Insights from the Research Team

Insights from the Research Team
How we think about charity evaluation
By: Matt Lerner
How we conduct charity evaluation, and the conceptual tools and models used in the research process

Insights from the Research Team
Philanthropy to the Right of Boom
By: Christian Ruhl
A neglected impact multiplier for nuclear grantmaking.

Insights from the Research Team
How the Patient Philanthropy and Global Catastrophic Risks Funds Work Together
By: Christian Ruhl & Tom Barnes
The similarities and differences between the PPF and the GCR Fund.

Insights from the Research Team
A Guide to Forecasting at Founders Pledge
By: Christian Ruhl & Matt Lerner
A practical guide to forecasting, guidelines for better forecasting, and how to harness it to improve our work.

Insights from the Research Team
Our Approach to Moral Weights
By: Rosie Bettle & Vadim Albinsky
How we determine moral weights in order to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of charities across different areas

Insights from the Research Team
What "Think Global, Act Local" Means for US Climate Philanthropists
By: Johannes Ackva
The global implications of recent US climate wins.

Insights from the Research Team
The War in Ukraine, Climate Risk & High-Impact Climate Philanthropy
By: Johannes Ackva
The impact of the war in Ukraine on climate risk and what this means for high-impact climate philanthropy.

Insights from the Research Team
The Climate Change Fund at Two
By: Johannes Ackva & Luisa Sandkühler
Reflecting on two years of the Climate Change Fund.

Insights from the Research Team
Measuring Health: How We Use (And Sometimes Don’t Use) DALY Estimates
By: Rosie Bettle
Our approach to measuring health and wellbeing to help us compare funding opportunities across cause areas.

Insights from the Research Team
Explaining a Small PPF Grant on Nuclear Security
By: Christian Ruhl
Why and how Founders Pledge recommended a small grant on nuclear security to the Patient Philanthropy Fund

Insights from the Research Team
Re-Evaluating Prof. Philip Tetlock’s Forecasting Work on Existential Risk
By: Christian Ruhl
How Founders Pledge re-evaluates our recommended funding opportunities, and why we recommend Professor Philip Tetlock's second-generation forecasting work for anticipating and mitigating some of the most pressing global risks

Insights from the Research Team
Navigating the changing landscape of climate philanthropy
By: Johannes Ackva & Luisa Sandkühler
Climate action and philanthropy changed dramatically in the past year. This guide explores those changes and how to strategize for maximum positive climate impact.

Insights from the Research Team
The ideas of economists
By: Johannes Ackva
Why the Climate Fund made two recent grants in connection with COP26, both targeted at changing ideas and discourse to change action. What we expect; what has been achieved; and how we will track impact.

Insights from the Research Team
Help humanity be prepared for when shit hits the fan
By: Johannes Ackva
This post explores what it means to focus on avoiding the worst climate risks, why the focus on extreme risks is more general than climate and how you can get involved to secure a good future when "shit hits the fan".

Insights from the Research Team
“It’s a cause and an effect of poverty”: SCI Foundation’s Wendy Harrison on tackling schistosomiasis
By: Dr Wendy Harrison
We recently caught up with Dr Wendy Harrison, CEO of SCI Foundation, about the impacts of schistosomiasis, SCI Foundation’s work and why philanthropists should support them.

Insights from the Research Team
Impact Stories: Sightsavers
By: Founders Pledge Team
Read the stories of Bomam Otto, headteacher, and Ngo Ndombol Norbertine, a 10-year-old pupil at a school enrolled in Sightsavers' high-impact deworming programme.

Insights from the Research Team
The Climate Fund: Our future plans
By: Johannes Ackva & Anu Khan
Learn about our future plans for the Founders Pledge Climate Fund. Our thinking is constantly evolving, and we remain open-minded in our search for the very best funding opportunities.

Insights from the Research Team
Maximise your climate impact through the Founders Pledge Climate Fund
By: Johannes Ackva & Anu Khan
Learn about our Climate Fund, our achievements so far and how you can double the impact of your donation.

Insights from the Research Team
Seed funding early-stage nonprofits: An update to our thinking
By: Stephen Clare & Rachel Baxter
In this blog, we outline what we’ve learned from assessing the potential impact of supporting early-stage nonprofits, a potentially high-risk, high-reward approach.

Insights from the Research Team
Impact Stories: Village Enterprise
By: Village Enterprise & Founders Pledge Team
Elizabeth Auma lives in Migori County and chairs the Nyang’au Village Enterprise business savings group, a group of inspiring entrepreneurs living with HIV.

Insights from the Research Team
Impact Stories: Malaria Consortium
By: Rachel Baxter
Read Saratu's story and discover why Malaria Consortium's seasonal malaria chemoprevention work is so important.

Insights from the Research Team
What Biden and his Senate majority mean for climate policy and philanthropy
By: Johannes Ackva & Anu Khan
An update on how the US election results affect climate policy and philanthropy.

Insights from the Research Team
2020 Research Review: Our latest findings and future plans
By: Stephen Clare
We discuss what our Research team learned in 2020 and our plans for 2021.

Insights from the Research Team
Impact stories: GiveDirectly
By: Rachel Baxter
Read the story of Bahati, whose life has been transformed thanks to the work of GiveDirectly, one of our recommended high-impact charities.

