What is the difference between GiveRadar and GiveWell?

Different research questions. GiveWell, founded in 2007 by Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld, is a US 501(c)(3) charity evaluator that conducts deep cost-effectiveness research on a small curated set of charities, asking: "Where can a donor's dollar do the most good?" GiveWell's current top charities are the Against Malaria Foundation, Malaria Consortium (seasonal malaria chemoprevention), Helen Keller International (vitamin A supplementation), and New Incentives (conditional cash transfers for vaccination); over 2.6 billion USD has been directed through GiveWell, with current top charities expected to save over 340,000 lives. GiveRadar is a free global database asking a different question: "Is this charity registered, transparent, and well-governed?" We cover 7 million+ charities across 65+ countries with registry-sourced operational data and an automatic Integrity Assessment, but we do not measure impact. The two tools complement each other; serious donors use both.

Is GiveRadar a GiveWell alternative?

Not a direct alternative. If your question is "which charity will save the most lives per dollar?", GiveWell is the right tool and we cannot replace its decade-plus of cost-effectiveness research. We do not produce impact analyses, randomized controlled trials, or cost-per-life-saved estimates. If your question is "is this charity legitimate and well-governed?" or you want to research a charity GiveWell does not evaluate (which includes the vast majority of the world's nonprofits), GiveRadar fills that gap. Many donors use GiveWell to choose a top charity and GiveRadar to verify other charities they encounter outside GiveWell's narrow research scope.

Does GiveWell evaluate every charity?

No, by design. GiveWell deliberately focuses its research depth on a small number of charities, currently four top charities receiving 76 percent of GiveWell-directed funding. GiveWell spends 70,000+ hours per year on research; that effort is concentrated on programs where rigorous cost-effectiveness analysis is possible (typically global health interventions like malaria nets, vitamin A supplementation, and seasonal malaria chemoprevention). The vast majority of charities, including most US 501(c)(3)s and almost all international charities, fall outside GiveWell's research scope. GiveRadar covers 7 million+ charities across 65+ countries because we use a different methodology: registry-sourced operational data rather than deep impact analysis.

Should I donate to a charity that is not on GiveWell's top charities list?

Yes, and most donors do. GiveWell's top charities are an excellent default for donors who specifically want to maximize cost-effective lives-saved-per-dollar in global health. Donors who care about other cause areas (education, environment, arts, local community, advocacy, religious giving) need different research because GiveWell does not evaluate those areas. Donors with personal connections to specific charities reasonably give to those organizations regardless of GiveWell's analytical framework. For any non-top-charity donation, basic due diligence still matters: confirm the charity is registered, transparent, and well-governed. GiveRadar provides registry-sourced operational signals for any charity in 65+ countries; we are not a substitute for GiveWell's impact analysis but we do answer the verification question for charities GiveWell does not cover.

Does GiveWell cover non-US charities?

GiveWell evaluates programs that work in low and middle income countries (the operational footprint of most top charities is in Africa and Asia), but the recommended charities themselves are usually US-registered nonprofits operating internationally (the Against Malaria Foundation, for example, is registered in the United States). For charities registered in the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Canada, Brazil, or other countries that GiveWell does not specifically evaluate, GiveRadar provides registry-sourced data through their respective official government regulators.

How does GiveWell's methodology differ from GiveRadar's Integrity Assessment?

Fundamentally different. GiveWell's methodology is impact-focused: how much good does this program accomplish per dollar spent? Answering that requires cost-effectiveness analysis, often grounded in randomized controlled trial evidence (deworming, malaria nets, cash transfers). GiveRadar's Integrity Assessment is operational: is this charity registered, financially transparent, organizationally transparent, externally validated, and engaged with its community? Answering that requires aggregating registry-filed data from 50+ government sources. Both methodologies are valid for what they are designed to measure. GiveWell's analysis is the right tool for picking effective charities in narrow domains; GiveRadar's score is the right tool for verifying that any charity is legitimate and well-governed.

Why does GiveWell only recommend a few charities?

GiveWell's research is depth-first rather than breadth-first. Producing a credible cost-effectiveness analysis on a single charity's program takes months of research, including reviewing academic evidence, running cost-effectiveness models, conducting site visits, and following up with the charity over time. With 70,000+ hours per year of research capacity, GiveWell can sustain depth analysis on roughly 4-10 top charities at any given time. The constraint is research bandwidth, not lack of interest in evaluating other organizations. GiveRadar takes the opposite approach: shallow but broad, automating registry data ingestion to cover 7 million+ charities. The two methodologies are complementary because they make different breadth-versus-depth tradeoffs.

Can GiveRadar help me donate to GiveWell's top charities?

Yes. GiveWell's current top charities (Against Malaria Foundation, Malaria Consortium, Helen Keller International, New Incentives) are all in GiveRadar's database with their registry filings, financials, and Integrity Assessment. You can verify the operational signals on GiveRadar before donating to confirm the charity remains in good standing. GiveWell itself recommends donating directly through their site (givewell.org) or through their Top Charities Fund, where they handle distribution. GiveRadar is a verification layer alongside GiveWell's recommendation, not a replacement for either.

