There actually is an answer here. Namely, http://www.givewell.org/ http://www.givewell.org/ The "effective altruism" movement attempts to compare all of the al

There actually is an answer here. Namely, http://www.givewell.org/ http://www.givewell.org/ The "effective altruism" movement attempts to compare all of the altruistic interventions available to maximize the amount of good done per dollar of your donation, and GiveWell is a part of this movement (although there are others you can explore). Currently GiveWell's top-rated charity is one providing malaria nets in Africa, and their second rated is one that provides direct wealth transfers to Kenyans. They have ridiculously high epistemic standards which are detailed in their published articles and on their blog.