magnanimo.us
Methodology

Sources & methodology

Where our numbers come from, how we decide what to trust, and every source we link to — in one place.

Updated

How we research

  1. Start with the people who collect the data. Giving USA and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy for donation totals; the IRS for tax rules; AmeriCorps and the Census Bureau for volunteering; USDA, EPA and ReFED for food waste; Feeding America and individual food banks for what pantries need.
  2. Read the original. For research on happiness and generosity, we link to the paper or the publisher's page, not just press coverage, and note when findings have been replicated, qualified or challenged.
  3. Label the year. Many reports cover a year earlier than the one they're published in. We say which year the data describes.
  4. Check every link. Before publishing and on each update, every outbound link is checked automatically and replaced if it fails.

What we treat with care

  • Industry surveys from companies that sell giving or fundraising software: useful, but we name who ran the survey.
  • Charity ratings: we attribute every rating to the evaluator and explain what it measures.
  • Inspirational stories: we only tell ones with reliable documentation, and flag disputed details.
  • Tax information: we cite IRS publications and note recent law changes; it is not tax advice.

Every source we cite

125 distinct source URLs from 85 publishers, generated automatically from the citations in our 20 guides. Grouped by publisher, most-cited first.