Is GiveWell free to use?

Yes. GiveWell is itself a US 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 20-8625442) and publishes all its research free at givewell.org. They do not charge donors a fee, do not take a cut of the donations they direct, and are funded by separate operational donations from supporters. GiveRadar is similarly free for browsing the web interface, free for the API tier of 100 requests per day, with paid Pro and Enterprise tiers for higher programmatic volume. Both platforms are donor-aligned: nothing they do depends on extracting value from the donations users make.

Is GiveRadar associated with the effective altruism movement?

GiveRadar is a neutral charity research platform without affiliation to any particular giving philosophy, including effective altruism. We provide registry-sourced data and operational signals that can be used by donors who follow EA principles (and we have positive views about GiveWell's work in that space) as well as donors who give from local connection, religious tradition, identity, or any other principled basis. Our Integrity Assessment evaluates whether a charity is well-run, not whether the cause area matches any particular ethical framework.

Comparison

GiveRadar vs GiveWell: an honest comparison

Different questions, complementary tools. GiveWell asks "where can my dollar do the most good?" with deep cost-effectiveness research on a few top charities. GiveRadar asks "is this charity legitimate and well-governed?" with registry-sourced data on 7 million+ charities across 65+ countries. We will be honest: if your goal is maximum lives saved per dollar, GiveWell is the right tool and we cannot match its impact research.

Skip to verdict See full comparison

GiveRadar in one paragraph

A free global charity research database launched in 2026. Aggregates 7 million+ charities across 65+ countries from 50+ official government registries. Computes an Integrity Assessment from 0 to 100 automatically from registry-filed data. Surfaces red flags, sanctions matches, and per-charity news. We answer the verification question: is this charity legitimate, transparent, and well-governed? We do not answer the impact question.

GiveWell in one paragraph

A US 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 20-8625442) founded in 2007 by Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld, two former finance professionals who left their jobs to research how donations could do the most good. Spends 70,000+ hours per year on cost-effectiveness analysis. Has directed over 2.6 billion USD from 150,000+ donors to a small set of evidence-based top charities, with current recommendations expected to save more than 340,000 lives. The defining cost-effectiveness research source for the effective altruism movement.

The 30-second verdict

If you specifically want to maximize lives saved per dollar in global health, donate through GiveWell. Their cost-effectiveness analysis is genuinely best-in-class and there is no substitute for what they do. If you want to research a charity GiveWell does not evaluate (which is most charities in the world), or to verify that a recommended charity remains operationally sound, use GiveRadar. The two tools sit naturally side by side: GiveWell tells you which programs work; GiveRadar tells you what every charity reports.

Who they are

A bit of context on each platform before the side-by-side detail.

GiveWell

GiveWell was founded in 2007 by Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld, who left careers in the finance industry to start the organization full-time. The premise was simple and uncommon: when you give to a charity, how much good actually results from your donation? Answering that question rigorously is hard, and GiveWell has spent nearly two decades building the methodology to do it. The organization is a US 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 20-8625442).

GiveWell's current top charities are the Against Malaria Foundation (insecticide-treated bed nets), the Malaria Consortium (seasonal malaria chemoprevention), Helen Keller International (vitamin A supplementation), and New Incentives (conditional cash transfers to increase childhood vaccination). These four charities receive 76 percent of GiveWell-directed funding because GiveWell's cost-effectiveness analysis suggests they are the most efficient ways currently available to save lives.

Cumulative impact: over 2.6 billion USD directed from 150,000+ donors. The 1.4 billion USD directed to current top charities is expected to save more than 340,000 lives. GiveWell is a leading source for the effective altruism movement and has been recognized for transparently publishing its research, including the cost-effectiveness models, source documents, and reasoning behind every recommendation. Research is free at givewell.org. GiveWell takes no fees from the donations it processes.

GiveRadar

GiveRadar launched in 2026 as a free global charity research database. Where GiveWell focuses depth-first on a small number of evidence-based interventions, GiveRadar focuses breadth-first on the entire registered nonprofit sector. We do not measure impact; we surface what charities have filed publicly with their respective government regulators.

The database covers 7 million+ charities across 65+ countries, normalized from 50+ official government registries (the IRS in the United States, the Charity Commission for England and Wales, ACNC for Australia, CRA for Canada, BZSt for Germany, RNA for France, and dozens more). Every charity receives an Integrity Assessment from 0 to 100 calculated automatically across five components: registration status, financial transparency, organizational transparency, third-party validation, and community signals.

We surface automated red flags (high executive pay, low program spending, missing filings, sanctions matches) and per-charity news context through GDELT integration. The platform is free for browsing; the REST API has a free tier of 100 requests per day, with paid Pro and Enterprise tiers for higher volume. Methodology and OpenAPI specification are published openly under CC-BY 4.0.

Side-by-side comparison

These tools are not competitors; the table compares them across dimensions where each is meaningful. Last reviewed June 2026.

