HAPPIER LIVES INSTITUTE
STARTED: Incubated in the 2019 Incubation Program (started before the program).
MONEY INFLUENCED TO DATE (JUN 2026): $8,849,344
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Michael Plant, PhD
Founder and Director
TEAM SIZE (June 2026): 7
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The Happier Lives Institute connects donors, researchers, and policymakers with the most cost-effective opportunities to increase global well-being. Using the latest subjective well-being data, they identify the problems that matter most to people and find evidence-based ways to solve them.
CURRENT OR PREDICTED IMPACT:
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After over 1,000 hours of significant research on each, the Happier Lives Institute (HLI) supports StrongMind and Friendship Bench as Top Charities:
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Strong Minds treats depression using Group Interpersonal Therapy in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Friendship Bench delivers one-on-one Problem Solving Therapy in Zimbabwe.
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HLI has also identified Pure Earth and Taimaka as Promising Charities, which are likely extremely cost-effective but with a lower degree of confidence than Top Charities:
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Pure Earth’s programme in Ghana works to reduce lead exposure from cosmetics.
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Taimaka treats children with acute malnutrition in Nigeria.
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To date (June 2026), HLI has influenced $8,849,344 to high-impact charities, creating over 267,000 WELLBYs (Wellbeing-Adjusted Life Years). By 2030, they want to create 1,000,000 WELLBYs, equivalent to 100,000 people living happier lives for 10 years.
SIGNIFICANT UPDATES:
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HLI launched the Happier Lives Fund in December 2025, which allows donors to support all their recommended charities with one single donation. Their experts allocate 90% of each donation among them, while 10% funds HLI’s research. In its first six months, this raised $236k.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
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In 2025, HLI worked on the first ever global comparison of charities assessed in WELLBYs/$ for a chapter in the World Happiness Report. They found that the best charities create hundreds, even thousands of times more wellbeing per dollar. That evaluation is regularly updated in a living review.
ROOM FOR MORE FUNDING IN 2026:
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With more funding, the Happier Lives Institute will be able to advance its mission of building a world that takes happiness seriously by conducting cost-effectiveness analyses of more interventions and increasing public awareness of happiness research. If you value HLI’s work and want to support it, please consider making a donation.