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**Cost-effectiveness: **We attempt to estimate figures such as the total "cost per life saved" or "cost per total economic benefit to others, normalized by base income" for each of the charities we consider. We seek out charities running programs that perform well on metrics like this. Low-income people in the developing world have dramatically lower standards of living than low-income people in the U.S., and we believe that a given dollar amount can provide more meaningful benefits when targeting the former.
Rather than set budgets for specific programs, we aim to direct funding to the programs that we believe will produce the most impact per dollar—in other words, the most cost-effective programs. When we have more funding to direct, the cost-effectiveness that we consider for grants in that year tends to be lower, and vice-versa when we have less funding to direct. As the amount of money we have to direct in a given year can shift based on market factors, so can the cost-effectiveness bar in that year. The decision of whether or not to recommend any given grant is affected by a number of factors, some of which are not in a potential grantee’s control. Core considerations include: