January 7, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
GiveWell announced on Sunday that its Board of Directors has demoted the organization’s executive director, Holden Karnofsky, to program officer.
On GiveWell’s blog, the board wrote that Mr. Karnofsky was demoted because he was caught last week using online aliases to promote GiveWell.
On Metafilter, the Internet message board where Mr. Karnofsky’s acts of self-promotion were uncovered, members were divided over the decision.
“I think this is a reasonable outcome,” wrote one member. “Demoting him shows some faith in his ideas and hopefully helps donors from bailing.”
However, other Metafilter members wrote that the punishment was too lenient. “So much for trust and transparency,” wrote one in reaction to the board’s announcement.
Phil Cubeta, a financial and charitable-giving adviser, writes that he worries that the “beating” Mr. Karnofsky has received over the incident will lead other grant makers not to use the Internet to discuss their operations with the public.
“Will the lesson learned inside the closed world of elite philanthropy be that it should stay closed?” he asks on his blog, Gift Hub.
What do you think? Did GiveWell make the right decision? Share your views by clicking on the “comments” link below.
