Charitology
The Record · Flagship references

Intervention Database

A searchable intervention reference with evidence and depth filters, cost context, side-by-side recorded fields and source-linked research dossiers.

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An intervention is a specific thing done to make life better: a bed net, a cash transfer, a law against lead paint. The Database records what each one does, where it sits on the depth scale, how strong the evidence is and how long its effects last.

Cost per outcome appears only where a credible source publishes one, with its date and caveats. The starter database does not yet contain a comparable cost estimate for source-level work. How to build one is part of Open Problem 3. The Impact Calculator and the Compare Tool read straight from this database.

Use this reference base

Search mechanisms and sources, then filter by cause, depth, evidence grade, time to effect, cost-data availability or editorial review. Select two to four entries to compare their recorded fields. Download a dossier to retain the full text, source list and estimate caveats.

Coverage and review

The comparison never turns the records into a ranking. Cost estimates may refer to different outcomes, settings, dates and models. Unknown is not zero, and an evidence grade is separate from human editorial review.

15 entries in this working collection.

Grades summarize the cited evidence in each entry; they are not an independent review. Cost estimates can use different outcomes, places, years and models. Do not divide, rank or compare their amounts as though those units were interchangeable. Depth describes where work acts; it never grades it.

Showing 15 of 15 entries.

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Select two to four interventions for a field-by-field comparison. Cost amounts retain their original outcome, date and caveats.

Draft · human review pending 4 sources

Community health workers

Local people trained to offer basic health services and advice in their own communities, from promoting vaccination and breastfeeding to referring sick children to clinics.

Depth
2 · Prevention
Evidence grade
moderate
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
A trained member of the community visits homes, gives health advice, hands out or sells basic health products and refers the sick to clinics. Help comes to the household instead of waiting for the household to reach a clinic.
Time to effect
months
Durability
while funded
Feedback
some
Agency
top-down
Cost estimate
Not recorded. Unknown is not zero.
Estimate context
No comparable cost estimate is recorded.
Read the source list (4)
  1. Lay health workers in primary and community health care for maternal and child health and the management of infectious diseases (Cochrane systematic review) — Lewin and colleagues, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2010
  2. Reducing Child Mortality in the Last Mile: Experimental Evidence on Community Health Promoters in Uganda — Björkman Nyqvist, Guariso, Svensson and Yanagizawa-Drott, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 11(3), 2019
  3. Community Health Provision at Scale: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Uganda (seminar abstract) — Martina Björkman Nyqvist, FAIR Seminar, NHH Norwegian School of Economics, 2023
  4. WHO guideline on health policy and system support to optimize community health worker programmes — World Health Organization, 2018
Link Challenge
Draft · human review pending 5 sources

Corporate animal welfare campaigns

Advocacy that persuades food companies to change what they buy, such as pledging to source only cage-free eggs, and then tracks whether they follow through.

Depth
3 · Structure
Evidence grade
weak
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
Retailers, restaurants and food service companies buy from many farms. The theory is that when these buyers commit to new standards, their suppliers change how animals are housed to keep the business, and public tracking keeps pressure on companies to meet their deadlines.
Time to effect
years
Durability
years
Feedback
some
Agency
top-down
Cost estimate
Not recorded. Unknown is not zero.
Estimate context
No comparable cost estimate is recorded.
Read the source list (5)
  1. Corporate campaigns affect 9 to 120 years of chicken life per dollar spent — Saulius Šimčikas, Rethink Priorities, 2019
  2. Global Cage-Free Egg Fulfillment Rate Jumps to 92% — The Humane League, reporting the Open Wing Alliance’s progress report, 2025
  3. Growing share of egg-laying hens are cage-free (Chart of Note) — USDA Economic Research Service, 2023
  4. EFSA: alternatives to cages recommended to improve broiler and hen welfare — European Food Safety Authority, 2023
  5. Laying hen mortality in different indoor housing systems: a meta-analysis of data from commercial farms in 16 countries — Schuck-Paim, Negro-Calduch and Alonso, Scientific Reports 11, 2021
Link Challenge
Draft · human review pending 5 sources

Food banks and food pantries

Collecting donated and purchased food and handing it out, through pantries and meal programs, to households that don’t have enough to eat.

