Opinion: Charitable Dollars Go Further in Cases of Extreme Poverty

It is possible to make objective judgments about which charities are more worthy of donations than others, says Peter Singer, a bioethics professor at Princeton University, in The New York Times.

Mr. Singer conducts a cost-benefit analysis to weigh the impact of charitable dollars, comparing a donation to an art museum to a gift to fight blindness. Dr. Singer concludes, “We will achieve more if we help those in extreme poverty in developing countries, as our dollars go much further there.”

Citing the emerging trend of “effective altruism,” or data-driven philanthropy, Mr. Singer points to the charity evaluator, GiveWell as a tool to help donors vet charities that work internationally, and GiveDirectly, which transfers at least 90 percent of money donated to a low-income African family. Studies indicate that those gifts benefit the recipients longterm.