Of the countless well-meaning efforts to help the world’s poor, only sixteen are currently endorsed by GiveWell, a meta-charity that rigorously investigates nonprofits. Three of those are run by a little-known nonprofit called Evidence Action.

While GiveWell evaluates programs and Evidence Action operates them, their values are aligned: Both seek to alleviate poverty with interventions that are supported by evidence, thoroughly vetted and cost-effective. These are the kinds of programs that merit support from donors, particularly institutional donors, although they don’t necessarily get it.  Evidence Action identifies anti-poverty interventions that have been tested in the field by economists, usually on a small scale, and then looks for ways to help them grow, evaluating them at each stage.

Put simply, and true to its name, Evidence Action takes evidence and turns it into action.

In November, GiveWell recognized three Evidence Action programs. It named Deworm the World Initiative and No Lean Season as “top charities,” and chose Dispensers for Safe Water as a “standout charity,” a tier just below.

Deworm the World was the first program operated by Evidence Action, which works with governments in India, Kenya, Ethiopia, Vietnam and Nigeria that promotes school-based deworming and have treated nearly 200 million children in 2016.

No Lean Season provides travel subsidies of $8 to $19 to poor farmers in rural areas of Bangladesh so they can travel to cities to find work after crops are planted and before they are harvested.

Lastly, Dispensers for Safe Water program delivers, monitors and maintains chlorine dispensers at wells, boreholes and open water sources in Kenya, Malawi and Uganda and currently serves about 4.7m people.

Read the full article about evidence into action by Marc Gunther at Nonprofit Chronicles.