Depth
0 · Relief
Evidence grade
moderate
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
Food banks gather donated and purchased groceries and pass them to local pantries and meal programs, which hand them to households that need food now.
Time to effect
immediate
Durability
while funded
Feedback
weak
Agency
top-down
Cost estimate
Not recorded. Unknown is not zero.
Estimate context
No comparable cost estimate is recorded.
Read the source list (5)
  1. The Role of Food Banks in Addressing Food Insecurity: A Systematic Review — Bazerghi, McKay and Dunn, Journal of Community Health 41(4), 2016
  2. The Nutritional Quality of Food Provided from Food Pantries: A Systematic Review of Existing Literature — Simmet, Depa, Tinnemann and Stroebele-Benschop, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 117(4), 2017
  3. A novel food pantry program: food security, self-sufficiency, and diet-quality outcomes — Martin, Wu, Wolff, Colantonio and Grady, American Journal of Preventive Medicine 45(5), 2013
  4. Food insecurity in U.S. households, 2023 (Chart of Note) — USDA Economic Research Service, 2024
  5. SNAP Facts — Feeding America
Link Challenge
Draft · human review pending 4 sources

Housing First

Giving people who are homeless, often with serious mental illness, a permanent home quickly, without first requiring them to accept treatment or stop using substances.

Depth
1 · Repair
Evidence grade
strong
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
The home comes first, and it does not depend on treatment or sobriety. Rent support pays for the housing, and case managers or treatment teams offer help alongside it, on the theory that a stable home makes recovery and everything else easier.
Time to effect
immediate
Durability
while funded
Feedback
some
Agency
co-designed
Cost estimate
Not recorded. Unknown is not zero.
Estimate context
No comparable cost estimate is recorded.
Read the source list (4)
  1. Effectiveness of interventions to reduce homelessness: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Campbell systematic review) — Munthe-Kaas, Berg and Blaasvær, Campbell Systematic Reviews 14(1), 2018
  2. Effects of Housing First approaches on health and well-being of adults who are homeless or at risk of homelessness: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials — Baxter, Tweed, Katikireddi and Thomson, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 73(5), 2019
  3. A Multiple-City RCT of Housing First With Assertive Community Treatment for Homeless Canadians With Serious Mental Illness — Aubry and colleagues, Psychiatric Services, 2016
  4. Effect of scattered-site housing using rent supplements and intensive case management on housing stability among homeless adults with mental illness: a randomized trial — Stergiopoulos and colleagues for the At Home/Chez Soi Investigators, JAMA 313(9), 2015
Link Challenge
Draft · human review pending 5 sources

Incentives for childhood vaccination

Small cash or in-kind rewards for caregivers who bring a child in for routine vaccinations.

Depth
2 · Prevention
Evidence grade
moderate
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
A small reward at each visit gives caregivers an extra reason to bring a child in and to finish the full schedule. The vaccines then protect the child against the diseases themselves.
Time to effect
months
Durability
years
Feedback
some
Agency
top-down
Cost estimate
US$1,500–6,000 per death averted (GiveWell’s modeled range for one incentive program in northern Nigeria)
Estimate context
  • September 2024 update
  • This is GiveWell’s estimate for the program New Incentives runs in specific Nigerian states, and it varies by state. It is not a general figure for vaccination incentives. GiveWell’s main uncertainties are whether vaccines work less well in Nigeria than elsewhere and how much vaccination would have risen anyway.
Read the source list (5)
  1. Improving immunisation coverage in rural India: clustered randomised controlled evaluation of immunisation campaigns with and without incentives — Banerjee, Duflo, Glennerster and Kothari, BMJ 340, 2010

    A 2016 correction fixed the order of the cost figures in the abstract.

