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Best charities for happiness and wellbeing – 2024

Why donate to our recommended charities?

Make the world happier

These are the most cost-effective charities we’ve found for making the world a happier place.

Backed by research

All our charity recommendations are based on extensive evidence-based research.

Multiply your impact

Our top charities are 100x more cost-effective than the average charity.

Free to use

100% of your donation goes to the charity you choose. And you can access all our research for free.

Transparent

We’re open about how we come to our conclusions, our uncertainties, mistakes we’ve made, and areas where we need to improve.

Fair and unbiased

We don’t take any money from the charities we recommend. We’re independent and neutral. 

Top recommended charities 

These charities are extremely cost-effective and backed by strong evidence – especially when compared to most other charities.

StrongMinds

Treats people for depression by delivering group psychotherapy for free. StrongMinds works primarily in Uganda and Zambia, where mental health services are severely underfunded.

More detail

Cause area and intervention

Mental health – psychotherapy

Cost-effectiveness

40 WELLBYs per $1,000 donated (or $25 per WELLBY)

Evidence 

  • Our own systematic review and meta-analysis of 84 studies on psychotherapy
  • 1 randomised control study of StrongMinds’ programme
  • The monitoring and evaluation data from StrongMinds

Depth of analysis

High. We spent over 1,000 hours completing 95%+ of the research we think is relevant.

See research summary
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Friendship Bench

Treats people with depression and anxiety using group-based counselling. It does this primarily in Zimbabwe, where there are very few mental health services.

More detail

Cause area and intervention

Mental health – psychotherapy

Cost-effectiveness

49 WELLBYs per $1,000 donated (or $21 per WELLBY)

Evidence 

  • Our own systematic review and meta-analysis of 84 studies on psychotherapy
  • 4 randomised control studies of Friendship Bench’s programme
  • The monitoring and evaluation data from Friendship Bench

Depth of analysis

High. We spent over 1,000 hours completing 95%+ of the research we think is relevant.

See research summary
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Promising charities

These charities are likely extremely cost-effective, but we need stronger evidence for them to qualify as a “Top recommended charity”. For now, we see these charities ‘higher-risk, but possibly higher-reward’.

Pure Earth

Works to eliminate lead poisoning, which can have a major impact on people’s cognitive abilities and wellbeing in later life. Lead poisoning kills as many people as malaria and HIV/AIDS combined. 

More detail

Cause area and intervention

Pollution – reducing lead exposure in cosmetics through advocacy and technical assistance

Cost-effectiveness

108 WELLBYs per $1,000 donated (or $9.23 per WELLBY)

Evidence

  • 2 correlational studies linking childhood lead exposure to adult wellbeing
  • Estimations of lead exposure levels, based on Pure Earth’s modelling
  • Prediction of how much Pure Earth will reduce lead exposure, based on its track record

Depth of analysis

We spent about 200 hours completing 60% of the research we think is relevant.

See research summary
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Taimaka

Treats malnutrition in children, which causes severe and lasting physical and mental health issues.

More detail

Cause area and intervention

Nutrition – reducing extreme malnutrition through therapeutic food

Cost-effectiveness

66 WELLBYs per $1,000 (or $15 to per WELLBY)

Evidence 

  • A meta-analysis of 13 studies, which used a similar nutritional supplement
  • 1 randomised control trial, based on using a similar nutritional supplement
  • 2 natural studies on the impact of famine

Depth of analysis 

We spent around 270 hours completing 30%–60% of the research we think is relevant.

See research summary
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Reach Up (programme by icddr,b)

Provides evidence-based parenting programmes, which are proven to improve children’s long-term health and wellbeing.

More detail

The “Reach Up” programme is provided by the charity “International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh” (icddrb). (Note: despite its name, the charity icddrb doesn’t just focus on diarrhoea, and doesn’t just focus on Bangladesh).

Cause area and intervention

Childhood development – psychosocial stimulation

Cost-effectiveness

50 WELLBYs per $1,000 donated (or $20 per WELLBY).

Evidence

  • 2 randomised control trials of similar  programmes
  • 4 causal studies of related interventions

Depth of analysis

We spent around 90 hours completing 40%–70% of the research we think is relevant.

See research summary
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Network for Empowerment & Progressive Initiative (NEPI)

Provides psychotherapy and cash to young men with violent or criminal backgrounds in order to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.

More detail

Cause area and intervention

Crime – cash transfers combined with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

Cost-effectiveness

Conservative: 22 WELLBYs per $1,000 donated (or $46 per WELLBY).

Generous: 104 WELLBYs per $1,000 donated (or $10 per WELLBY).

Evidence

  • 1 randomised control trial of the organisation’s impact on recipients, and on crime rates
  • 1 correlational study of the benefits of crime reduction, supported by 10+ studies on similar topics

Depth of analysis

We spent around 70 hours completing 30%–70% of the research we think is relevant.

See research summary
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Other great charities

Other effective charities that we think are worth a mention.

Happier Lives Institute

Finds and promotes the best charities for improving global happiness. It does this by conducting scientifically rigorous research into different cause areas, interventions, and charities.

See profile
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Charities we don’t currently recommend

In our search for the best charities, inevitably some charities haven’t yet met our criteria for us to recommend them outright. We found these charities either aren’t highly cost-effective, or don’t have a current funding gap. However, they are likely still much more impactful than most other average charities.

See charities we don’t currently recommend.

More information

For a walkthrough of our recommended charities and research, check out our video overview. 

For a deep dive on our charity evaluations, check out our in-depth research reports. 

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