separate piece of our process:

• Issue overview: The purpose of this assignment is to assess the conclusions we've come to (and the sources we've used) regarding key issues (from an individual donor standpoint) in international aid.
• Criteria and heuristics: The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate and reflect on (a) the criteria we use to evaluate charities; (b) the heuristics we use to identify charities most likely to meet these criteria.
• Narrowing the field: The purpose of this assignment is to vet our process for narrowing the field from a large number of "charities to be examined" to a smaller number of "charities for futher investigation." It consists of "spot checking" different categories of charities, determining whether we have applied our criteria consistently and appropriately, and reflecting on the appropriateness of our criteria.
• Charity review: The purpose of this assignment is to assess the conclusions we've come to about a particular charity that passed our heuristics (or that we reviewed in depth for another reason).
• Finding the Best Charity: The purpose of this assignment is to gauge the usefulness of GiveWell's research in a real-world context: deciding what charity to give to in a limited amount of time.

Completed reviews

• 1. About: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/matthew-bonds/ (accessed October 7, 2010). Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5tJnzR9Jr.
• 2. About: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sant1981/ (accessed October 19, 2010). Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5tcN1VaLe.
• 3. Andy Beckingham FFPH is a Consultant in Public Health who has worked in the UK and India. He has over 23 years of experience in health care and is currently (as of January 2011) working with a range of agencies in Andhra Pradesh on joint efforts to improve the quality of maternal care in the state.
• 4. Pierre Thompson is a 2011 graduate of Georgetown University. He completed this assignment as part of his volunteer work for GiveWell.
• 5. About: http://dri.fas.nyu.edu/object/laura_freschi.html (accessed October 7, 2010). Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5tJoWl6oT.
• 6. About: http://personal.psu.edu/dcj138/about_me/aboutme.html (accessed July 14, 2011). Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/60AgizdC5.
• 7. About: http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~jsinick2/ (accessed October 7, 2010). Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5tJpWmZbH.
• 8. Ju Min Kim is a postdoctoral research fellow in theoretical physics currently working in Germany. She completed this assignment as part of her volunteer work for GiveWell.
• 9. Robert Mundy is a 2010 graduate from Rutgers University. He completed this assignment as part of his volunteer work for GiveWell.
• 10. Robert Mundy is a 2010 graduate from Rutgers University. He completed this assignment as part of his volunteer work for GiveWell.
• 11. Robert Mundy is a 2010 graduate from Rutgers University. He completed this assignment as part of his volunteer work for GiveWell.
• 12. About: http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~jsinick2/ (accessed October 7, 2010). Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5tJpWmZbH.
• 13. Wendy Knight completed this assignment as part of her volunteer work for GiveWell. Subsequent to completing this assignment, she joined GiveWell as a full-time staff member in February 2011.
• 14. Joshua Rosenberg is a student at Pomona College. He completed this assignment as part of his volunteer work for GiveWell.
• 15. Kate Lang is a MBA student at Drexel University. She completed this assignment as part of her volunteer work for GiveWell.
• 16. Ju Min Kim is a postdoctoral research fellow in theoretical physics currently working in Germany. She completed this assignment as part of her volunteer work for GiveWell.
• 17. Rachel Gross holds a master's degree in plant biology from Northwestern and is currently a graduate student. She completed this assignment as part of her volunteer work for GiveWell.
• 18. Lim Kwangjin is a philosophy undergraduate student at New York University. He completed this assignment as part of his volunteer work for GiveWell.
• 19. Rachel Gross holds a master's degree in plant biology from Northwestern and is currently a graduate student. She completed this assignment as part of her volunteer work for GiveWell.
• 20. Ju Min Kim is a postdoctoral research fellow in theoretical physics currently working in Germany. She completed this assignment as part of her volunteer work for GiveWell.
• 21. About: http://www.stonehill.edu/x17928.xml (accessed October 7, 2010). Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5tJpWP9JQ.
• 22. Robert Mundy is a 2010 graduate of Rutgers University. He completed this assignment as part of his volunteer work for GiveWell.
• 23. Timothy Moreland is a 2009 graduate of University of Pittsburgh. He completed this assignment as part of his volunteer work for GiveWell.
• 24. About: http://new.oberlin.edu/arts-and-sciences/departments/economics/faculty_d... (accessed March 2, 2011. Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5wstBQ7HS.
• 25. Rachael Stephens is a 2011 graduate of Bryn Mawr College. She completed this assignment as part of her volunteer work for GiveWell.