Grant Maker Demotes Chief Executive After He Disguises His Identity Online

The Board of Directors of GiveWell, a grant maker set up to help other donors with giving decisions, has removed Holden Karnofsky as its executive director and board secretary after he was caught last week using online aliases to promote GiveWell.

Mr. Karnofsky, who helped establish the New York group last year, will now serve as a program officer and enter a professional-training program, the board said in a statement released Sunday on the group’s Web site. In addition, Mr. Karnofsky must pay a “financial penalty,” though the board did not say how much he was assessed.

“The Board believes that the acts of misrepresentation that were committed are indefensible and are in direct conflict with the goals of the organization, and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms,” the board said.

GiveWell is now searching for a new chief executive. Tim Ogden, a member of GiveWell’s board, will serve as interim board secretary.

GiveWell calls itself the “world’s first completely transparent charitable grant maker” and wants to assist other donors by putting online its decisions about what causes to support and how it evaluates charities.

But Mr. Karnofsky’s dedication to being public about the group’s operations was called into question last week.

On Metafilter, an online message board, Mr. Karnofsky promoted GiveWell without identifying himself. In one message he asked for ideas on how to choose a charity to support and then “answered” as another writer by touting GiveWell’s evaluations of nonprofit groups.

A Metafilter member uncovered the self-promotion, which violated the Web site’s rules, and announced the discovery on the message board.

Mr. Karnofsky quickly apologized and said that he had a “horrible lapse of judgment” by hiding his identity. He also offered to make a contribution to Metafilter to compensate for his mistake – an offer that was derided by Metafilter contributors as a bribe.

Metafilter members found other examples of Mr. Karnofsky’s praising GiveWell as an anonymous source, including instances where he criticized other nonprofit groups.

For example, on Luxist.com, a message board on personal finance, Mr. Karnofsky questioned an article that suggested readers support DonorsChoose, another charity that assists donors.

“Why DonorsChoose? Why not one of a trillion other charities?” he wrote, identified only as “Holden.” He went on to suggest GiveWell as a superior alternative.

Mr. Karnofsky’s actions prompted an angry outpouring on numerous philanthropic blogs, with writers upset by the contradiction between his behavior and GiveWell’s mission.

“The issue isn’t just a mistake — it’s hypocrisy,” Jeff Trexler, a professor of social entrepreneurship at Pace University, wrote on his blog, Uncivilsociety.org.

While the Board of Directors has removed Mr. Karnofsky as leader of GiveWell, it defended his intentions for setting up the fund.

“While we are removing him from the Executive Director position, we believe that his previous contributions outside of the acts noted above have demonstrated a commitment to the goals of the organization and have been important to accomplishing GiveWell’s work,” the board said.

On Metafilter, the online message board where the controversy originated, members appeared divided over the move. Some wrote that the punishment wasn’t harsh enough, but others said it was satisfactory.