Become a charitologist
Charitology is built in the open, and anyone can practice it. Every page on this site is a file you can improve, every claim can be challenged, and every open problem is waiting for someone to take it on.
Pick a role
Researchers
Take on one of the Open Problems. Publish an approach, a dataset or a partial result as an issue.
Builders
Ship a designed program or tool. Each one has a charter with a first milestone.
Writers
Grow the Record: an encyclopedia entry, a case, a myth, a tradition. Sources first.
Reviewers
Check a draft’s sources and contribute a public review. 215 pages are waiting.
Critics
Red-team any claim. Every page links to a prefilled challenge.
Forecasters
Put a number on what will happen and get scored when it does.
The fastest way in
You don’t need to install anything. Every page has an Improve this page link that opens the file in GitHub’s editor. Make your change, describe it and propose it. A maintainer reviews it in public.
Working locally
git clone https://github.com/theguysaccount/charitology.git
cd charitology
npm ci
npm run dev # live preview at localhost:4321
npm run build # full build with search
npm run check # content cross-references and linksNode 22 or newer. No accounts, keys or services are needed.
Where things live
src/content/conditions/holds the Diagnosissrc/content/problems/holds the Open Problemssrc/content/programs/,tools/andrecord/hold the catalogsrc/content/encyclopedia/,interventions/,cases/,myths/,disagreements/,traditions/,principles/andjournal/hold the Recordsrc/content/forecasts/holds forecast questionssrc/content/charities/holds the Charity Indexsrc/data/holds causes, frameworks, the depth scale, the checklist and headline figuressrc/components/tools/holds the interactive toolsextension/holds the browser extension
The rules
Everything follows the Charitology Standard: no judgment of the good being done, a source for every factual claim, honest evidence labels, and no ratings of named charities. AI help is fine if you disclose it and check every claim yourself.
Designed, waiting for builders
Each of these has a written charter. Pick one, open an issue saying you’re on it, and ship the first milestone.
Certified Charitologist
A credential for donors, nonprofit staff and advisors who have shown they can apply the Charitology method. Anyone can practice charitology without it.
ProgramCorporate Program
Redesigns workplace giving and gift matching so they fund flexibly, report what gifts achieved and recognize results rather than size.
ProgramLocal Charitology
Applies the Charitology method to one city’s giving, mapping where local money goes by cause and depth and where organizations overlap or leave gaps.
ProgramMethods Lab
Compares the ways of giving, from direct cash and policy advocacy to research, mutual aid, volunteering, impact investing and prizes, on the same terms.
ProgramPolicy Program
Applies Charitology’s research to public budgets for aid and social programs, publishing analysis of their evidence, their mix of relief and prevention and their long-run costs.
ProgramReplication Program
Re-tests the most influential charity impact studies, publishes every result, including the ones that hold up, and reports how often headline findings survive.
ProgramTime Charitology
Studies the best use of volunteer hours, so people who give time can see which roles help most and organizations can see what each kind of help is worth to them.
ProgramUniversity Chapters
Student clubs that study and practice charitology together, using a free chapter kit whose sessions also contribute real work to the field.
RecordThe Charitology 100
A future list of the hundred most promising places to give, across every lens. It won’t be published until its method survives public red-team review.
RecordCountry Profiles
Needs, institutions and giving options country by country, built from open data.