we want your two cents

+ + =best

intentionsbig

bucksbrightideas

[ ]Alexander Berger, Aaron Kalb, Alex Romanczuk

Stanford University

give mart

Smart Crowd Philanthropy

the big problem

a few influential, savvy investors

masses of naïve

investors

effective institutions

ineffective institutions

the market

why nonprofit markets are not efficient

In the for-profit market...

However, in the nonprofit space...

I3conceptual innovations

II

III

decoupling the decision to give from the choice of a specific charity to give to

identifying the most effective nonprofits using algorithmically weighted votes and dialogue

motivating financial and intellectual contribution using principles of behavioral economics

a problem

Save-A-Life InitiativeSALI

Do you want to help him? Do you want to help him?

LifeSavers

Then give to us.Then give to us.

We spend our money on our cause and on self-assessment, rather than on advertising, but we’re actually orders of magnitude more

effective according to every metric.Could you please give to us, inste...

Hello? Hello? Can you hear us?

our solution

People who care about causes or have moneycontribute funding and pick problems

People who care about efficacy or have timecontribute research and select solutions

decoupling problems and possible solutionscombining emotional altruismwith rational research

conceptual innovation : 1

+

Whether you have millions of dollarsor just common sense

we want your two cents

Whether you have millions of dollars or just common sense,

a problem

Problem:crowdsource (GreatNonprofits/Pepsi Refresh): gets breadth/coverage + involvement

experts (GiveWell):

harnessing ‘smart crowds’ to find the most effective nonprofits

conceptual innovation :2

our solution

coverage

insight from

experts from crowds

how it works

draws inspiration from Google’s PageRank algorithm and Amazon’s ‘top reviewer’ system

apportions influence according to intelligence, insightfulness, and involvement

unites the power & coverage of crowd-sourcing with the quality of expert recommendations

our system

motivating contributionleveraging the innate human desires to win, to complete, to compete, and to collaborate

conceptual innovation :3

our solution

a problem

how it works

We’re almost there!Help us stay on track.

$1000 DONATEDONATEDONATEDONATE

This is Kwabena.You can save him.In Burkina Faso, over a thousand children like Kwabena everyyear from malaria alone. Relatively cheap medical supplies—which westerners take for granted—can prevent the mosquito bites which cause malaria or treat the resulting illness.

moti

vati

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don

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Alexis motiv

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partic

ipatio

n

charitable champion

COMMENTS

DONATIONS

3

Member since 01/14/2012Initiated 4 challengesRaised $150,000

Count:

2,013

Quality

95%

Total $5,117

Seed $600

Early $1,340

Goal $20,000

Raised $ 5,500

Target $ 6,500

putting the pieces together

our innovations actualized

1 Decoupling • Donations to causes• Ratings for nonprofits• Votes in competitions

2 Smart Crowds

• Comment boards w/ active dialogue• Page-rank style weighting of votes,

ratings, comments

3 Motivation • ‘Tipping’ mechanics, graphically illustrated

• User scoreboards (reflecting actual influence)

Give Smart

GiveWell

Great Nonprofi

ts

GuideStar+ P-pedia

Global Giving Jumo

Pepsi Refresh

Charity Nav 2.0

United Way

Promotes Dialogue

Recommendation Quality

Organizations reviewed

Draws a Crowd*

Draws Donations**

* by Alexa pageviews (except for United Way)** money moved

benefits

The Competitive Landscape

A user starts a challengebuilds foundation with money, blurb, and invitations

Others agree to contribute provided the goal is reachedsocial incentives supplement good will

The challenge goes live votes, reviews, and karma accumulate

The challenge closes and funding is distributedweighted votes are tallied

the dynamics

I

IIIII

IV

POSTPOSTPOSTPOSTComment Board

Type your comment hereType your comment heregive your

two cents, User123!

This organization saves lives. It should win all the challenges.

Yes, this charidy is DA BOMB!!1

While certainly well-intentioned, LifeSavers was shown in this study to be incredibly ineffective. The Save-A-Life Initiative targets the same population but yields far better results, according to expert research.

esteemedcontributor

Thanks for referencing those great studies! I’ll vote for The Save-A-Life Initiative, instead.

My friend told me this was a wonderful group doing great work.

LifeSaversWe save lives by utilizing good intentions. more >

DONATEDONATEDONATEDONATE

newcomernonprofitsin this domain

7 BillionFutures

more >

Top-ratednonprofitsin this domain

The Save-A-Life

Initiative

SALI

Longevity Seekers

more >

Currently competing in

Stop Malaria

Challenge$50,000

VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE

for LifeSavers

Eligible for

Save Senegal$100,000

NOMINATENOMINATENOMINATENOMINATE

LifeSavers

— Expert

“ ”While certainly well intentioned, LifeSavers was shown in this study to be incredibly ineffective

comment quality

comment quality

comment quality

comment quality

comment quality

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implementation

3possible approachesthe roll-outattracting users

bowling pinsFacebook style

big bangApple style

build uponSquare style

I

II

III

build up

corporationsPepsi Refresh style

foundationsAmerica’s Giving Challenge style

individualsKiva style

implementation

3sources of revenue

I

II

stayin’ alive

III