---
title: The Open Problems of Charitology
group: Research
order: 1
summary: A public list of 23 proposed unanswered questions in doing good, each precise enough to work on, with progress tracked in the open.
status: live
statusNote: All 23 problems are published and open for work. Prizes wait on the Question Bounties program.
conditions: [missing-profession, measurement-gap, symptom-trap]
firstMilestone: The first partial result on any open problem, published and reviewed in public.
help:
  - Pick a problem and open an issue with your approach, data or partial result.
  - Propose a new problem with a pull request to src/content/problems/.
  - Help design the unfunded Question Bounties program; it accepts no money now.
related: [/open-problems/, /record/progress-report/, /programs/question-bounties/]
---

## What it is

Inspired by the idea of a public research agenda, Charitology’s [Open Problems](/open-problems/) set out 23 proposed questions about giving. Each one turns a condition from the [Diagnosis](/diagnosis/) into a question precise enough that someone could answer it, with a stated test for what would count as progress.

## How it works

Every problem is a public page and a file in the repository. Anyone can work on one. Approaches, datasets and partial results go into GitHub issues tagged `open-problem`, where they are discussed in public. When a result holds up under review, the problem’s status moves from `open` to `partial` or `solved`, and the [Progress Report](/record/progress-report/) records it.

The list itself is open to revision. A new problem gets in when it names a condition it would treat and states what would count as progress.

## Why it matters for the system

A field is defined as much by its questions as by its answers. Some questions cross disciplines, causes and funders. This agenda offers a place to coordinate work on them; it does not claim that nobody is already studying them. Naming them gives researchers a target, funders a portfolio and newcomers a place to start, which is the first step toward [the missing profession](/diagnosis/missing-profession/).

## What success looks like

Within five years, at least five problems have published partial results that change how a meaningful amount of money is given, and the list has been revised at least once because the field learned something.