Centre for Exploratory Altruism Research

Global Health and Development: We recommend the following causes: (1) preventing hypertension through advocacy for top sodium reduction policies (link) as well as (2) combating diabetes mellitus type 2 through advocacy for sugar-sweetened beverages taxes (link). Our recommendation is based on a number of factors:

• Extreme cost-effectiveness. These causes meet our rigorous threshold of being at least 10x GiveWell top charities.
• High quality of evidence underlying the theory of change.
• Strong recommendation of experts whom we consulted
• Absence of significant harder-to-quantify downsides (e.g. lower freedom of choice)

Specific NGOs working on nutrition policy that we have comprehensively evaluated and are currently recommending as especially cost-effective include:

• ImagineLaw. A Philippines-based nonprofit working on health policy advocacy.
• Resolve to Save Lives: A US-based nonprofit operating globally, with a focus on epidemic prevention and cardiovascular health.

Mental Health: CEARCH was commissioned by the Flourishing Minds Fund to produce a report on mental health (link). Our key findings are that:

• Cost is generally the most important variable in assessing mental health interventions, and it can vary widely.
• Interpersonal group therapy is a promising way of improving mental health provision in poor countries, although the scale of the effect of psychotherapy is unclear. Technology may allow psychotherapy to be delivered more cheaply and at scale.
• Tackling risk factors can prevent mental illness. Policy advocacy could be a good lever for doing this.
• Suicide prevention appears to be highly neglected in poor countries.
• Mental illness will increase in relative importance over time, so we should place a premium on any work that increases our understanding of how to mitigate it.

EA Meta Funding Landscape: CEARCH was commissioned by the leadership of the Meta Charity Funders to produce a report on the EA meta funding landscape (link). Broadly, this report covers:

• The aggregate amount of EA meta funding from 2021-2023, and how that breaks down by cause, intervention, grantmaker and geography.
• Qualitative insights from CEARCH and other experts on optimal prioritization between meta vs direct, between different causes, and between intervention types; on the priorities of major grantmakers like Open Philanthropy and EA Funds, and concerns about their existing approach; and on key trends and uncertainties shaping the funding landscape.

We maintain a longlist of potential causes (link), out of which we have evaluated more than 20 causes at depth; our findings are reported in our cause evaluation results spreadsheet (link).