Evidence labels
Claims about the charity system carry one of four labels:
- Established means strong published evidence from several independent sources.
- Documented means credible sources report it; the size of the effect is less certain.
- Debated means credible people disagree. Both sides are shown.
- Hypothesis means Charitology’s own working claim, untested, and testing it is the work.
Interventions carry an evidence grade: strong, moderate, mixed, weak or unknown. The grade applies to the specific outcome claimed.
Depth classification
Work is classified by where it acts, using the five levels in the Method: relief, repair, prevention, structure, source. Classify by the primary mechanism of the work, not its aspirations. When work spans levels, classify by where most of the money goes and note the rest. Depth classifications of named organizations are hypotheses and cite the organization’s own description of its work.
Sources
Every factual claim has a source the writer has read. Primary sources come first. Paywalled sources get a free alternative where one exists. If no source can be found, the claim is removed.
Review
New pages start as drafts. A page becomes reviewed when a second contributor has checked every source and the framing against the Standard. Reviews happen in public pull requests.
Corrections and red-teaming
Every page links to a prefilled issue for corrections and one for challenges. Corrections are fixed in public. Significant corrections are noted in the pull request that makes them. A red-team challenge stays open until it is answered with evidence, either by changing the page or by explaining why it stands.
AI assistance
AI tools may help draft pages. Their use is disclosed in the pull request, and a human contributor is responsible for checking every claim. Edition 0 was drafted with AI assistance and is being reviewed in public.
Ratings
Charitology publishes no ratings of named organizations. That changes only after a rating method has been published and has survived public red-team review.