One of the big stories in the world of charity at the end of 2007 was a new kid on the block, a hedge-fund-trader-headed meta-charity called Givewell which was promising to shake up the world of philanthropy by analyzing other charities on a number of points and soliciting money to give as parts of its own grants. However after its founder transparently attempted to game the Ask Metafilter web site it turns out that Givewell combines a mix of high administration costs, shady publicity pratices, publicly bad-mouthing other charities and questionable behavior by board members.
Bits and rants from Tony Emond