Giving in the Light of Reason

Will the Open Philanthropy Project’s experiment in effective altruism validate the cause or demonstrate its hubris? Open access to this article is made possible by an underwriter.

The Humane League, one of Open Phil’s grantees, stages a protest outside McDonald’s in downtown Chicago as part of its “I’m Not Lovin’ It” campaign against the chain’s chicken menu items. (Photograph courtesy of The Humane League) There’s an old saying in philanthropy: If you’ve seen one foundation, you’ve seen one foundation. Each is distinctive, which makes sense: Extremely wealthy people do not get to be that way by following the crowd, so they want their foundations to stand out as well. Still, of the 86,000 or so grantmaking foundations in the United States, few stand quite so far outside

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