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Glossary

This glossary defines key terms and concepts used throughout the Research Strategy documentation.

Core Concepts

Impact Model / Research Prioritization Tool

The presently-documented tool designed to help prioritize philanthropic investments. Its primary goals are to: - Identify the optimal portfolio (the best allocation of money across different organizations) to maximize overall impact. - Pinpoint areas for further research to reduce uncertainty in the model's recommendations.

Portfolio

The specific combination and allocation of funding across various Funding Opportunities and years that is calculated by the model to yield the highest expected value, in either a single world or a combination of them.

Expected Value (EV)

The expected value (EV) is the model's estimate of the impact from funding a specific opportunity. It is calculated by combining impact multipliers and organization characteristics. EV can be reported as impact per unit of funding or as the total impact for a given funding amount, depending on the analysis stage.

Funding Opportunities (FOs) / Organisation

These terms are used interchangeably in the documents and refer to the specific entities that are candidates for funding. The model assesses and compares these FOs to determine the most impactful allocations.

Funding Bracket

Funding brackets are used to model diminishing returns: as more funding is allocated to an organization, the expected value (EV) per unit of funding may decrease within higher brackets. Dividing room for funding into brackets allows the model to account for this effect and more accurately estimate the impact of additional grants. See also: Bracket Discount.

Room for Funding

Room for funding refers to the total amount of additional funding an organization can productively absorb. It represents the upper limit of funding that can be allocated to an organization before further grants are expected to have little or no additional impact. The model uses room for funding to determine how much funding can be distributed across different brackets for each organization.

Virtual Organisation

A concept introduced in some templates where the model can generate "newly discovered orgs each year". This allows for the simulation of future potential funding opportunities that are not yet explicitly defined.

Variables and Their Types

Impact Differentiator

A broad category of variables or factors used within the Impact Model to distinguish the potential impact of different Funding Opportunities. These variables contribute to the overall expected value of an FO. Examples include "Funding Additionality," "Activity Additionality," "Neglectedness," "Org Strength," "Policy Additionality," "Hedginess," "Advocacy," "TCInnovation," and "TCarbonLockIn."

Impact Multiplier

This term is often used interchangeably with Impact Differentiator in column headers of spreadsheets. More specifically, within the calculation, a multiplier is the numerical value or factor that amplifies or discounts the impact of an intervention based on a particular Impact Differentiator. For instance, "Funding Additionality" is an Impact Differentiator whose value acts as a multiplier in the expected value calculation.

Organisational Characteristics (OC)

These are properties or attributes that a Funding Opportunity (organization) could possess, which allow it to leverage resources from governments or other philanthropists. They are often binary indicators (0 or 1), meaning an organization either has the characteristic or not. For example, "Org Strength" can be an OC.

State of the World (SOW)

A set of scenarios or conditions that the model uses to calculate the "final score" for Funding Opportunities in conjunction with Organizational Characteristics. The current model structure combines SOW and OC variables multiplicatively in the calculation of an organization's score.

Variable Types

Proportion

An Impact Differentiator with a value typically between 0 and 1, representing a proportion that directly modifies the impact (e.g., "Funding Additionality," "Activity Additionality," "Policy Additionality").

Unbounded

An Impact Differentiator whose values are not limited to a specific range, indicating it can take on a wide array of numerical values (e.g., "Hedginess," "Neglectedness," and sometimes "OrgStrength" depending on the template).

Indicator

A binary Impact Differentiator where the value is either 0 or 1. These indicators often determine whether a particular multiplier gets applied or not. For example, "Advocacy" or "TCarbonLockIn" can be indicators.

Discounting

Time Discounts

The model explicitly incorporates "Time discounts". This refers to the adjustment of future impacts to reflect their present value, acknowledging that impacts occurring further in the future might be valued less than immediate impacts. The model allows for two types of time discounts:

  • Compounded: Time discounts that compound over multiple years, where the discount rate is applied cumulatively across the entire time period
  • Year-specific: Time discounts that are applied independently to each year, allowing for different discount rates for different time periods

Bracket Discount

A discount factor applied to Funding Opportunities based on their funding bracket, reflecting the relative efficiency or impact potential of organizations within different funding scales. This allows the model to account for varying effectiveness across different funding levels.