美国国家公共电台 NPR Choosing A Charity: Should You Go With Your Heart Or Your Head?

Choosing A Charity: Should You Go With Your Heart Or Your Head?

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Today is the fifth annual Giving Tuesday, a day when thousands of charities ask us to open our wallets, although that does require some thought. How can you be sure that the group you donate to is effective and that you're getting the most bang for your charity buck²? NPR's Nurith Aizenman reports.

NURITH AIZENMAN, BYLINE³: Some years ago, Elie Hassenfeld and a buddy⁴ at this hedge fund they both worked at decided⁵ they wanted to give money to charity. But being numbers guys, they wanted evidence of which groups could offer the biggest impact per dollar.

ELIE HASSENFELD: We were shocked by how little useful information was available.

AIZENMAN: Sure, there are rating sites that let you check how much a charity spends on overhead, any red flags pointing to corruption⁶.

HASSENFELD: But nothing that said, this is how much a charity can accomplish with the donation that you get.

AIZENMAN: And so, in 2007, Hassenfeld and his friend, whose name is Holden Karnofsky decided to start a nonprofit called GiveWell. The mission - come up with an annual shortlist of charities they can recommend based on scientific evidence.

HASSENFELD: Randomised control trials of, for example, distributing malaria⁷ nets in Africa to see how effectively that reduces cases of malaria and save lives.

AIZENMAN: Turns out passing out cheap bed nets against malaria-carrying mosquitoes saves a lot of lives. And that puts Against Malaria Foundation at the top of GiveWell's picks for 2016. Their next choice?

OK, I'm looking at number two. Schisto - I think I'm going to mispronounce this.

HASSENFELD: (Laughter). Schistosomiasis - it's an intestinal⁸ worm.

AIZENMAN: It affects a lot of kids in sub-Saharan Africa, causing cognitive⁹ and physical development problems. HASSENFELD says Schistosomiasis Control Initiative can deworm a kid for just 50 cents.

HASSENFELD: So a very small amount of money may have really large, long-term effects.

AIZENMAN: The thing is, social science research suggests, if you tell us about one child who needs our help, we're sold. Rattle¹⁰ off statistics about an obscure disease in some far-away place, and a lot of us start to feel overwhelmed and, frankly¹¹, turned off. Hassenfeld doesn't disagree, but he says...

HASSENFELD: We're trying to reach a particular type of person who's just thinking about their charitable giving in a very different way.

AIZENMAN: And in just nine years, GiveWell has convinced about 14,000 people to donate a total of more than $100 million to the charities it's selected. Still, at least one of those charities is starting to rethink the database to pitch for donations. It's a fairly new group called GiveDirectly. Ian Bassin manages donor¹² relations.

IAN BASSIN: We are asking people to do something that, I think, most people instinctively¹³, psychologically are resistant¹⁴ to.

AIZENMAN: Basically, GiveDirectlly wants to take your cash and just hand it over to an extremely poor person - no strings¹⁵ attached. The beneficiary can spend the money however he or she sees fit. Why? Well...

BASSIN: It turns out that rigorous scientific evidence over the last 10 to 15 years has shown that actually giving people the power of choice to decide what their priorities are is one of the most effective ways to help the poor.

AIZENMAN: GiveDirectly was founded by a bunch of economists¹⁶ who were inspired by this research. And at first, they wanted to make their case to donors¹⁷ just on the numbers. They were determined¹⁸ to avoid what Bassin calls poverty porn.

BASSIN: You know, people sort of putting a picture of a starving child on a video and, you know, infomercial.

AIZENMAN: In five years, they've raised more than $130 million. But a few days ago, they unveiled a new feature on their website. It's a running list of photos and profiles of the beneficiaries because now they want to reach a broader audience.

BASSIN: There's a limit to how many sort of of the wonky, evidence-type-based donors that we could have.

AIZENMAN: And often, Bassin says, people's charitable giving is a connection between the head and the heart. Nurith Aizenman, NPR News.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

7 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

8 intestinal   

adj.肠的；肠壁；肠道细菌

参考例句：

• A few other conditions are in high intestinal obstruction. 其它少数情况是高位肠梗阻。 来自辞典例句
• This complication has occasionally occurred following the use of intestinal antiseptics. 这种并发症偶而发生在使用肠道抗菌剂上。 来自辞典例句

9 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

10 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

11 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

12 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

13 instinctively   

adv.本能地

参考例句：

• As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近，她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

15 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

16 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。