  2. New evidence: conditional cash transfers increase immunization coverage in North West Nigeria — IDinsight, 2020
  3. New Incentives — GiveWell, 2024
  4. Mobile phone-delivered reminders and incentives to improve childhood immunisation coverage and timeliness in Kenya (M-SIMU): a cluster randomised controlled trial — Gibson and colleagues, The Lancet Global Health 5(4), 2017
  5. Interventions for improving coverage of childhood immunisation in low- and middle-income countries (Cochrane systematic review) — Oyo-Ita and colleagues, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2023
Link Challenge
Draft · human review pending 2 sources

Insecticide-treated bed nets

Nets treated with insecticide, hung over beds, that protect sleepers from the mosquitoes that carry malaria.

Depth
2 · Prevention
Evidence grade
strong
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
The net blocks mosquitoes while people sleep, and the insecticide kills mosquitoes that land on it, which also lowers malaria risk for people nearby.
Time to effect
immediate
Durability
years
Feedback
some
Agency
top-down
Cost estimate
US$3,000–8,000 per death averted (GiveWell’s modeled range for the places where it funds net campaigns)
Estimate context
  • December 2023 cost-effectiveness analysis
  • This is a model for net campaigns in the locations GiveWell funds, not a measured price for a life. The range varies by location and depends on malaria mortality, net use, how long nets last and what other funders would have paid for.
Read the source list (2)
  1. Mass Distribution of Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITNs) — GiveWell, 2023
  2. Insecticide-treated nets for preventing malaria (Cochrane systematic review) — Joseph Pryce, Marty Richardson and Christian Lengeler, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2018
Link Challenge
Draft · human review pending 6 sources

Lead exposure elimination

Regulation and advocacy to take lead out of paint, fuel and everyday products, so that children and adults stop being exposed to it.

Depth
3 · Structure
Evidence grade
moderate
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
Lead harms the brain and heart, and there is no known safe level. A law that bans lead in a product stops new exposure from that source for everyone, without anyone having to change their own behavior. Advocacy groups test products for lead, publish the results and press governments to pass and enforce such laws.
Time to effect
years
Durability
generations
Feedback
weak
Agency
top-down
Cost estimate
Not recorded. Unknown is not zero.
Estimate context
No comparable cost estimate is recorded.
Read the source list (6)
  1. Lead poisoning (fact sheet) — World Health Organization, 2026
  2. Global health burden and cost of lead exposure in children and adults: a health impact and economic modelling analysis — Larsen and Sánchez-Triana, The Lancet Planetary Health 7(10), 2023
  3. Blood Lead Levels in U.S. Children Ages 1–11 Years, 1976–2016 — Egan, Cornwell, Courtney and Ettinger, Environmental Health Perspectives 129(3), 2021
  4. Era of leaded petrol over, eliminating a major threat to human and planetary health — UN Environment Programme, 2021
  5. Examination of lead concentrations in new decorative enamel paints in four countries with different histories of activity in lead paint regulation — Clark and colleagues, Environmental Research 132, 2014
  6. How Cost-Effective Is LEEP’s Malawi Program? — Lead Exposure Elimination Project, 2022
Link Challenge
Draft · human review pending 9 sources

Mass deworming

Treating all children in places where intestinal worms are common with cheap deworming pills, without testing each child first.

