A PILOT PROJECT
This research project came about because we found people asking, "Is there any way that we can give more effectively locally?"
We are convinced that giving "locally" would be more effective if we look for giving opportunities beyond Singapore (where we are based in) to the surrounding region of Southeast Asia. We believe that the impact of every dollar donated can be stretched if we can find important, neglected and cost-effective areas to give to in low- and lower-middle income countries.
Learn more about our research process here.
This project is an initiative by the Effective Altruism (EA) Singapore Chapter.
RESEARCH TEAM
Here are the faces behind this research.
Wanyi Zeng | Research Lead
Wanyi started her career in youth and community work with the low-income communities. She is currently running the Effective Altruism (EA) chapter in Singapore. She has traveled extensively in Southeast Asia and has a keen interest to promote effective giving in the region, believing in the value of cause prioritisation and impact evaluation. Wanyi leads the EffectiveGiving.Asia pilot project that came out of her interactions with donors, corporate social responsibility (CSR) coordinators, philanthropists, impact evaluation practitioners and the EA community here — observations of a neglected space for effective giving in Southeast Asia.
Anuja Hazarika | Research Writer
Anuja Hazarika is a development professional with a track record of over eight years of
experience in developing strategic alliances, campaigns and programmes for diverse
audiences. She has in-depth programme management experience from conception to
implementation in the non-profit sector with an oversight of operational support and budget management. She has worked with various organisations focusing on HIV/AIDS, urban poverty, humanitarian aid etc in India and Singapore.
Khin Yadanar Oo | Research Analyst
Born in Myanmar and raised in Singapore, Yadanar is passionate about helping the world do good better in the Southeast Asia region. She is involved in the EffectiveGiving.Asia charity evaluation process with her experience in policy research and research consulting. Yadanar is also currently an undergraduate studying Law and Economics.
SUPPORTING ORGANISATIONS
While the team is small, we relied on the help of many organisations' input and resources. These are the people we are grateful for.
To develop our research process and evaluation framework, we referred to the work done by international organisations such as GiveWell, The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and local organisations such as Just Cause.
DataKind Singapore
Used to breaking down boundaries and collaborating across borders, DataKind Singapore (DK SG) launched in August 2014 with a vision of bringing together data scientists and nonprofits to tackle challenges in Singapore and beyond.
With the support of many volunteers at DK SG, EffectiveGiving.Asia managed to have a comprehensive list of charities that are based in Southeast Asia. This enabled us to search for the charities, which are focused on our target areas, in a systematic way.
We are especially grateful to DK SG's coordinators for our project — Kelvin Tay, Paul Amazona and Gibson Cheng, who have been there for this project from its conception to coordinating volunteers in addressing our data challenges.
Effective Altruism Singapore
Founded in 2015, Effective Altruism (EA) Singapore is part of a global network of EA chapters. EA is about using an evidence-based and careful analysis approach, to target the most important, neglected and tractable (INT) problems to improve the world. The chapter engages with donors, students, philanthropists, corporates, and social impact organisations in promoting EA ideas.
EffectiveGiving.Asia is a research initiative by the EA SG chapter.
SUPPORTED BY
We are grateful for the funding provided by the philanthropists who share our beliefs in finding high-impact and effective giving opportunities. This project is financially supported by:
Croeni Foundation
Established in 2015, Croeni Foundation aims to improve life and life quality for humans and animals worldwide and supports causes that address giving, environment, health and society.
They are actively involved in advancing a transparent society of efficient givers for measurable results, in conserving biodiversity, protecting habitat and preventing species from becoming extinct, as well as in restoring lives and life quality affected by age, diseases and other emergencies.
Wanyi is an Impact Fellow of the Croeni Foundation. The Impact Fellowship Grant that was awarded helped to kickstart EffectiveGiving.Asia project.
Simon Flint
Simon is a philanthropist who supports various causes and is a signatory to the ‘Giving What We Can’ pledge (i.e. pledging to give at least 10% of one’s income to the organisations that one thinks can do the most good).
A minimum of 50% of his giving is directed to charities recommended by GiveWell. Simon also makes regular contributions to regional (Southeast Asia) charities such as Komunitas Taufan & EMPOWER. He is a Trustee of the Awesome Foundation Singapore; he actively supports @CountMeInID, an Indonesian volunteer network with around 15k subscribers on Twitter.
Simon believes that Philanthropy should deliver the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people and has a strong focus on targeting stunting caused by malnutrition.