The Lexicon

Find definitions across terms and their full text. Use study mode to reveal definitions deliberately, follow related terms or export the glossary. Definitions describe how this project uses the words; they do not settle disputes about values or causal models.

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Additionality: Reveal definition
The share of an outcome that would not have happened without a particular gift. A gift to work that would have been funded anyway has low additionality.
The share of an outcome that would not have happened without a particular gift. A gift to work that would have been funded anyway has low additionality. See: Counterfactual
Beachhead: Reveal definition
Humanity’s Checklist’s term for one focused project that wins a foothold on a source. Each of the checklist’s six sources comes with one.
Humanity’s Checklist’s term for one focused project that wins a foothold on a source. Each of the checklist’s six sources comes with one. See: Source , Protopia
Brier score: Reveal definition
A measure of how good probability forecasts are: the average squared difference between the probabilities given and what actually happened. Zero is perfect and one is the worst possible. Glenn Brier introduced it in 1950 in the journal Monthly Weather Review.
A measure of how good probability forecasts are: the average squared difference between the probabilities given and what actually happened. Zero is perfect and one is the worst possible. Glenn Brier introduced it in 1950 in the journal Monthly Weather Review. See: Calibration , Credence
Calibration: Reveal definition
How well someone’s stated confidence matches how often they turn out to be right. A well-calibrated forecaster’s 70 percent predictions come true about 70 percent of the time.
How well someone’s stated confidence matches how often they turn out to be right. A well-calibrated forecaster’s 70 percent predictions come true about 70 percent of the time. See: Brier score , Credence , Expected value
Charitologist: Reveal definition
Someone who practices charitology: studying, testing, teaching or improving how generosity is aimed. Anyone can be one. The field is open.
Someone who practices charitology: studying, testing, teaching or improving how generosity is aimed. Anyone can be one. The field is open. See: Charitology
Charitology: Reveal definition
The science of doing the most good. It studies charity as a system: where generosity flows, why it flows there, and how to route it from the symptoms of problems to their sources.
The science of doing the most good. It studies charity as a system: where generosity flows, why it flows there, and how to route it from the symptoms of problems to their sources. See: Charitologist , Source depth
Contract failure: Reveal definition
Henry Hansmann’s 1980 term for situations in which the people paying for a service cannot adequately judge its quality, as when donors pay for services delivered to other people. He argued that nonprofits exist mainly to address it.
Henry Hansmann’s 1980 term for situations in which the people paying for a service cannot adequately judge its quality, as when donors pay for services delivered to other people. He argued that nonprofits exist mainly to address it. See: Feedback loop
Cost-effectiveness: Reveal definition
How much of a result a program produces per dollar, such as lives saved or years of healthy life added. The estimates are rough, and the differences between programs can be very large.
How much of a result a program produces per dollar, such as lives saved or years of healthy life added. The estimates are rough, and the differences between programs can be very large. See: Expected value , Outcomes , Overhead ratio
Counterfactual: Reveal definition
What would have happened without a gift or program. The real effect of giving is the difference between the world with it and the world without it.
What would have happened without a gift or program. The real effect of giving is the difference between the world with it and the world without it. See: Additionality
Credence: Reveal definition
How strongly you believe something, expressed as a probability. Under moral uncertainty, your credence in each moral view sets how much weight that view gets.
How strongly you believe something, expressed as a probability. Under moral uncertainty, your credence in each moral view sets how much weight that view gets. See: Moral uncertainty , Calibration , Expected value
Discount rate: Reveal definition
The rate per year at which future benefits and costs are counted for less than present ones. It can stand for uncertainty, for rising incomes or for pure time preference, and it matters which.
The rate per year at which future benefits and costs are counted for less than present ones. It can stand for uncertainty, for rising incomes or for pure time preference, and it matters which. See: Pure time preference , Expected value , Payout rate
Donor-advised fund: Reveal definition
A charitable account maintained and legally controlled by a sponsoring public charity, which the donor advises on grants and investments. U.S. donor-advised funds held about $326 billion in 2024.
A charitable account maintained and legally controlled by a sponsoring public charity, which the donor advises on grants and investments. U.S. donor-advised funds held about $326 billion in 2024. See: Payout rate , Private foundation
Expected value: Reveal definition
The probability-weighted average of an action’s possible results. A 10 percent chance of helping 10,000 people has the same expected value as helping 1,000 people for certain.
