Are there disadvantages to Oxfam?
They looked pretty legitimate—food, medicine, disaster relief, no history of fraud that I know of. Sort of the index fund of charities.
I’d still be surprised if their cost per human life saved is under $10,000. I suppose they aren’t so bad in the scheme of megacharities, but your dollars have much greater marginal impact at a smaller, more focused charity. Or if you like the index fund strategy, then giving to GiveWell itself serves that purpose.
$500 to Oxfam.
$50 to Ron Paul. (Libertarianism is not important to me, but it is important to the quality of life of someone I care about.)
$50 to Planned Parenthood.
… I was going to ask you “why Oxfam” and then noticed your user name.
Are there disadvantages to Oxfam? They looked pretty legitimate—food, medicine, disaster relief, no history of fraud that I know of. Sort of the index fund of charities.
I’d still be surprised if their cost per human life saved is under $10,000. I suppose they aren’t so bad in the scheme of megacharities, but your dollars have much greater marginal impact at a smaller, more focused charity. Or if you like the index fund strategy, then giving to GiveWell itself serves that purpose.
GiveWell views Oxfam as being worth further investigation, despite it being a mega-charity.