Our philosophy

The Why and How of Giving Multiplier

Giving money to charity should feel good. It should also do good—as much good as possible. As charity experts have long recognized, the “feel good” and the “do good” of charitable giving don’t always fit perfectly together. This is because the charities that do the most good are not always the ones that feel the most compelling or personally meaningful. Some charity experts hope that people will stop giving based on their feelings and instead focus only on what’s most effective. We take a different approach: Why not do both?

The feelings that make us want to help others reflect the best of humanity. And so does our ability to think and reason and solve hard problems. As scientists who study human nature, we think that doing the most good in the long run means cultivating good feelings and good reasoning. Our research tells us that many people agree. People like to give from the “heart”, and they like to give from the “head”, and they don’t like having to choose one over the other, especially if this means putting the head over the heart.

Giving Multiplier is about giving people options. It’s about giving people the information they need to express their deepest values. Giving from the heart comes naturally to most people, but giving from the head is more complicated. It requires research and keeping track of new opportunities and obstacles. Giving Multiplier brings the research to you and amplifies your giving with support from generous matching donors who share our “heart and head” philosophy.

Here’s what we do:

1. Provide information about effectiveness

Many people care about charity effectiveness but don’t know much about it. They don’t know that the most effective charities can be 100 times more effective than typical charities. They don’t know which charities are the most effective ones. Many people don’t know that it’s even possible to study charity effectiveness or that there are excellent researchers who do this. We follow the experts and let donors know which charities will maximize their impact.

2. Making splitting easy

We make it easy to give from the “heart” and the “head” with our donation splitting system, made possible by our partners at Every.org. You pick the charity that speaks most to your heart. No researchers can do that for you. You also pick a charity that researchers have identified as extremely effective. And with just a few clicks, you can support both charities, dividing your donation however you choose.

3. Matching donations for the greater good

As we’ve said, giving from the heart comes naturally. We humans have been doing it for thousands of years. Using our brains to think big and solve hard problems is also an important part of who we are. But until recently people haven’t thought of charity this way. Giving from the head, based on scientific evidence, is a new, revolutionary idea that gets more popular every year. The supporters of Giving Multiplier want to merge these ideas, giving from the heart and the head. Because the heart part comes naturally to most people, this means encouraging people to increase their donations to the charities that have the biggest impact, the ones that save the most lives and do the most to promote wellbeing. With this in mind, our matching funders add more to your donation the more you give to the charities that, according to expert researchers, do the most good.