The probability-weighted average of an action’s possible results. A 10 percent chance of helping 10,000 people has the same expected value as helping 1,000 people for certain. See: Credence , Calibration , Cost-effectiveness
Feedback loop: Reveal definition
The path by which results travel back to the people who make decisions, so they can change course. In charity it is mostly missing, because the people who pay are rarely the people served.
The path by which results travel back to the people who make decisions, so they can change course. In charity it is mostly missing, because the people who pay are rarely the people served. See: Contract failure , Outcomes , Participatory grantmaking
General operating support: Reveal definition
A grant for an organization’s overall work rather than a specific project, also called unrestricted funding. Promised for several years at once, it is called multiyear general operating support.
A grant for an organization’s overall work rather than a specific project, also called unrestricted funding. Promised for several years at once, it is called multiyear general operating support. See: Unrestricted funding , Restricted funding
Identifiable victim effect: Reveal definition
The tendency to give more to help one identified person than to help many people described by statistics. It is one of the best-known findings about giving, and it is now debated after a 2024 replication found no support for it.
The tendency to give more to help one identified person than to help many people described by statistics. It is one of the best-known findings about giving, and it is now debated after a 2024 replication found no support for it. See: Psychic numbing , Warm glow , Replication
Impact: Reveal definition
The difference a program or gift makes, compared with what would have happened without it. In evaluation it often means the deeper, longer-term change in communities or systems that outcomes add up to.
The difference a program or gift makes, compared with what would have happened without it. In evaluation it often means the deeper, longer-term change in communities or systems that outcomes add up to. See: Outcomes , Counterfactual , Additionality
Leverage: Reveal definition
Influence beyond a gift’s own size. GiveWell uses the word for a charity’s influence on how governments and other funders spend, and the systems thinker Donella Meadows called places where a small shift produces big changes leverage points.
Influence beyond a gift’s own size. GiveWell uses the word for a charity’s influence on how governments and other funders spend, and the systems thinker Donella Meadows called places where a small shift produces big changes leverage points. See: Systemic change , Counterfactual , Tractability
Moral parliament: Reveal definition
A way to decide under moral uncertainty, proposed by Nick Bostrom in 2009. Imagine each moral view you take seriously sending delegates to a parliament in proportion to your credence in it, and act on what the parliament decides.
A way to decide under moral uncertainty, proposed by Nick Bostrom in 2009. Imagine each moral view you take seriously sending delegates to a parliament in proportion to your credence in it, and act on what the parliament decides. See: Moral uncertainty , Credence
Moral uncertainty: Reveal definition
Uncertainty about which moral view is right, as opposed to uncertainty about the facts. Charitology’s method of looking through several moral frameworks at once is a way of acting well under it.
Uncertainty about which moral view is right, as opposed to uncertainty about the facts. Charitology’s method of looking through several moral frameworks at once is a way of acting well under it. See: Moral parliament , Credence , Scale
Mutual aid: Reveal definition
People in a community pooling time, money and skills to meet one another’s needs directly, without a charity standing between giver and receiver. Peter Kropotkin wrote about it as a factor in evolution in 1902.
People in a community pooling time, money and skills to meet one another’s needs directly, without a charity standing between giver and receiver. Peter Kropotkin wrote about it as a factor in evolution in 1902. See: Feedback loop , Relief
Neglectedness: Reveal definition
How few resources already go to a problem relative to its size. Other things equal, an extra dollar does more where few dollars go.
How few resources already go to a problem relative to its size. Other things equal, an extra dollar does more where few dollars go. See: Counterfactual
Outcomes: Reveal definition
The changes in people’s lives that a program produces, such as better health, new skills or higher income. Measuring them usually takes comparison groups and time.
The changes in people’s lives that a program produces, such as better health, new skills or higher income. Measuring them usually takes comparison groups and time. See: Outputs , Impact , Counterfactual
Outputs: Reveal definition
The direct products of a program’s activities, such as classes taught, nets distributed or people served. Outputs are easy to count, and they are not the same as results.
The direct products of a program’s activities, such as classes taught, nets distributed or people served. Outputs are easy to count, and they are not the same as results. See: Outcomes , Impact , Theory of change
Overhead ratio: Reveal definition
The share of a charity’s spending reported as management and fundraising rather than programs. It shows how costs are split, not what they achieve.
The share of a charity’s spending reported as management and fundraising rather than programs. It shows how costs are split, not what they achieve. See: Starvation cycle , Cost-effectiveness , Unrestricted funding
Participatory grantmaking: Reveal definition
Grantmaking in which funders hand some or all decisions about money, including strategy and criteria, to the communities the money is meant to serve.