Insights from the Research Team
The case for longtermism and safeguarding the future
By: Stephen Clare & Sjir Hoeijmakers
Why we care so much about the future and what this means for philanthropists

Insights from the Research Team
The implications of Biden’s victory for impact-focused climate philanthropy
By: Johannes Ackva & Anu Khan
We explore the implications of Joe Biden's recent election for climate-focused philanthropists.

Insights from the Research Team
Running the Global Health & Development Fund
By: Stephen Clare
In this final blog in our series about the Global Health and Development Fund, we discuss our plans for learning, iterating and improving.

Insights from the Research Team
Should you support animal welfare charities?
By: Stephen Clare
Discussing three key considerations that affect our decision to donate to animal advocacy organisations rather than human-focused organisations.

Insights from the Research Team
Biden’s victory: Is this a special opportunity for outsized climate impact?
By: Johannes Ackva
What do the results of the US election mean for high-impact climate philanthropy? We explore how it might affect your ability to make a difference through climate philanthropy, and what it means for our Climate Fund strategy and top recommendations.

Insights from the Research Team
Pursuing riskier opportunities for impact in global health and development
By: Sam Carter & Stephen Clare
We explain how we aim to maximise the impact of our Global Health and Development Fund by pursuing riskier opportunities with potential for high impact.

Insights from the Research Team
Erik Bergman challenges you to tackle climate change with €1 million match pot
By: Johannes Ackva & Anu Khan
Founders Pledge member Erik Bergman, founder of Catena Media and Great.com, is generously offering to match contributions to our Climate Change Fund up to €1 million (the equivalent of $1,200,000 or £900,000) until December 31!

Insights from the Research Team
Searching for impact: How our Global Health & Development Fund fits into the development landscape
By: Sam Carter & Stephen Clare
This blog provides an overview of the Global Health & Development funding landscape and identifies the unique role that the Founders Pledge Global Health and Development Fund will play.

Insights from the Research Team
Period Poverty: Understanding and addressing an urgent human rights issue
By: Founders Pledge Team
A look at the findings of a new research report on period poverty and how to tackle it. The report was produced by the Kulczyk Foundation in partnership with Founders Pledge.

Insights from the Research Team
Why we're launching a Global Health and Development Fund
By: Sam Carter & Stephen Clare
This blog introduces the Founders Pledge Global Health and Development Fund and is the first in a four-part series.

Insights from the Research Team
Could psychedelics revolutionise mental health treatments?
By: Aidan Goth
Could psychedelic drugs such as magic mushrooms and MDMA revolutionise mental health treatments? The Founders Pledge research team recently investigated this question and found promising results.

Insights from the Research Team
Our plans for seed funding promising nonprofits
By: Callum Calvert
This post lays out what we’ve done so far to find funding opportunities in the space of seed funding nonprofits, and what we plan to do next.

Insights from the Research Team
Seed funding nonprofits: a high-risk, high-reward approach
By: Callum Calvert
In this post, we explore seed funding new or early-stage nonprofits and how it this approach can create impact.

Insights from the Research Team
COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries. It’s time to take action.
By: Sam Carter & Stephen Clare
We look at how different low- and middle-income countries have been impacted by the pandemic and highlight the best opportunities we’ve found for philanthropy to make a meaningful difference.

Insights from the Research Team
Is Sweden’s COVID-19 strategy paying off?
By: Aidan Goth
Discussion of Sweden's aims, whether the health system is coping and whether Sweden will soon reach herd immunity.

Insights from the Research Team
Why improving housing affordability is one of the best causes to support in England
By: Stephen Clare
An analysis of the housing crisis in England, its social, economic, and environmental effects, and our recommendation for supporting effective solutions.

Insights from the Research Team
Saving lives vs. saving the economy
By: John Halstead
A look at how we can compare the health costs and economic costs of COVID lockdown.

Insights from the Research Team
COVID-19: Insights from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security
By: The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security
Insights about the COVID-10 pandemic from the team at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Insights from the Research Team
COVID-19 Global Impact & Innovation Fund
By: Anu Khan
We are excited to announce the launch of the COVID-19 Global Impact & Innovation Fund, in partnership with Silicon Valley Bank.

Insights from the Research Team
COVID-19: It’s not too late to act
By: John Halstead
A look at humanity’s response to COVID-19, the action we can take, and how to reduce the risk of the next pandemic.

Insights from the Research Team
Climate and Lifestyle: policy matters
By: John Halstead & Johannes Ackva
Advice on how to live a climate-friendly lifestyle is typically dominated by adjectives rather than numbers. We might, for example, be told that reusing plastic bags and switching to a plant-based diet have a huge effect on the climate.

Insights from the Research Team
Climate and Lifestyle: donations and offsetting
By: John Halstead & Johannes Ackva
Emissions per person vary considerably even across rich countries: the average American emits 18 tonnes of CO2 per year, whereas the average Swede emits only 7 tonnes.

Insights from the Research Team
Beyond the Pledge: Our Charity Matching Pilot
By: Stephen Clare
Giving time and skills to non-profits can feel fulfilling, but it’s difficult to know just how impactful these collaborations actually are, and how to do them well. So last year, we decided to find out.

Insights from the Research Team
Our Value Discovery Approach
By: Sjir Hoeijmakers
When it comes to philanthropy, there’s no ‘one size fits all.’ Our researchers dig deep, to help you match your intrinsic values to the latest evidence on effectiveness. Learn more.