WWF?
December 24, 2021 7:25 AM Subscribe
Would be grateful for links to excellent sources assessing the impact of charity organizations -- specifically including World Wildlife Fund.
I have info from my own Google search but wondered if someone knows a better resource than what I have.
Thanks!
If you're interested in charity impact assessments in general, Givewell do a lot of excellent number crunching, but I don't think they have a page on the WWF yet.
posted by wattle at 8:09 AM on December 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by wattle at 8:09 AM on December 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Hello! I work in monitoring and evaluation for international development. The short answer is no, such a resource does not exist: “impact” means many different things, across different interventions and outcomes, and there is no way to standardize across all of them.
However, if there is a specific outcome you want, you can research who is achieving it, and give there. Charity Navigator is helpful for getting a general sense of whether a given charity is shady or not, so if someone is doing work you think is important, a good Charity Navigator rating can give you confidence that you’re not giving money to someone’s slush fund. News searches (in reputable sources) for the outcome/intervention you’re interested in, or the charity you’re considering, can help you see if there have been any scandals/mismanagement that you want to avoid, and also to surface orgs you might not have known about. What outcome are you particularly interested in achieving with your donation? Do you have a particular concern about how WWF might be spending its money?
Networking with people who actually work in the field you’ve got money to support (conservation ecologists, e.g.) can give you perspective on organizations actually doing the work on the ground that could make better and more direct use of your money than big, international charities.
I have many friends who are PhD primatologists who spent years in the field in Congo and Rwanda, studying and trying to preserve habitat for our chimpanzee, gorilla, and bonobo relatives - they all support Lwiro Primate Sanctuary, which is run in DRC by the kind of people who put their lives on the line to protect animals from poachers. I know a small animal sanctuary in Liberia that’s doing great work on helping protect pangolins and their habitat - a butterfly sanctuary in Zanzibar - a street-dog care org in Kathmandu - but of course, small orgs in other countries don’t always have the tax status to offer donors the paperwork they need if they want to claim a deduction. Feel free to PM me!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 9:46 AM on December 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
However, if there is a specific outcome you want, you can research who is achieving it, and give there. Charity Navigator is helpful for getting a general sense of whether a given charity is shady or not, so if someone is doing work you think is important, a good Charity Navigator rating can give you confidence that you’re not giving money to someone’s slush fund. News searches (in reputable sources) for the outcome/intervention you’re interested in, or the charity you’re considering, can help you see if there have been any scandals/mismanagement that you want to avoid, and also to surface orgs you might not have known about. What outcome are you particularly interested in achieving with your donation? Do you have a particular concern about how WWF might be spending its money?
Networking with people who actually work in the field you’ve got money to support (conservation ecologists, e.g.) can give you perspective on organizations actually doing the work on the ground that could make better and more direct use of your money than big, international charities.
I have many friends who are PhD primatologists who spent years in the field in Congo and Rwanda, studying and trying to preserve habitat for our chimpanzee, gorilla, and bonobo relatives - they all support Lwiro Primate Sanctuary, which is run in DRC by the kind of people who put their lives on the line to protect animals from poachers. I know a small animal sanctuary in Liberia that’s doing great work on helping protect pangolins and their habitat - a butterfly sanctuary in Zanzibar - a street-dog care org in Kathmandu - but of course, small orgs in other countries don’t always have the tax status to offer donors the paperwork they need if they want to claim a deduction. Feel free to PM me!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 9:46 AM on December 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
Google might turn up Influence Watch or Activist Facts, but I wouldn't trust them--they're both front groups linked to right-wing astroturfers.
If you want a progressive critique, you might try SourceWatch. Or, for a more radical take, Wrong Kind of Green.
posted by box at 10:58 AM on December 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
If you want a progressive critique, you might try SourceWatch. Or, for a more radical take, Wrong Kind of Green.
posted by box at 10:58 AM on December 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
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posted by indianbadger1 at 7:42 AM on December 24, 2021