I don’t know what metric you’re using to determine whether CN or GiveWell has a significantly higher online profile, but “charitynavigator.org″ returns ten times as many hits on Google as ”givewell.org″
No doubt about it, Charity Navigator evaluates more charities, but they’re able to do so because they use a substantially less rigorous methodology. They carry out a fundamentally different function: they’re a watchdog group, aiming to avoid fraud, while GiveWell conducts research to try to find excellent charities, a much more difficult task. (Looks like Yvain makes this point above).
Because it’s younger and appeals to a smaller group of people that want to maximize their impact, GiveWell moves substantially less money than Charity Navigator (though it’s growing).
Edit: I’ve been a fan of the GiveWell project for quite some time, and have an informal agreement to join GiveWell as an employee in mid-2011. I’m a student and was commenting simply on my own behalf, without any discussion with GiveWell. After Holden commented, I emailed him to say that I had commented, and he recommended that I disclose my plan to work for them.
I don’t know what metric you’re using to determine whether CN or GiveWell has a significantly higher online profile, but “charitynavigator.org″ returns ten times as many hits on Google as ”givewell.org″
No doubt about it, Charity Navigator evaluates more charities, but they’re able to do so because they use a substantially less rigorous methodology. They carry out a fundamentally different function: they’re a watchdog group, aiming to avoid fraud, while GiveWell conducts research to try to find excellent charities, a much more difficult task. (Looks like Yvain makes this point above).
Because it’s younger and appeals to a smaller group of people that want to maximize their impact, GiveWell moves substantially less money than Charity Navigator (though it’s growing).
Edit: I’ve been a fan of the GiveWell project for quite some time, and have an informal agreement to join GiveWell as an employee in mid-2011. I’m a student and was commenting simply on my own behalf, without any discussion with GiveWell. After Holden commented, I emailed him to say that I had commented, and he recommended that I disclose my plan to work for them.