{
  "name": "causes",
  "description": "Cause areas with their editorial positions on five dimensions.",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0. Cite “Charitology (charitology.org)”.",
  "generated": "2026-10-26",
  "data": {
    "_note": "Cause areas used by the Values Compass, the Portfolio Builder and the Cause Atlas. Dimension positions run from 0 to 1 and are editorial judgments, not measurements. Challenge any of them with a pull request that explains why.",
    "dimensions": {
      "horizon": "0 = helps people alive now, 1 = protects people not yet born",
      "circle": "0 = centered on humans, 1 = all living things",
      "reach": "0 = local, 1 = global",
      "certainty": "0 = proven and measurable, 1 = speculative with large upside",
      "depth": "0 = most work is relief, 1 = most work targets structures and sources"
    },
    "causes": [
      {
        "id": "global-health",
        "name": "Global health",
        "summary": "Preventing and treating disease where health systems are weakest.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.2,
          "circle": 0.1,
          "reach": 0.9,
          "certainty": 0.15,
          "depth": 0.45
        },
        "problems": [
          "disease"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "coordination"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "extreme-poverty",
        "name": "Extreme poverty",
        "summary": "Raising the incomes and security of people living on the least.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.3,
          "circle": 0.1,
          "reach": 0.9,
          "certainty": 0.3,
          "depth": 0.5
        },
        "problems": [
          "poverty",
          "inequality",
          "hunger"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "status",
          "coordination"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "hunger",
        "name": "Hunger and food security",
        "summary": "Making sure people have enough to eat, today and through bad years.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.2,
          "circle": 0.1,
          "reach": 0.6,
          "certainty": 0.3,
          "depth": 0.35
        },
        "problems": [
          "hunger"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "coordination"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "climate",
        "name": "Climate change",
        "summary": "Cutting emissions and helping people adapt to a warming world.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.8,
          "circle": 0.5,
          "reach": 1,
          "certainty": 0.6,
          "depth": 0.75
        },
        "problems": [
          "climate",
          "pollution"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "vision",
          "coordination"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "nature",
        "name": "Nature and biodiversity",
        "summary": "Protecting species, ecosystems, water and land.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.8,
          "circle": 0.9,
          "reach": 0.8,
          "certainty": 0.6,
          "depth": 0.65
        },
        "problems": [
          "biodiversity",
          "water",
          "pollution"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "vision",
          "story"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "animals",
        "name": "Animal welfare",
        "summary": "Reducing the suffering of animals, wild and farmed.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.4,
          "circle": 1,
          "reach": 0.7,
          "certainty": 0.5,
          "depth": 0.6
        },
        "problems": [],
        "upstream": [
          "story",
          "status"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "education",
        "name": "Education",
        "summary": "Helping people learn, from early childhood to adult skills.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.5,
          "circle": 0.1,
          "reach": 0.5,
          "certainty": 0.35,
          "depth": 0.55
        },
        "problems": [
          "education",
          "inequality"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "gatekeepers",
          "vision"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "mental-health",
        "name": "Mental health",
        "summary": "Treating and preventing mental illness, loneliness and addiction.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.3,
          "circle": 0.1,
          "reach": 0.4,
          "certainty": 0.45,
          "depth": 0.4
        },
        "problems": [
          "mental",
          "loneliness",
          "addiction"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "attention",
          "story"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "housing",
        "name": "Housing and homelessness",
        "summary": "Keeping people housed and making homes affordable.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.3,
          "circle": 0.1,
          "reach": 0.2,
          "certainty": 0.35,
          "depth": 0.45
        },
        "problems": [
          "housing",
          "poverty"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "coordination",
          "gatekeepers"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "democracy",
        "name": "Democracy and good government",
        "summary": "Fair elections, honest institutions, a healthy information ecosystem.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.6,
          "circle": 0.1,
          "reach": 0.5,
          "certainty": 0.7,
          "depth": 0.85
        },
        "problems": [
          "corruption",
          "polarization",
          "distrust",
          "misinformation"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "attention",
          "story",
          "gatekeepers"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "peace",
        "name": "Peace and security",
        "summary": "Preventing war and violence and helping people recover from them.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.6,
          "circle": 0.2,
          "reach": 0.8,
          "certainty": 0.7,
          "depth": 0.7
        },
        "problems": [
          "war"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "story",
          "coordination"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "catastrophic-risk",
        "name": "Catastrophic risks",
        "summary": "Reducing the chance of pandemics, nuclear war and other disasters that could set civilization back.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 1,
          "circle": 0.3,
          "reach": 1,
          "certainty": 0.9,
          "depth": 0.8
        },
        "problems": [
          "war",
          "disease"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "coordination",
          "vision"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "science",
        "name": "Science and knowledge",
        "summary": "Research, open data and the public understanding of what is true.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.8,
          "circle": 0.3,
          "reach": 1,
          "certainty": 0.75,
          "depth": 0.8
        },
        "problems": [
          "misinformation",
          "disease",
          "education"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "gatekeepers",
          "vision"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "community",
        "name": "Local community",
        "summary": "The neighborhood institutions that make a place work.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.2,
          "circle": 0.1,
          "reach": 0,
          "certainty": 0.3,
          "depth": 0.35
        },
        "problems": [
          "loneliness",
          "distrust"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "coordination"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "arts",
        "name": "Arts and culture",
        "summary": "The stories, art and shared culture a society uses to understand itself.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.5,
          "circle": 0.1,
          "reach": 0.3,
          "certainty": 0.5,
          "depth": 0.6
        },
        "problems": [
          "loneliness",
          "distrust"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "story",
          "vision"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "faith",
        "name": "Faith and spiritual life",
        "summary": "Religious communities and the care they provide.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.4,
          "circle": 0.2,
          "reach": 0.2,
          "certainty": 0.4,
          "depth": 0.6
        },
        "problems": [
          "loneliness"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "story",
          "status"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "charity-system",
        "name": "The charity system itself",
        "summary": "Research, infrastructure and incentives that change where all the other money goes.",
        "dims": {
          "horizon": 0.7,
          "circle": 0.5,
          "reach": 1,
          "certainty": 0.7,
          "depth": 1
        },
        "problems": [
          "all"
        ],
        "upstream": [
          "story",
          "coordination",
          "vision",
          "attention",
          "status",
          "gatekeepers"
        ]
      }
    ],
    "problems": [
      {
        "id": "climate",
        "label": "Climate change"
      },
      {
        "id": "war",
        "label": "War"
      },
      {
        "id": "poverty",
        "label": "Poverty"
      },
      {
        "id": "hunger",
        "label": "Hunger"
      },
      {
        "id": "disease",
        "label": "Disease"
      },
      {
        "id": "water",
        "label": "Water scarcity"
      },
      {
        "id": "pollution",
        "label": "Pollution"
      },
      {
        "id": "biodiversity",
        "label": "Biodiversity loss"
      },
      {
        "id": "housing",
        "label": "Housing"
      },
      {
        "id": "education",
        "label": "Education gaps"
      },
      {
        "id": "inequality",
        "label": "Inequality"
      },
      {
        "id": "corruption",
        "label": "Corruption"
      },
      {
        "id": "distrust",
        "label": "Distrust"
      },
      {
        "id": "polarization",
        "label": "Polarization"
      },
      {
        "id": "misinformation",
        "label": "Misinformation"
      },
      {
        "id": "loneliness",
        "label": "Loneliness"
      },
      {
        "id": "mental",
        "label": "Mental health"
      },
      {
        "id": "addiction",
        "label": "Addiction"
      }
    ]
  }
}