Topic
The Receipts
Evidence on what actually works, and what doesn't. Claims checked against the numbers, not the marketing.
- The Receipts
The voluntourism problem
A week volunteering at an orphanage in Cambodia costs about $3,000. That same money could fund a local teacher's salary for a year.
7 May 2026 · 7 min read
- The Receipts
The warm glow trap
Your brain rewards you for giving regardless of impact. That feels nice and costs lives. How the psychology of generosity steers money away from where it helps.
5 May 2026 · 7 min read
- The Receipts
The charity ratings problem
Charity Navigator rates 200,000 nonprofits. Almost none of those ratings tell you whether the charity actually works.
4 May 2026 · 6 min read
- The Receipts
The overhead myth
Low overhead doesn't mean high impact. The obsession with admin costs has harmed charities for decades. Here's what really predicts whether giving does good.
30 April 2026 · 7 min read
- The Receipts
The impact washing problem
Impact washing is the charity sector's version of greenwashing. Charities overstate their impact using metrics that sound impressive but measure nothing useful.
26 April 2026 · 7 min read
- The Receipts
The disaster giving trap
After a hurricane or earthquake, giving spikes and then collapses. The money goes where the cameras are, not where the need is. Here's how to fix it.
20 April 2026 · 5 min read
- The Receipts
The signal-to-noise problem in ESG
ESG ratings are supposed to tell you which companies are good. They don't agree with each other. Here's why that's a much bigger problem than it sounds.
19 April 2026 · 6 min read
- The Receipts
When the evidence is thin
Most interventions have no randomised controlled trial behind them. Here's how to think about impact when the data you want doesn't exist.
18 April 2026 · 6 min read
- The Receipts
How to actually offset carbon
Most of what you buy in the voluntary carbon market doesn't remove carbon. Here is how to find the roughly five percent that does.
17 April 2026 · 7 min read
- The Receipts
Small acts that aren't
Three of the most popular green habits barely move the needle. Here's the data, and what to do instead.
17 April 2026 · 6 min read
- The Receipts
Your favourite charity has three numbers you should know
Every UK charity files accounts with the Charity Commission. Most donors never open them. Three numbers tell you more than the glossy PDF ever will.
17 April 2026 · 6 min read