Grantmaking in which funders hand some or all decisions about money, including strategy and criteria, to the communities the money is meant to serve. See: Trust-based philanthropy , Feedback loop
Payout rate: Reveal definition
The share of a fund’s or foundation’s assets paid out for charitable purposes in a year. U.S. private foundations must generally pay out an amount tied to 5 percent of their investment assets.
The share of a fund’s or foundation’s assets paid out for charitable purposes in a year. U.S. private foundations must generally pay out an amount tied to 5 percent of their investment assets. See: Private foundation , Donor-advised fund , Discount rate
Prevention: Reveal definition
Level 2 of the depth scale: work that stops a harm from happening to the people it reaches, such as bed nets, vaccines or clean water for a village.
Level 2 of the depth scale: work that stops a harm from happening to the people it reaches, such as bed nets, vaccines or clean water for a village. See: Source depth , Repair , Structure
Private foundation: Reveal definition
In U.S. law, a charity that does not qualify as a public charity, usually because it lacks broad public support. It must generally spend a minimum amount on charitable purposes each year.
In U.S. law, a charity that does not qualify as a public charity, usually because it lacks broad public support. It must generally spend a minimum amount on charitable purposes each year. See: Payout rate , Donor-advised fund
Protopia: Reveal definition
Kevin Kelly’s term for a world that gets a little better every year, rather than a perfect utopia or a collapsing dystopia. Humanity’s Checklist uses it for the direction it points toward.
Kevin Kelly’s term for a world that gets a little better every year, rather than a perfect utopia or a collapsing dystopia. Humanity’s Checklist uses it for the direction it points toward. See: Beachhead , Source
Psychic numbing: Reveal definition
The way concern fails to grow with the number of people in danger, and can even shrink, so that one person in need can move us more than a mass tragedy. The psychologist Paul Slovic applied the term, first used by Robert J. Lifton, to how people respond to mass suffering.
The way concern fails to grow with the number of people in danger, and can even shrink, so that one person in need can move us more than a mass tragedy. The psychologist Paul Slovic applied the term, first used by Robert J. Lifton, to how people respond to mass suffering. See: Identifiable victim effect
Pure time preference: Reveal definition
Valuing later wellbeing less simply because it comes later, as opposed to discounting for uncertainty or growth. Frank Ramsey rejected it in 1928, and whether it is ever justified is a moral question.
Valuing later wellbeing less simply because it comes later, as opposed to discounting for uncertainty or growth. Frank Ramsey rejected it in 1928, and whether it is ever justified is a moral question. See: Discount rate
Red team: Reveal definition
A person or group whose job is to find the flaws in a claim, plan or method before anyone relies on it. Charitology publishes no ratings of named charities until its method has passed public red-team review.
A person or group whose job is to find the flaws in a claim, plan or method before anyone relies on it. Charitology publishes no ratings of named charities until its method has passed public red-team review. See: Replication , Calibration
Relief: Reveal definition
Level 0 of the depth scale: work that meets a need today, such as a meal, emergency surgery or a disaster shelter. It is the only help that reaches someone in need right now.
Level 0 of the depth scale: work that meets a need today, such as a meal, emergency surgery or a disaster shelter. It is the only help that reaches someone in need right now. See: Source depth , Repair , Symptom
Repair: Reveal definition
Level 1 of the depth scale: work that restores what was lost, such as rebuilding a home, rehabilitation after an injury or a new job after a layoff.
Level 1 of the depth scale: work that restores what was lost, such as rebuilding a home, rehabilitation after an injury or a new job after a layoff. See: Source depth , Relief , Prevention
Replication: Reveal definition
Repeating a study to see whether its finding holds up. A finding that fails to replicate deserves less trust, and nobody has measured what share of charity impact findings replicate.
Repeating a study to see whether its finding holds up. A finding that fails to replicate deserves less trust, and nobody has measured what share of charity impact findings replicate. See: Red team , Calibration
Restricted funding: Reveal definition
Money that must be spent on a purpose the funder names, often a specific project within a set time and budget.
Money that must be spent on a purpose the funder names, often a specific project within a set time and budget. See: Unrestricted funding , General operating support
Scale: Reveal definition
How much good solving a problem would do, measured in some unit such as lives, wellbeing or rights secured. Choosing the unit is a moral choice, so a problem’s scale can differ from one moral framework to another.
