ClaimsGiveWell

“Direct traffic increased and traffic from other non-paid sources decreased.”

GiveWell 2018 GiveWell Metrics Report – 2016 Annual Review (GiveWell) archived copy

Factual Their own work or organisation

GiveWell's direct web traffic increased and traffic from other non-paid sources decreased between 2015 and 2016.

Unresolvable The public record could not settle it.

Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?

What would count as true or false

Two parts. True: GiveWell's web traffic data show that direct traffic rose from 2015 to 2016 and that traffic from other non-paid sources (organic search, referral and similar) fell. Mostly true: both directions hold, with a minor caveat about how sources are categorised. Mixed: only one of the two directions holds. Mostly false or false: neither direction holds, or both are reversed.

Set before the research began.

Evidence (1)

  1. E1 GiveWell’s money moved and web traffic in 2016 - The GiveWell Blog GiveWell · 30 March 2018 Own record

    “Web traffic: The number of unique visitors to our website was down very slightly (by 1%) in 2016 compared to 2015 (when excluding visitors driven by AdWords, Google’s online advertising product).”

Reasoning

E1, GiveWell's own 2018 blog post, reports that unique non-AdWords visitors fell about 1% from 2015 to 2016. The quoted material gives no breakdown by direct versus other non-paid sources, so it neither confirms nor contradicts either part of the claim. No independent evidence on traffic by source was provided, so the claim cannot be settled under the criteria.

Cite this claim

GiveWell, “GiveWell's direct web traffic increased and traffic from other non-paid sources decreased between 2015 and 2016.” (said 2018). Verdict: unresolvable. Reliability API, claim c_e805c6f2aedd, method 0.1.0+7831dd9d, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_e805c6f2aedd

This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.

Reply to this claim

For GiveWell, or someone speaking for them: a correction or counter-evidence. Replies are read before anything is shown; an approved reply shows your name, role, date, statement and link. Your email address is never shown and is deleted 30 days after the decision (privacy).

More factual claims by GiveWell

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  2. Resolved true Factual 30 September 2026
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    GiveWell's 2025 fundraising of $616 million was its largest fundraising year to date.

  3. Resolved true Factual 31 August 2026
    “Around $124 million (29% of funds directed) went to our four Top Charities”

    Around $124 million (29% of funds directed) in 2025 went to GiveWell's four Top Charities.

  4. Resolved true Factual 31 August 2026
    “In 2025, we directed around $427 million to high-impact programs and organizations. This represents an increase of 8% in funds directed compared to 2024.”

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  5. Mostly true Factual 28 May 2020
    “Each spring, we share our plans for the year.”

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All of them

Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts are made.