---
title: Portfolio Builder
group: For donors
order: 2
summary: Split a giving budget across causes when you aren’t sure which moral framework is right, compare two ways of doing it, and see how much they agree.
status: live
conditions: [single-lens, symptom-trap]
help:
  - Propose a better allocation method in an issue tagged open-problem, citing Open Problem 16.
  - Improve the framework priorities in src/data/frameworks.json with a pull request that explains your reasoning.
related: [/tools/values-compass/, /tools/one-click-split/, /open-problems/moral-parliament-in-practice/]
---

## Why a portfolio

If you think welfare matters most but justice and future generations count too, your giving can reflect all three in proportion. The builder explores how to act under [moral uncertainty](/record/encyclopedia/moral-uncertainty/), without assuming one framework must decide every gift.

## The two methods

**Each lens spends its share.** Every framework gets a slice of your budget equal to your credence in it and spends that slice on its own top causes. This resembles a *moral parliament*, where each view gets seats in proportion to your confidence in it. It tends to spread money widely.

**Best on average.** Each cause gets a score: its priority under each framework, weighted by your credence. The money then goes to the five highest-scoring causes. This resembles maximizing *expected choice-worthiness*. It tends to concentrate money.

When the two disagree, your answer depends on the method as much as on your values. Nobody has settled which method is right. That is [Open Problem 16](/open-problems/moral-parliament-in-practice/), and the builder shows you where it bites.

## Relief or sources

The slider shifts money toward causes whose work tends to sit deeper on the [depth scale](/method/#depth), or toward relief. Neither end is correct. The point is to choose your mix on purpose, which is the treatment for [the Symptom Trap](/diagnosis/symptom-trap/).

## What it isn’t

The builder allocates across cause areas, not charities. To turn a portfolio into gifts, take it to [One-Click Split](/tools/one-click-split/). The framework priorities are editorial judgments, published in `src/data/frameworks.json` for anyone to challenge.