Depth
2 · Prevention
Evidence grade
mixed
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
Pills clear existing worm infections. Treating whole schools or communities can also cut how much infection spreads to untreated children. The hoped-for results are better health and school attendance in childhood and higher earnings in adulthood.
Time to effect
years
Durability
unknown
Feedback
weak
Agency
top-down
Cost estimate
Not recorded. Unknown is not zero.
Estimate context
No comparable cost estimate is recorded.
Read the source list (9)
  1. Public health deworming programmes for soil-transmitted helminths in children living in endemic areas (Cochrane systematic review) — Taylor-Robinson, Maayan, Donegan, Chaplin and Garner, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2019
  2. Mass deworming to improve developmental health and wellbeing of children in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and network meta-analysis — Welch and colleagues, The Lancet Global Health 5(1), 2017
  3. Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities — Edward Miguel and Michael Kremer, Econometrica 72(1), 2004
  4. Twenty-year economic impacts of deworming — Hamory, Miguel, Walker, Kremer and Baird, PNAS 118(14), 2021
  5. Re-analysis of health and educational impacts of a school-based deworming programme in western Kenya: a pure replication — Aiken, Davey, Hargreaves and Hayes, International Journal of Epidemiology 44(5), 2015
  6. Population deworming every 6 months with albendazole in 1 million pre-school children in north India: DEVTA, a cluster-randomised trial — Awasthi and colleagues, The Lancet 381(9876), 2013
  7. Combination Deworming (Mass Drug Administration Targeting Both Schistosomiasis and Soil-Transmitted Helminths) — GiveWell, 2025
  8. Deworming might have huge impact, but might have close to zero impact — GiveWell Blog, 2016
  9. Soil-transmitted helminth infections (fact sheet) — World Health Organization, 2023
Link Challenge
Draft · human review pending 5 sources

Microcredit

Small loans for people with little or no access to banks, usually to start or grow a small business. Randomized evaluations on four continents agree that the average effects are modest rather than transformative.

Depth
1 · Repair
Evidence grade
strong
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
A loan gives a household a sum of money to invest in a business or to manage its spending, to be repaid with interest. The idea is that a lack of capital, more than a lack of skill or effort, holds many poor entrepreneurs back.
Time to effect
months
Durability
years
Feedback
some
Agency
co-designed
Cost estimate
Not recorded. Unknown is not zero.
Estimate context
No comparable cost estimate is recorded.
Read the source list (5)
  1. Six Randomized Evaluations of Microcredit: Introduction and Further Steps — Banerjee, Karlan and Zinman, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 7(1), 2015
  2. Where Credit Is Due (policy bulletin) — Angelucci, Banerjee, Crépon, Duflo, Glennerster, Karlan, Parienté and Zinman, Innovations for Poverty Action and J-PAL, 2015
  3. Understanding the Average Impact of Microcredit Expansions: A Bayesian Hierarchical Analysis of Seven Randomized Experiments — Rachael Meager, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 11(1), 2019
  4. Can Microfinance Unlock a Poverty Trap for Some Entrepreneurs? — Banerjee, Breza, Duflo and Kinnan, NBER Working Paper 26346, 2019

    Working paper, revised in 2024.

  5. Bangladeshi bank wins Nobel prize — Al Jazeera, 2006
Link Challenge
Draft · human review pending 5 sources

Oral rehydration therapy

A drink of clean water, salt and sugar that replaces the fluids a child loses to diarrhea, cheap enough to cost a few cents and simple enough to give at home.

Depth
0 · Relief
Evidence grade
strong
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
The solution is absorbed in the small intestine and replaces the water and salts lost in stool. That treats dehydration, historically the main cause of death from diarrhea, usually without a drip or a hospital.
Time to effect
immediate
Durability
while funded
Feedback
some
Agency
top-down
Cost estimate
Not recorded. Unknown is not zero.
Estimate context
No comparable cost estimate is recorded.
Read the source list (5)
  1. Diarrhoeal disease (fact sheet) — World Health Organization, 2024
  2. Oral versus intravenous rehydration for treating dehydration due to gastroenteritis in children (Cochrane systematic review) — Hartling, Bellemare, Wiebe, Russell, Klassen and Craig, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2006
  3. Reduced osmolarity oral rehydration solution for treating dehydration caused by acute diarrhoea in children (Cochrane systematic review) — Hahn, Kim and Garner, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2002
  4. The effect of oral rehydration solution and recommended home fluids on diarrhoea mortality — Munos, Fischer Walker and Black, International Journal of Epidemiology 39(Suppl 1), 2010
  5. Mapping geographical inequalities in oral rehydration therapy coverage in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000–17 — Local Burden of Disease Diarrhoea Collaborators, The Lancet Global Health 8(8), 2020
Link Challenge
Draft · human review pending 5 sources

Seasonal malaria chemoprevention

Monthly courses of antimalarial medicine given to young children through the peak malaria season, in places where malaria is highly seasonal.

