“The overall cost-effectiveness of an intervention often matters less than the counterfactual use of its funding” by abrahamrowe
Cross-posted from Good Structures. For impact-minded donors, it's natural to focus on doing the most cost-effective thing. Suppose you’re genuinely neutral on what you do, as long as it maximizes the good. If you’re donating money, you want to look for the most cost-effective opportunity (on the margin) and donate to it. But many organizations and individuals who care about cost-effectiveness try to influence the giving of others. This includes: Research organizations that try to influence the allocation or use of charitable funds. Donor advisors who work with donors to find promising opportunities. People arguing to community members on venues like the EA Forum. Charity recommenders like GiveWell and Animal Charity Evaluators. These are endeavors where you’re specifically trying to influence the giving of others. And when you influence the giving of others, you don’t get full credit for their decisions! You should only get credit for how much better the thing you convinced them to do is compared to what they would otherwise do. This is something that many people in EA and related communities take for granted and find obvious in the abstract. But I think the implications of this aren’t always fully digested by the [...] ---Outline:(03:34) Impact is largely a function of what the donor would have done otherwise.(04:36) Is improving the use of effective or ineffective charitable dollars easier?(06:14) How do people respond to these lower impact interventions?(08:14) What are the implications of paying a lot more attention to funding counterfactuals?(10:21) Objections to this argument. ---
First published:
November 12th, 2025
Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/YrMFHJm7mbswJd7Me/the-overall-cost-effectiveness-of-an-intervention-often
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
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“Announcing ClusterFree: A cluster headache advocacy and research initiative (and how you can help)” by Alfredo Parra 🔸, algekalipso
Today we’re announcing a new cluster headache advocacy and research initiative: ClusterFree Learn more about how you (and anyone) can help.Our mission ClusterFree's mission is to help cluster headache patients globally access safe, effective pain relief treatments as soon as possible through advocacy and research. Cluster headache (also known as ‘suicide headache’) is considered the most painful condition known to mankind. We believe it is one of the largest sources of preventable extreme suffering in humans today. Every year, about 3 million adults (and an unknown number of minors) suffer from this debilitating condition. And yet, even in the EU, only 47% of the cluster headache population had unrestricted access to standard treatments (primarily oxygen and triptans) in 2019. Despite affecting a similar number of people as multiple sclerosis, global investment into cluster headache is minuscule. At the same time, countless patients have reported previously unattainable relief using certain psychedelics, even at low doses. For example, psilocybin, LSD and 5-MeO-DALT can effectively prevent attacks, and N,N-DMT can abort attacks within seconds and also have some preventative effects. However, these life-saving treatments are inaccessible to the vast majority of patients. We want to tackle these problems by: Publishing [...] ---Outline:(00:37) Our mission(02:32) About us(03:22) How you (and anyone) can help(04:59) Room for funding(06:41) Work with us(06:54) Further information ---
First published:
November 21st, 2025
Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/vzG8wu9b6vuoRxD3z/announcing-clusterfree-a-cluster-headache-advocacy-and
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
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“Open Philanthropy Is Now Coefficient Giving” by Aaron Gertler 🔸
Big news from Open Philanthropy Coefficient Giving today: Today, Open Philanthropy is becoming Coefficient Giving. Our mission remains the same, but our new name marks our next chapter as we double down on our longstanding goal of helping more funders increase their impact. We believe philanthropy can be a far more vital force for progress than it is today; too often, great opportunities to help others go unfunded. As Coefficient Giving, our aim is to make it as easy as possible for donors to find and fund them. (For more on how we chose our new name, what's changing, and what's staying the same in this next chapter, see here.) The linked essay, from Coefficient CEO Alexander Berger, shares more about the change, our approach to giving, and why we’re focused on growing our work with funders outside of Good Ventures. I also wanted to highlight some details that might be of particular interest to a Forum audience. If you have other questions, leave a comment and I’ll do my best to respond! Any changes to your relationship with EA? Nope. While we do lots of work outside traditional EA cause areas, we still see EA as a community [...] ---
First published:
November 18th, 2025
Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/vkvtu6xbvfkHPhJkC/open-philanthropy-is-now-coefficient-giving
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
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“The Protein Problem” by LewisBollard
Note: This post was crossposted from the Open Philanthropy Farm Animal Welfare Research Newsletter by the Forum team, with the author's permission. The author may not see or respond to comments on this post. People can’t get enough protein. Fully 61% of Americans say they ate more protein last year — and 85% intended to eat more this year. Last week, dairy giant Danone said it can’t keep up with US demand for its high-protein yogurt. Other food makers are rushing to pack protein into everything from Doritos to Pop-Tarts. The craze is global. The net percentage of Europeans wanting more protein has more than doubled since 2023, driven by protein-hungry Brits, Poles, and Spaniards. (The epicurean French and Italians remain holdouts.) Chinese per capita protein supply recently overtook already-high American levels. Young people are leading the charge. Across Asia, Europe, and the US, most Gen Z’ers want more protein, suggesting this trend may persist. In one recent British university survey, “protein” was the top reason students gave for not giving up meat. Doctors are also telling the 6 - 10% of Americans now taking GLP-1 weight loss drugs to eat more protein to prevent muscle loss. This is [...] ---
First published:
November 5th, 2025
Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/P7NuYbwbMMNTM45Cz/the-protein-problem
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
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“New donation opportunity: the Center for Wild Animal Welfare” by Ben Stevenson, RichardP
The Center for Wild Animal Welfare (CWAW) is a new policy advocacy organization, working to improve the lives of wild animals today and build support for wild animal welfare policy. We’re now fundraising for our first year, and the next $60,000 will be matched 1:1 by a generous supporter. We’ve already started engaging policymakers on wild animal-friendly urban infrastructure (e.g. bird-safe glass). In 2026, we plan to keep engaging on urban infrastructure; start working on additional policy areas like fertility control and pesticide policy; and pursue agenda setting (e.g. publishing a State of Wild Animal Welfare Policy report). Wild animal welfare is one of the world's most important and neglected issues. Governments routinely make decisions that affect trillions of wild animals without considering their individual wellbeing. We want to change this: CWAW is one of the first organizations in the world dedicated to ensuring policymakers consider the individual welfare of wild animals. Our focus on near term policy will help wild animals now, and also build future support by proving that wild animal welfare is a legitimate and tractable policy concern. CWAW is co-founded by Richard Parr MBE, a former policy adviser to the UK Prime Minister, and Ben [...] ---Outline:(02:27) Why support wild animal welfare policy?(07:37) What we've achieved already(09:38) What we'll do in 2026(14:51) How will CWAW use marginal funding?(15:45) Who we are(16:17) Endorsements(18:30) How to help ---
First published:
November 18th, 2025
Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/uko8rxrcmYB54ZnBH/new-donation-opportunity-the-center-for-wild-animal-welfare
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
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