This post lays out why we've chosen to renew our support for GiveWell’s recommendations; we think it's an outstanding resource and we’re proud to support the organizations it has identified.
Change reflects organization’s growing role as advisor to many major philanthropists Coefficient Giving has directed more than $4 billion in giving since 2014 SAN FRANCISCO – Today, philanthropic funder and advisor Open Philanthropy announced it is becoming Coefficient Giving, reflecting its evolution from working primarily with one philanthropic partner to...
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.
A coefficient multiplies the value of whatever it’s paired with, just as we aim to amplify impact through our research, grantmaking, and partnerships. We knew that any name would take some getting used to, but this one captured something essential about our work.
Philanthropists tend to choose causes based on personal experience, geographic proximity, or emotional appeal. This approach is understandable — personal connection is what motivates many people to give in the first place. But some causes offer far greater opportunities for impact than others: the same donation might save ten lives in one place but a thousand in another.
One of our core values is our tolerance for philanthropic risk. We’ve seen that the biggest philanthropic wins often come from ideas that seem unlikely to succeed, so we’re open to funding a lot of work that could fail in order to find a few transformative successes.
When choosing which causes to support, we face difficult moral and empirical questions without clear "right" answers. To address this uncertainty, we divide resources across several broad approaches to doing good, each grounded in a different worldview.