How much good solving a problem would do, measured in some unit such as lives, wellbeing or rights secured. Choosing the unit is a moral choice, so a problem’s scale can differ from one moral framework to another. See: Tractability , Neglectedness , Moral uncertainty
Source: Reveal definition
Something upstream that keeps producing problems, often many at once. Humanity’s Checklist names six: the story we tell, how we coordinate, what we can picture, what our feeds reward, what we admire and who gets to build.
Something upstream that keeps producing problems, often many at once. Humanity’s Checklist names six: the story we tell, how we coordinate, what we can picture, what our feeds reward, what we admire and who gets to build. See: Symptom , Source depth
Source depth: Reveal definition
Where on the chain from symptom to source a piece of work acts, on a five-level scale: relief, repair, prevention, structure, source. Every level is needed. Depth describes the work. It does not grade it.
Where on the chain from symptom to source a piece of work acts, on a five-level scale: relief, repair, prevention, structure, source. Every level is needed. Depth describes the work. It does not grade it. See: Symptom , Source
Starvation cycle: Reveal definition
Ann Goggins Gregory and Don Howard’s 2009 name for a loop in which funders expect low overhead, charities underspend on staff and systems and underreport what they do spend, and the expectations stay unrealistically low.
Ann Goggins Gregory and Don Howard’s 2009 name for a loop in which funders expect low overhead, charities underspend on staff and systems and underreport what they do spend, and the expectations stay unrealistically low. See: Overhead ratio , General operating support
Structure: Reveal definition
Level 3 of the depth scale: work that changes the rules that produce a harm, such as a law, an institution, a market or a norm, so that the harm stops being produced.
Level 3 of the depth scale: work that changes the rules that produce a harm, such as a law, an institution, a market or a norm, so that the harm stops being produced. See: Source depth , Prevention , Source , Systemic change
Symptom: Reveal definition
A problem as it shows up in people’s lives: hunger tonight, an untreated illness, a flooded home. Symptoms are real and urgent, and most of them keep coming back until their sources change.
A problem as it shows up in people’s lives: hunger tonight, an untreated illness, a flooded home. Symptoms are real and urgent, and most of them keep coming back until their sources change. See: Source , Source depth
Systemic change: Reveal definition
Change to the structures that produce outcomes, such as laws, markets, institutions, relationships and beliefs, rather than to outcomes one case at a time. On the depth scale it is the work of the structure and source levels.
Change to the structures that produce outcomes, such as laws, markets, institutions, relationships and beliefs, rather than to outcomes one case at a time. On the depth scale it is the work of the structure and source levels. See: Structure , Source , Leverage
Theory of change: Reveal definition
A written account of how and why a program’s activities are expected to lead to its long-term goal, step by step, with the assumptions that link each step to the next.
A written account of how and why a program’s activities are expected to lead to its long-term goal, step by step, with the assumptions that link each step to the next. See: Outputs , Outcomes , Impact
Tractability: Reveal definition
How much progress more effort on a problem would make. 80,000 Hours calls it solvability and measures it as the fraction of the remaining problem that doubling the effort would solve.
How much progress more effort on a problem would make. 80,000 Hours calls it solvability and measures it as the fraction of the remaining problem that doubling the effort would solve. See: Scale , Neglectedness , Leverage
Trust-based philanthropy: Reveal definition
An approach to grantmaking that aims to rebalance power between funders and the organizations they fund. The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project lists six practices, including multi-year unrestricted funding and asking for and acting on feedback.
An approach to grantmaking that aims to rebalance power between funders and the organizations they fund. The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project lists six practices, including multi-year unrestricted funding and asking for and acting on feedback. See: Unrestricted funding , Participatory grantmaking , Feedback loop
Unrestricted funding: Reveal definition
Money an organization can spend on whatever it judges most useful, including salaries, systems and evaluation. It lets an organization act on what it learns.
Money an organization can spend on whatever it judges most useful, including salaries, systems and evaluation. It lets an organization act on what it learns. See: Restricted funding , General operating support , Trust-based philanthropy
Warm glow: Reveal definition
The satisfaction people get from the act of giving itself, apart from what the gift achieves. The economist James Andreoni built it into a theory of giving in 1990.
The satisfaction people get from the act of giving itself, apart from what the gift achieves. The economist James Andreoni built it into a theory of giving in 1990. See: Identifiable victim effect , Feedback loop