Jepson Philanthropy Institute

Welcome to the Jepson Philanthropy Institute. In this program students form a consulting group (JPI) to develop assessments of charitable organizations. Our goal is to assess the ethics and effectiveness of institutions that aim to promote altruistic causes,with a particular focus on leadership and management.

To this end, each consultant writes a detailed assessment of a nonprofit organization and that assessment is peer reviewed by with two reviewers. Consultants are encouraged to see themselves as members of a community of researchers. A summary of each consultant’s evaluation is therefore posted on this website, so that other researchers can assess and respond to the evaluations.

The JPI also collectively researches and evaluates four philanthropic endeavors. In 2015 the organizations included the Millennium Villages, GiveDirectly, the Future of Humanity Institute, and the University of Richmond. As we research each cause, consultants learn about scientific methodology,rhetoric and persuasion, systems theory and accountability, institutional design,argumentation, ethics, and cognitive bias. JPI consultants then implement these lessons by developing a management strategy for the group and choosing a procedure for deciding to donate a cash grant of $500 to one charity.

You can read more about the course here.