Ask HN: Anyone have real Charitable Organization metrics?
Case 1: Give $20 to a guy digging for plastic bottles. He buys a bunch of booze. No CEO pay and 100% of the funds paid out. Yet, the aid was 100% ineffective. In fact, you could have done harm.
Case 2: You offer to buy him food. Spend the same $20. This required active management. How much did it cost to give out $20? If you had to pay someone to supervise and ensure positive results, $30 to $40?
Case 3: Natural disaster. Aid organization receives $10 million. Pay their CEO $0. No organization outside of a few home office volunteers. They give out 100% of the funds. They are grabbed by corrupt government officials, warlords, drug dealers, etc. Only 5% might reach someone and do some good.
Case 4: Same disaster: A different org receives $10 million. They pay their CEO a good salary. They also have trained and experienced staff. They invested in a large cargo plane, portable medical facilities, tents, containers and a rapid deployment aid and support package. This infrastructure costs money to maintain, transport and grow. Only 50% of the funds reach the afflicted. Yet, this organization is there with an army of people and their resources helping, feeding and housing folks.
Clearly the CEO and % donated metrics are meaningless. I would rather give to the organization in the last example. I think most might agree.
Is there a site or watchdog group that compiles real, relevant and verified metrics for aid organizations?
P.S.: Please don't engage in slicing-up the above cases. They are simple examples used to make a general point. Not intended to be an exhaustive treatment. I'd appreciate if we could focus on --if this exists-- identifying a source of more realistic metrics.
2 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 15.1 ms ] threadA single global metric is almost impossible. For one thing, it requires a horde of comparative value judgements. What is the exact impact difference percentage between feeding a child in Mali for a month, vs teaching a Kenyan man how to start a bicycle repair business?
How organizations evaluated in the real world?
Most funding comes from two kinds of donors - lets call them whales and consumers. Consumers get advertised to and give < $1,000 a year. Whales however usually have dedicated contacts an organization, and if they are giving enough, probably have access to both per project financials and project outcome metrics.
So in theory whales have good information about the effectiveness of their money.
Consumers though mostly don't. Partly consumers themselves are to blame for this because in general they don't care about how effective their giving is. The William and Flora Hewit foundation gave up on funding charities rating programs because of a study that found that less than 2% of donors ever research the effectiveness of the organizations they give to.
Personally, I only give to organizations I've worked with.
You are right, the vast majority of people are not analytical at all. Whether it be politics or charitable giving, it is far easier to let emotions dictate decisions than having to look at a spreadsheet or financial report.
I'll keep looking but what you just revealed seems to indicate I will not find what I am looking for and there might not be a financial incentive to even consider creating such a service.