Christian Campaign for Effective Charity - Charities Supported

There are several options available in making a contribution to the Christian Campaign for Effective Charity. We don’t take a position on which one you should select, but describe briefly how each of them relates to a biblical call. We also offer guidance that looks at the charities supported by the campaign through a Christian lens and helps you make an informed decision that fits your own values.

OFTW Top Picks

Here are the five charities highlighted as top picks by One for the World (OFTW), based on GiveWell’s recommendations. As this list changes, we will update this page accordingly; you can also find up-to-date information on OFTW’s Our Charities page. A gift to OFTW Top Picks, the default option on the campaign’s donation form (see the campaign’s main page), will be split equally among these five charities. You can also select any of them individually if you wish to direct your entire donation that way.

Against Malaria Foundation

Against Malaria Foundation distributes long lasting insecticide treated bed nets to prevent malaria transmission. The same Christian concern that encourages us to heal the sick should extend to prevention measures, which are often more cost-effective. As we read in Proverbs, “a prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions”. Making bed nets widely available gives people the tools to protect themselves and their families from malaria and other deadly mosquito-borne diseases.

Malaria Consortium

Malaria Consortium chemoprevention program distributes preventive antimalarial drugs during the high transmission season. The target group is children 3 to 59 months old. According to GiveWell, malaria kills over 400,000 people annually, most of these children under 5. These children are not unlike those our Lord welcomed, as we read in Luke and other Gospel passages.

Helen Keller International

Another outstanding example of cost-effective disease prevention is the vitamin A supplementation program by Helen Keller International. According to GiveWell, “vitamin A deficiency can cause stunting, anemia, xerophthalmia (dry eyes, which can lead to blindness), increased severity of infections, and death”. Perhaps this brings to mind Jesus’s own healing of a blind man, or the time Jesus read from Isaiah about proclaiming good news to the poor and recovery of sight to the blind.

Deworm the World

Deworm the World, an initiative by Evidence Action, provides children with medication that clears parasitic infections. At a cost of less than $1 per child, this treatment is estimated by GiveWell to lead to about $600 in additional lifetime earnings, in areas with per capita annual incomes of just $650. It’s hard not to be impressed with that kind of ratio. For many of us, it may call to mind the Parable of the Talents, in which diligently making the most of one’s resources is worthy of praise.

GiveDirectly

Last but not least, GiveDirectly is an innovative charity that takes the unique approach of giving cash directly to extremely poor people, empowering them to address whatever needs - health, education, food security, economic security - are most pressing to them. One of GiveDirectly’s founders, Paul Niehaus, has spoken about how his faith motivates him to care for the poor, and how there is strong evidence that the extreme poor can be trusted to make decisions themselves about how best to put additional resources to work.

Maximum Impact Fund

Another excellent option is to select GiveWell’s Maximum Impact Fund as the target of your donation. This option gives GiveWell discretion to apply the funds to any of its top charities, wherever the potential impact is greatest, taking into account the latest information about each charity’s room for additional funding. You can read more about GiveWell’s process here. It’s hard to go wrong seeking maximum impact; as we read in scripture, Paul’s prayer for the Philippians was that they “may be able to discern what is best”. In the present time, we have a resource in GiveWell to help us to just that.

OFTW Entire Portfolio

Finally, the campaign offers the option of contributing to a much broader portfolio of charities, the OFTW Entire Portfolio. You can view the list of 18 charities in this portfolio (the 5 top picks plus 13 others) here. We won’t discuss each of these in detail, and our team is not quite as familiar with the rest of the list as we are the OFTW Top Picks. Some of them are recent additions to GiveWell’s top charities list; others are former OFTW Top Picks.