At the Happier Lives Institute, we want to help people do as much good as possible with their resources. Charitable giving has the power to transform lives—but the evidence is clear: where and how you give matters enormously. That’s why we focus on effective giving and understanding which causes and charities improve people’s wellbeing the most.
This is really our reason for existing. We want to make it incredibly easy to give to the best charities for improving happiness. By using evidence and data to guide donations, we believe we can help individuals and organisations make a bigger difference in the world.
But we don’t just want to make giving better, we want to normalise prioritising donations to high impact causes (AKA “effective giving”). The effective giving movement has experienced remarkable growth in interest and funding. But effective giving still represents only a tiny fraction of overall charitable donations. We want to change this.
Using happiness research to advance effective giving
Happier Lives Institute’s chapter in the World Happiness Report successfully reached new audiences with compelling evidence for effective giving. Using wellbeing data, we confirmed what many have suspected: some charities are hundreds of times more cost-effective than others when measured by their impact on happiness.
The response to our effective giving research has been tremendous:
- Significant increases in web traffic to our effective giving resources
- Multiple media appearances highlighting the importance of effective giving
- A growing number of newsletter subscribers interested in effective giving
- $115,000 in tracked donations to our recommended charities in the last few weeks (and likely more that haven’t been tracked)
We want to do even more to bring people into the effective giving fold. We’re optimistic that there’s substantial room for growth in the effective giving movement. Here’s why.
The untapped potential of effective giving: from 1% to 14%
Despite the fact that about 50% of US adults give to charity, only 1% report using any charity evaluator when making donation decisions. The figure is closer to 0.1% if we look at the people who specifically report using an evaluator (like us) that focuses on high impact charities. The potential for expanding effective giving seems significantly higher than 1%!
When people unfamiliar with effective giving principles are introduced to the concept—using reasoning and evidence to find the most effective ways of doing good—63% express favourable views, 29% remain neutral, and only 8% react negatively.
However, not everyone who views effective giving favourably will change their behaviour immediately. We think a more realistic estimate suggests that about 14% of the general population seem psychologically predisposed towards the principles behind effective giving.3.
Even moving from the current 1% to 14% would represent transformative growth for the effective giving movement. That’s at least a 10× increase in people practicing effective giving! This could mean up to 14% of $500 billion given annually in the USA – $70 billion more going to effective causes, and doing hundreds of times more good.
Mental wellbeing: a promising pathway for effective giving
We believe that mental wellbeing offers a particularly promising avenue for expanding effective giving. Here’s why:
In 2024, Rethink Priorities surveyed the US public about their attitudes towards different cause areas. They found that mental health ranked second in importance and support for donations—behind only cancer research and ahead of many causes traditionally championed within the effective giving community.
Even if just a fraction of those who prioritise mental health embrace effective giving principles, this represents a vast untapped audience for the effective giving movement.
The future of effective giving
The data supports two key points about expanding effective giving:
- There remains significant low-hanging fruit in growing the effective giving movement. Many people simply haven’t heard about effective giving yet, which means diversifying our outreach strategies makes sense.
- There exists a substantial audience who would embrace effective giving when presented through the lens of mental health and happiness, even if they aren’t initially drawn to other causes within the effective giving community.
At the Happier Lives Institute, we’re committed to leveraging these insights to dramatically expand the reach and impact of effective giving. By focusing on wellbeing as a measurable outcome, we can introduce new audiences to effective giving principles and channel more resources to interventions that truly make a difference.
After all, when practicing effective giving can do hundreds of times more good with the same donation amount, shouldn’t we all aspire to give more effectively?
Practice effective giving today
- Donate to our recommended charities
- Support research and advocacy: Help the Happier Lives Institute identify effective and fundable parenting interventions.
- Stay informed or spread the word: Subscribe to our newsletter or share your favourite story of ours. Research finds that when people find out how much more you can do by giving to the best charities, they give more effectively!