What it is
Experts work across many causes and disciplines; this proposal would give them a shared place to examine the system that connects their work. The Charitology Summit would gather people once a year around that shared system: researchers, funders, nonprofit staff and the people charity serves, from every cause and every moral framework.
How it works
The summit would be organized around work, not speeches. Each session would take one open problem, one dataset or one disagreement and end with something written down: a plan, a partial answer or a list of what would settle the question. Some sessions would return every year: progress on the Open Problems, a red-team session on Charitology’s own claims and a session where organizations present their failures.
Attendance would be free or low-cost, with travel support for people from the communities and countries where much charitable money is spent. Every session would be streamed and published. An online pilot would come first.
Why it matters for the system
The Fragmentation Problem raises the question of when shared information and incentives help organizations coordinate. A summit built around shared problems would give them one, and a place to start sharing data and dividing work.
It would also treat the Missing Profession. A field needs somewhere its people can meet, argue and recognize each other’s work. A yearly summit could be where a new field starts to know itself.
Risks and limits
Conferences can become prestige events, which would feed the Prestige Economy instead of treating it. The summit would sell no speaking slots or sponsor tiers, and it would publish its costs. Travel has costs of its own, so taking part online would be a full option, not an afterthought. Until partners, funding and a proper legal and governance setup are in place, the program accepts no money.
What success looks like
Within five years, the summit has produced published progress on several open problems, and at least one coordination effort among organizations working on the same problem has started there.