Depth
2 · Prevention
Evidence grade
strong
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
Each monthly round gives a child a curative dose of antimalarial medicine, which clears parasites and protects the child for roughly the next four weeks. Repeating it through the high-transmission months covers the period of greatest risk.
Time to effect
immediate
Durability
while funded
Feedback
some
Agency
top-down
Cost estimate
US$2,000–7,000 per death averted (GiveWell’s modeled range for the places where it funds SMC)
Estimate context
  • December 2023 cost-effectiveness analysis
  • The range varies by location. It depends on local malaria death rates and on how likely other funders were to pay for the same campaigns. It is a model, not a measured result.
Read the source list (5)
  1. Intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in children living in areas with seasonal transmission (Cochrane systematic review) — Meremikwu, Donegan, Sinclair, Esu and Oringanje, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2012
  2. Effectiveness of seasonal malaria chemoprevention at scale in west and central Africa: an observational study — ACCESS-SMC Partnership, The Lancet 396(10265), 2020
  3. Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention — GiveWell, 2024
  4. Updated WHO recommendations for malaria chemoprevention among children and pregnant women — World Health Organization, 2022
  5. Improving implementation of seasonal malaria chemoprevention — WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), 2023
Link Challenge
Draft · human review pending 5 sources

Teaching at the Right Level

Grouping primary school children by what they can actually read and calculate, rather than by grade, and teaching each group the basic skills it is missing.

Depth
2 · Prevention
Evidence grade
strong
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
A simple assessment sorts children by learning level. For a set time each day, or in short intensive camps, they work in groups on the reading and math skills they lack, and teachers use data on what each child can do to guide the groups.
Time to effect
months
Durability
years
Feedback
strong
Agency
top-down
Cost estimate
US$6.38–6.38 per 0.1 standard deviation gain in one student’s broad foundational math score (Zambia’s government-run Catch Up program)
Estimate context
  • 2022–2024 trial
  • A point estimate from one randomized trial, not an uncertainty interval. The program cost $9.63 per student over two years. Counting only the procedural math skill it targeted gave a different estimate, $2.43 per 0.1 standard deviation, so the choice of test changed apparent cost-effectiveness by a factor of 2.6. The calculator uses the broader measure.
Read the source list (5)
  1. Teaching at the Right Level to improve learning (evidence-to-policy case study) — J-PAL, 2019

    Last updated 2022.

  2. Mainstreaming an Effective Intervention: Evidence from Randomized Evaluations of “Teaching at the Right Level” in India — Banerjee, Banerji, Berry, Duflo, Kannan, Mukerji, Shotland and Walton, NBER Working Paper 22746, 2016
  3. From Proof of Concept to Scalable Policies: Challenges and Solutions, with an Application — Banerjee, Banerji, Berry, Duflo, Kannan, Mukerji, Shotland and Walton, Journal of Economic Perspectives 31(4), 2017
  4. Targeting Foundational Skills to Improve Learning at Scale in Zambia — J-PAL
  5. New education “Smart Buys” report outlines how cost-effectively supporting teachers and parents can lead to significant learning improvements — World Bank, 2023
Link Challenge
Draft · human review pending 5 sources

Tobacco taxation advocacy

Research, coalition-building and public campaigns that help governments raise taxes on tobacco, which makes it more expensive and cuts smoking.

