What would count as progress
A working mechanism in which feedback from the people served measurably changes funding, tested against a comparison group.
Why it matters
This is the root condition of the Diagnosis. Charitology hypothesizes that improving this loop could also change other conditions.
Where to start
Beneficiary feedback surveys, participatory grantmaking and cash transfers (where recipients choose what to buy) are three existing mechanisms that give the people served some say. The open question is which of them, if any, can be scaled into a signal donors actually follow.