New podcast episode: Deepening GiveWell’s focus on livelihoods Programs

By GiveWell @ 2025-07-11T14:03 (+13)

GiveWell has long grappled with fundamental questions about how to value different positive impacts and make funding decisions across diverse programs. In particular, how much more valuable it is to save a life than to substantially improve it? And how can we prioritize between programs that achieve those outcomes in different measures when there’s no “right” answer to that question?

In this episode, GiveWell CEO and co-founder Elie Hassenfeld speaks with Senior Program Officer Julie Faller about why GiveWell is dedicating more capacity to researching livelihoods programs that aim to increase people's incomes. They discuss how we're building on existing work, searching for new cost-effective opportunities, and exploring more of the impactful programs we've long cared about.

 

Listen to Episode 7: Deepening GiveWell’s Focus on Livelihoods Programs

This episode was recorded on June 25, 2025 and represents our best understanding at that time.

 

Elie and Julie discuss:

Our new program officer will lead the search for livelihoods opportunities over the next year that meet our high bar for funding, and we plan to keep growing this research if it proves successful. We’re excited that this expansion of our research team will allow us to explore more of the impactful opportunities that we—and our donors—have long cared about.

Visit our All Grants Fund webpage to learn more about how you can support this work, and listen or subscribe to our podcast for our latest updates.


M. Isabella @ 2025-07-25T19:53 (+1)

Thanks for a wonderful episode. I’m really interested in your Open researcher roles, is there someone I can speak to about this role to get more insight?

GiveWell @ 2025-07-28T20:03 (+2)

Hi there - thanks for your interest in GiveWell! We don't currently offer informational calls, but we'd encourage you to check out our open roles and apply to any that seem like a good fit for your background and interests.