Here's a great place to start: http://www.givewell.org/international/top-charities/give-directly http://www.givewell.org/international/top-charities/give-dir...

Here's a great place to start: http://www.givewell.org/international/top-charities/give-directly http://www.givewell.org/international/top-charities/give-dir... For background, GiveWell is a meta-charity that evaluates charities by the amount of suffering they reduce per dollar. It was started by former hedge-fund managers and highly transparent, and about as rigorous as you can get in this field. They publish all of their research, for both their "top charities" research and their more long-term Open Philanthropy Project division (which researches more abstract threats like labor migration, AIs becoming evil, land use regulation, scientific research funding, and more). There's a wealth of knowledge there for anyone interested in making the world a better place through altruism.