Depth
3 · Structure
Evidence grade
moderate
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
Higher excise taxes raise the price of cigarettes. Higher prices lead some people to quit, fewer young people to start and continuing smokers to smoke less. Advocates supply evidence, coalitions and public pressure to help tax laws pass.
Time to effect
years
Durability
years
Feedback
some
Agency
top-down
Cost estimate
Not recorded. Unknown is not zero.
Estimate context
No comparable cost estimate is recorded.
Read the source list (5)
  1. Effectiveness of tax and price policies in tobacco control — Chaloupka, Straif and Leon for the IARC Working Group, Tobacco Control 20(3), 2011
  2. Effectiveness of Tax and Price Policies for Tobacco Control (IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention, Volume 14) — International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2011
  3. Tobacco (fact sheet) — World Health Organization, 2026
  4. Raising taxes on tobacco — World Health Organization
  5. Sin Tax Reform in the Philippines: Transforming Public Finance, Health, and Governance for More Inclusive Development — Kai Kaiser, Caryn Bredenkamp and Roberto Iglesias, World Bank, 2016
Link Challenge
Draft · human review pending 5 sources

Unconditional cash transfers

Giving money directly to people living in poverty, with no conditions on how they spend it.

Depth
1 · Repair
Evidence grade
strong
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
Cash lets each household buy what it needs most, from food to school costs to a metal roof or livestock. Money spent in local shops and markets also raises the incomes of neighbors and local businesses.
Time to effect
immediate
Durability
years
Feedback
some
Agency
community-led
Cost estimate
Not recorded. Unknown is not zero.
Estimate context
No comparable cost estimate is recorded.
Read the source list (5)
  1. General Equilibrium Effects of Cash Transfers: Experimental Evidence from Kenya — Egger, Haushofer, Miguel, Niehaus and Walker, Econometrica 90(6), 2022
  2. Improving Economic and Psychological Well-being through Unconditional Cash Transfer in Kenya (evaluation summary) — J-PAL
  3. Giving directly to support poor households (scale-up summary) — J-PAL, 2025
  4. Unconditional Cash Transfers: A Bayesian Meta-Analysis of Randomized Evaluations in Low and Middle Income Countries — Crosta, Karlan, Ong, Rüschenpöhler and Udry, NBER Working Paper 32779, 2024

    Working paper, revised in 2026.

  5. GiveWell’s Criteria for Top Charities — GiveWell
Link Challenge
Draft · human review pending 7 sources

Vitamin A supplementation

High-dose vitamin A given every four to six months to children aged 6 to 59 months, in places where vitamin A deficiency is a public health problem.

Depth
2 · Prevention
Evidence grade
moderate
Inspect the recorded fields
Mechanism
Vitamin A helps children fight infections. The body stores a large dose and releases it over time, which lowers the risk that infections such as diarrhea kill a child who lacks it. Researchers don’t fully understand which deaths it prevents or how.
Time to effect
months
Durability
while funded
Feedback
weak
Agency
top-down
Cost estimate
US$5,200–17,000 per death averted (GiveWell’s modeled range for its August and September 2024 grants in six countries)
Estimate context
  • April 2025 publication of the August and September 2024 grants
  • These are uncertain models for particular grants and locations, not a measured result or a prediction for a new donation. GiveWell estimates a smaller effect in these settings than the historical trials found. Its earlier February 2024 program model gave a lower range.
Read the source list (7)
  1. Vitamin A supplementation for preventing morbidity and mortality in children from six months to five years of age (Cochrane systematic review) — Imdad, Mayo-Wilson, Haykal, Regan, Sidhu, Smith and Bhutta, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2022
  2. Vitamin A supplementation every 6 months with retinol in 1 million pre-school children in north India: DEVTA, a cluster-randomised trial — Awasthi, Peto, Read, Clark, Pande, Bundy and the DEVTA team, The Lancet 381(9876), 2013
  3. Vitamin A Supplementation — GiveWell, 2024
  4. Helen Keller International — Vitamin A Supplementation (August & September 2024) — GiveWell, 2025
  5. Podcast episode 27: Scrutinizing one of our longest-funded programs — GiveWell, 2026
  6. Vitamin A supplementation in infants and children 6–59 months of age (eLENA) — World Health Organization
  7. Helen Keller International — Vitamin A Supplementation (August & September 2024) — GiveWell, 2025
Link Challenge