Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2018 March 4

= March 4 =

Associations to save human lives
Hi,

What is the best association to donate money to to directly save some human lives? 2001:EE0:4041:7C8A:C926:4D88:F69F:31BE (talk) 14:16, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
 * That is probably too subjective for a definite answer - I would look to any of the international disaster relief organisations, most of which can be guaranteed to feed someone who would otherwise starve to death, or to give medical treatment to someone who would otherwise die of some illness. Other might prefer some of the medical research charities - though the life saving might be less immediate. Wymspen (talk) 16:12, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
 * (e/c) One organisation that weighs up the evidence about the effectiveness of charitable donations is GiveWell. They explain how they come to their recommendations here. Also, see Effective altruism. Carbon Caryatid (talk) 16:14, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Reading charitywatch-hall-of-shame one has to check up the background of each organization. More and more seems very beneficial scams with one or more fraudster at the core. I like the checkup of "charitywatch", making shure atleast 75% of the money goes into projects, an "open-book" transparency status, no exessive assets are held and not to much money is spend on campaigns to raise more money. Im missing that clear "benchmarking" at "GiveWell". --Kharon (talk) 16:42, 5 March 2018 (UTC)
 * The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation regularly has very high ratings for directly helping solve problems. They've made mistakes, but they don't squander money and they don't pay their administrators multi-million dollar salaries. Nobody is getting rich off that foundation. In fact, rich people are using it specifically to get rid of money. You mentioned saving some human lives. They do that. They've fought disease and hunger in many places. They also advocate education. Our public libraries received computers from their foundation. That doesn't directly save lives, but I think it is still a good thing. 209.149.113.5 (talk) 18:54, 5 March 2018 (UTC)
 * on any of that? -- Jayron 32 20:56, 5 March 2018 (UTC)


 * https://www.google.com/search?q=bill+and+melinda+gates+foundation ... They are always in the news. Right now, they are spending $170 million to help women in poverty. You will also notice that they are the world's largest private charity. You will also note that they don't pay the administrators (Bill and Melinda Gates). Instead, they've paid into the foundation about $30 billion. Compare that to the Red Cross, where the CEO is paid about $1 million/year ($500k salary and $500k in bonuses). Same with UNICEF, pay after bonuses easily exceeds $1 million. Same with United Way, over $1 million paid after bonuses. What you really want is this: https://www.forbes.com/top-charities/list/ - The Forbes list of charity efficiency. Private charities are not listed (like the Gates foundation). But, you can use it to decide if you want to give to a charity where 15% of donations go to administration or do you want to donate to one where only 2% of donations go to administration? It is really up to you. You might feel that donating to one with high administration costs means that they do a better job. You might feel that donating to one with high administration costs is a sham. 209.149.113.5 (talk) 13:21, 6 March 2018 (UTC)
 * In reference to the "benchmark points" used by mentioned above charitywatch.org the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation can be disputed because it does hold (really) exessive assets of currently 44.3 billion US$. There are obviously a large number of other charity and help organizations that currently need additional donations much more. --Kharon (talk) 15:03, 6 March 2018 (UTC)
 * The Gates Foundation has plenty of money. I suggest donating to an affiliate of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Cullen328  Let's discuss it  06:10, 8 March 2018 (UTC)
 * I don't think it's very easy for random people to donate the the actual Gates Foundation. If you have a lot of money, sure maybe you can. But if you look at their page, they provide zero info on how to donate to them [//www.gatesfoundation.org/Get-Involved/Gates-Philanthropy-Partners/Supporting-Our-Work]. Instead they encourage you to donate to their grantees directly. But if you really don't want to, there is the Gates Philanthropy Partners. This organisation does basically the same thing (I suspect, but don't know, many of the people involved are the same), but is a separate organisation and from what I read, the money doesn't go to the Gates Foundation but instead I think from the other organisation to the grantees. Nil Einne (talk) 17:20, 9 March 2018 (UTC)