Former Hedge-Fund Analysts Turn Attention to Charities

Two young former hedge-fund analysts are using their professional experience in a new nonprofit venture: GiveWell, a charity-watchdog group that rigorously evaluates the effectiveness of organizations, reports The New York Times.

Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld, both 26, gave up six-figure incomes to work for the group, which they founded. That group studies nonprofit organizations in a given field, such as international disaster relief or HIV/AIDS prevention, and determines how effective they are through an intensive battery of questions. They say that the information currently available to donors just does not provide enough information.

An article in The Wall Street Journal notes several groups that help donors decide which charities will do the most good with their donations, including GlobalGiving.org and the Center for High Impact Philanthropy.

For more on this trend, read The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s profiles of GiveWell and Great Nonprofits, as well as its story on other new charity-evaluation efforts.

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