Poverty & Health

Many Dutch charities do not work on global issues. In fact, 90% of Dutch charities spend their money in the Netherlands. This is unfortunate because The Netherlands is a rich country. All of the problems that are easy and cheap to tackle have often already been solved in rich countries. Those that remain are often expensive and difficult to define and solve. In poor countries, the simpler problems have often not yet been addressed. For this reason, you can have more impact per euro by donating to charities that focus on problems that are easy and cheap to address in poor countries⁴. For example, saving a life abroad is significantly cheaper. In the Netherlands, the reference value (what an extra healthy year of life gained through treatment may cost on average) is currently 80,000 euro⁵. Contrast this with the fact that with just over 3,500 euros you can save the life of someone from Mali by supplying vitamin A supplements. The remaining 10% of Dutch charities do not pass the strict selection of the independent evaluators. They also may not volunteer themselves to be evaluated.