Dimension	GiveRadar	GiveWell
Primary research question	Is this charity legitimate, transparent, and well-governed?	Where can a dollar do the most good?
Methodology	Operational signals from 50+ official government registries	Cost-effectiveness analysis grounded in academic evidence (often randomized controlled trials)
Charities covered	7 million+ (broad, all causes, all countries)	~4-10 deep-research top charities; broader research output beyond that
Geographic scope	65+ countries; truly global	Recommended charities are typically US-registered but operate globally; programs evaluated mainly in low/middle-income countries
Cause areas	All cause areas (no opinion on which to prioritize)	Concentrated in global health and poverty interventions where cost-effectiveness analysis is feasible
Per-charity output	Integrity Assessment 0-100, red flags, news context, financials, officers	Cost per outcome (e.g., cost per life saved), full intervention review with sources
Research depth per charity	Shallow but broad (automated)	Deep (months of human research per recommendation)
Public API	REST + OpenAPI spec; free 100 req/day; Pro 99 USD/month	No public API; research published as articles and spreadsheets
Donations processed	No; profile pages link to external donate pages	Yes, through the GiveWell site and Top Charities Fund; takes no fees
Cumulative scale	Database; not a donation channel	$2.6B+ directed from 150,000+ donors; $418M in 2025 grants alone
Methodology published	Yes, openly under CC-BY 4.0; full weight breakdown per scoring component	Yes; full cost-effectiveness models, source documents, and reasoning published
Founded	2026	2007 by Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld
Legal status	Private platform (Timmermans Media OÜ, Estonia)	US 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 20-8625442)

When to use which

For most thoughtful donors, the question is not "which" but "in what combination".

Use GiveWell when

• Your goal is to maximize cost-effective lives-saved-per-dollar in global health
• You follow effective altruism principles and want recommendations grounded in academic evidence
• You are giving a large gift and the depth of GiveWell's research justifies the time investment
• You want to read the cost-effectiveness models, source documents, and intervention literature for yourself
• You are comfortable concentrating your giving in malaria prevention, vitamin A supplementation, vaccination, and similar evidence-rich global health interventions

Use GiveRadar when

• You want to research a charity GiveWell does not evaluate (the vast majority of charities)
• Your giving is in cause areas outside GiveWell's research scope (education, environment, arts, advocacy, religious giving, local community)
• The charity is registered outside the United States in any of 65+ countries we cover
• You are verifying that a charity is registered, transparent, and well-governed before donating
• You need a programmatic API for nonprofit research at scale
• You want sanctions screening, news monitoring, or red flag detection per charity

Use both when

You are donating to a GiveWell top charity and want to verify its operational signals remain healthy. The Against Malaria Foundation, Malaria Consortium, Helen Keller International, and New Incentives are all in the GiveRadar database with their registry filings, financial signals, and Integrity Assessments. GiveWell's cost-effectiveness analysis tells you the program works; GiveRadar's registry data tells you the organization remains transparent and well-governed. Both are useful inputs to the same decision.

What we have in common

Despite different methodologies, both platforms share core values about how research should serve donors.

Free for users

Research and recommendations are publicly accessible at no cost on either platform.

Methodology published

Both platforms publish their research methodology in detail so donors can audit how recommendations or scores are reached.

No payment from rated charities

Both refuse payment from charities they evaluate, preserving the objectivity of every recommendation or score.

Research-driven mission

Both platforms exist to make giving better through research rather than to capture donor attention or extract platform fees.

Honest about the limits

Where each platform is not the right tool. Both have real limits; we try to be plain about ours.

Where GiveWell is not a fit

• Researching charities outside their narrow set of evaluated programs (most charities, most cause areas)
• Cause areas where cost-effectiveness analysis is hard or impossible (advocacy, education, arts, environment, religious giving)
• Donors who prioritize personal connection, local impact, or values-based giving over cost-effective lives-saved
• Verifying basic operational integrity for arbitrary charities; GiveWell does not produce a "is this charity legit" signal for non-recommended organizations
• Programmatic queries on the broad nonprofit universe; their research output is articles and spreadsheets, not an API

Where GiveRadar is not a fit

• Measuring impact: we have no equivalent to GiveWell's cost-effectiveness analysis
• Telling you which charity is "best" for a specific outcome; we surface registry data, not opinions about cause prioritization
• Evidence-based evaluation grounded in randomized controlled trials
• The judgment about whether a particular intervention works at scale; that requires GiveWell-style depth research that operational data cannot provide
• Honest caveat: if your goal is maximum lives saved per dollar in global health, donate through GiveWell. We will never substitute for what they do, and we should not.

Verify any charity in any country

Search any of 7 million+ charities across 65+ countries. Use GiveRadar to confirm operational integrity; pair it with GiveWell when impact research is what you need.

Search charities How we score Data sources

Primary sources

All figures sourced from each platform's own published documentation. GiveRadar figures are live counts from this platform.

This page is written and maintained by GiveRadar. We make no claim to neutrality: we built GiveRadar and we believe in it. We have tried to represent GiveWell fairly. GiveWell is a serious organization producing genuinely irreplaceable cost-effectiveness research, and we recommend it without reservation for donors whose giving aligns with effective altruism principles. The two tools answer different questions and combine well; this page exists to help donors choose which question they are trying to answer. If you spot an inaccuracy, email [email protected] and we will correct it.