A Guy in the Pew

The Wall Street Journal this morning has a fascinating article about a group, Give Well, that attempts to evaluate which charities give the most good (e.g. saved lives) for the buck. As you might expect, they determine that particular interventions in the third world provide the best return on the charitable investment: GiveWell sits at the center of a small but growing movement in philanthropy, what you might call "evidence-based giving," which is particularly in vogue among tech millionaires and billionaires. In addition to praise from economists and those in the traditional philanthropic world, GiveWell has earned accolades from tech types. Its largest funder is Good Ventures, the foundation created by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife, Cari Tuna, a former Wall Street Journal reporter who now runs the foundation. In its philosophical outlook, GiveWell also has much in common with other tech-funded philanthropies, including Pierre Omidyar's , Jeff Sk...

Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation have a new campaign, urging americans to take at least part of the stimulus check and use it to help alleviate global poverty: The Basic Idea Take the "economic stimulus check" you'll get from the government in May (or a similar amount if you don't qualify for a check) and pledge to give all or part of it to organizations working to alleviate global poverty. Our MissionTo start a conversation about what it means to be a Christian in a society that encourages overconsumption. To hold up a vision of choosing compassion over consumption. Why A "Stimulus Check" Campaign? How we spend money has spiritual underpinnings. Our society encourages overconsumption far beyond our actual needs. It's both morally and economically unsustainable.Now, the federal government has rewarded the overconsumption that led to economic slowdown by providing many tax filers with an "economic stimulus check" of between $600 and $2,1...

Ed at Not Exactly Rocket Science reports on new studies that show that while income is generally not very important to aperson's happiness, people who give lots of mony away to charities or other people are quite happy. The moral: money can buy you happiness if you give it away: Across and within countries, income has an incredibly weak effect on happiness once people have enough to secure basic needs and standards of living. Once people are lifted out of abject poverty and thrown into the middle class, any extra earnings do little to improve their joie de vivre. Time trends tell a similar story; even developed countries that have enjoyed economic booms have seen plateauing levels of satisfaction. But a new study reveals that money can indeed buy happiness... if it's spent on others. Elizabeth Dunn from the University of British Columbia wanted to see if there were ways of channelling the inevitable pursuit of money towards actually making people happier. Together with Lara A...

Episopalians for Global Reconciliation have a brilliant idea involving the NCAA Basketball finals (aka March Madness). The Lead has the full story: The brackets are set, the NCAA tournament bids are out -- this year Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation invites you to add a little purpose to your picking. We call it March Gladness . March Gladness combines two of our favorite things -- Making Poverty History and the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Here's how it works: Like your regular NCAA pool, you fill out your tournament bracket -- picking each game in the field of 65 right up to the championship game. Like your regular pool it costs a little to get in. Like your regular pool, the people who do the best picking the games win the pot. Here's where Madness turns to Gladness: *Instead of an entry fee, there is a small donation ($10). *Along with your bracket(s) you designate a nonprofit (must be an official 501(c)3 whose work contributes to the achievement of the Millennium Dev...

I have writen in the past on Maison de Naissance, a birthing center in Haiti founded by a few doctors, including our friend Elizabeth Wickstrom. The Kansas City Star has a wonderful profile: A few years ago Cindy Obenhaus and a group of Kansas City doctors and nurses traveled to Haiti on a fact-finding mission. What they found, after visiting hospitals and interviewing hundreds of Haitians, was that the high infant and mother mortality rate was due to three factors — good care was too far away; it cost too much; and even if a pregnant woman could get to a hospital and afford the fees, she didn’t trust the doctors or the family was turned away. “Those were the three barriers,” Obenhaus said. “So we decided we needed triple therapy. We decided to open a birthing center in a rural community in Haiti. And that’s how Maison de Naissance started.” In October 2004, Obenhaus, along with a large group that included physicians Stan Shaffer, Elizabeth Wickstrom and nurse-midwife Denise Fryzelka...

When my wife worked at the governor's office, she had all the easy issues--like homelessness. In 2005, she and many homeless advocates were appalled at the lack of action when 30 homeless men and women dies as the result of he summer heat. Why? Because day shelters and other services were inadequate. Fortunately, according to this Christian Science Monitor report , it appears that things are changing for the better--thanks to the faith community in my home town. Here are some highlights: "Living outside, whether summertime or wintertime, is both dangerous and life-threatening to the homeless," says Michael Stoops, acting director of the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington. "Phoenix," he adds, "has had a sorry history in dealing with the issue." That's changing, say experts in Arizona. After 30 homeless people died during a similar hot streak in 2005, officials and faith-based groups in the Phoenix area redoubled efforts to coordinate...

"I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink'...Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?...'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." Matthew 25:35, 37, 40 We as Christians need to take very seriously this call to take care of the "least of these who are members of my family." Accordingly, from time to time, this blog will discuss organizations that meet this call, and are therefore worthy of our support. The first organization for which I urge your support is Maison de Naissance . Maternal and infant mortality rates in Haiti are the highest in the western hemisphere and among the highest in the world. One in every 16 women in Haiti will die during childbirth (about 200 times the risk of mothers in the United States). Most women have known a re...