Michael Thatcher's career has been guided by a simple formula: "Follow your heart, use your head, and then go make a difference." This has taken him from professional musician and dancer, to oceanographic researcher, to tech executive. Today, Michael is the President and CEO of Charity Navigator.
Michael sees Charity Navigator as the "top of the funnel" for the effective giving journey, helping millions of donors move beyond the "warm glow" of emotional giving toward smarter, more effective philanthropy. It's a role he's deeply passionate about: "I get really excited about this stuff! I love what I do. I love the chance to make things more effective for others."
In this video, Michael explores trends reshaping philanthropy, from the shift away from overhead ratios toward measuring real impact, to the growth of donor-advised funds and alternative giving platforms. He also highlights two key tension points in the giving space: first, getting people to give more, and then helping them give more effectively. "Figuring out where you can have the highest level of impact with the resources that you have is actually the smartest thing you can do." Michael shares how the effective altruism movement plays an important role in that second piece, helping donors find where their giving can do the most good.
Video Transcript
00:00 - Introduction: The Challenge of Rating Impact
You can't rate impact at scale? Somebody's challenging me with an impossible task? Great, let's take it on. You’ve got to take it on when it's big like that and get excited about it.
We're much less forgiving in the charitable space—which, if you think about it, is not very charitable.
You care about it so much that you can't not do something—you know, give the money, volunteer, change your life.
00:28 - Michael Thatcher’s Unconventional Career Path
I'm Michael Thatcher, the President and CEO at Charity Navigator. I've had a professional life that's been quite varied; it's taken me from working as a professional musician and dancer, to working in oceanographic research, to working in a big technology company, to now leading Charity Navigator. All of that has been through a really basic equation, which is: I fall in love with something, I then figure out how to make it work as a livelihood, and then I go do it. The other way I look at it is: follow your heart, use your head, and then go make a difference.
01:11 - The Giving Journey Starts with the Heart
As you think about effective giving and starting your giving journey, for me anyway, it starts with the heart. In other words, there's something that—and I had a donor say this to me—causes grab you by the heart. You care about it so much that you can't not do something. When that happens to you, you've got to figure out: where can I be the most effective there?
I think sometimes what happens is we get grabbed by the heart and then we just throw money at something, it goes nowhere, and we get that "warm glow"—but then almost the inverse effect can happen. You can get really turned off and feel as though you've been robbed. The other thing—and this works for me, it may not work for everyone else—is I get really excited about this stuff! I love what I do. I love the chance to make things more effective for others. I want to save the world with everyone else's money! You’ve got to take on something big like that and get excited about it, but be smart and be active.
02:19 - Charity Navigator’s Role: The Top of the Funnel
We're seeing a lot of traction with people giving to global health and areas that are no longer being provided for by the US government. When I think about how Charity Navigator relates to the effective altruist community, we really are the top of the funnel. People generally start giving emotionally. They respond to a crisis, they respond to a demand, and they give. Then, a little bit further on, they start asking questions. They get a little bit skeptical or they want to know more about what they're doing. That's where we come in.
02:53 - Focusing on Impact Over Overhead
People have moved away from overhead and financial ratios and are really looking for impact, "show me the effectiveness of the organization." As a nonprofit, being able to articulate your effectiveness is super important. It's also something we're looking at in our ratings in a way that we never were before, so that’s a trend.
03:14 - Giving Trends: Crypto, Donor-Advised Funds, Direct Giving
The other givers' trend I would say is that some of the vehicles for giving have changed. We saw a few years back cryptocurrency was coming online. The other area where there's a lot of growth is around donor-advised funds (DAFs) in the United States. One aspect of donor-advised funds which is curious is that it allows the donor to give anonymously; so there's been a greater increase in anonymous giving. From the donor's perspective, they often feel over-solicited by nonprofits, so being able to create that layer of abstraction allows them to support the causes they care about without being overly solicited by other nonprofits.
The other trend is that a lot of giving is not going to nonprofits. If you look at alternative vehicles like GoFundMe—GoFundMe is a 15-year-old organization that has moved $44 billion in 15 years. That's more than many of us have been able to do. It’s "people helping people." It's not necessarily measurable, and it's very hard to know the effectiveness of that, but it's a significant amount of money going out in a generally caring fashion.
04:37 - Moving Donors from Safe Giving to Effective Giving
There are kind of two tension points. One is: get people to give more. And then, once they're giving more, get them to give more effectively. The entry point isn't necessarily how to find an effective organization, it's how not to be scammed by a fraudulent organization. So part of the journey is saying "it’s okay," and then once people realize they've got a decent organization, we ask: how do we actually guide them toward more effective organizations? That's an ongoing journey for the user, but also for Charity Navigator.
05:08 - How Effective Altruism Increases Impact
There are a lot of problems in the world. Figuring out where you can have the highest level of impact with the resources that you have is actually the smartest thing you can do. What the EA community helps you do is find where that impact can actually have the highest value and the highest multiples. I think that's actually something worth getting excited about.
