MSI: A cost-effective charity investment
Why MSI is a smart choice for high-impact philanthropy
Being cost-effective is in MSI’s DNA. Every dollar should be spent improving or saving lives – so we use evidence to spend resources wisely, creating as much impact as possible.
Operating in 36 countries across six continents means we can scale family planning services and reach the communities most in need. This makes us one of the most efficient charities delivering measurable outcomes in reproductive healthcare.
It costs just $6.50 for MSI to provide someone with their choice of contraception for an entire year, protecting them from unintended pregnancy. Last year, 23.8 million people received our quality care.
Our country programmes based primarily in Africa, Asia and Latin America are locally led and staffed, with teams delivering services and collaborating with the public and private sectors to expand access to family planning and safe abortion. We reach more than 30,000 communities every year.
Our priorities include reaching adolescents, advancing gender equality, and reaching people living in poverty or those who have no other option for these services. We go where we are most needed, with the aim of closing healthcare gaps and delivering the greatest impact for women and girls.
>50% of the people our outreach health teams serve have no other option for accessing contraception.
Charity efficiency, cost-effectiveness and equity are foundational to what we do
We deliver services at scale, with approaches including:
Mobile outreach teams & local nurses deliver services to rural and marginalised communities
300+ MSI outreach teams drive, boat or trek into remote communities to offer contraception to millions of people who would otherwise not have access to it. And another 750 local midwives and nurses (MSI Ladies) offer discrete services to women and girls in their communities, working from homes or local clinics. By helping to avert unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and maternal deaths, these MSI health providers save lives, while unlocking social and financial opportunities for families and individuals.
Partnerships that strengthen health systems across 22 countries
MSI has long-standing government partnerships and we’re working together to ensure more people have access to high-quality family planning services. We’re building from existing public resources and boosting capacity within national health systems.
Our teams provide training, quality assurance, and supportive supervision with the ultimate objective of handing over responsibility and oversight to the government, ensuring sustainable impact. We’ve trained more than 12,800 public health providers in 6,400 facilities, across 22 countries.
38.6 million women are currently using contraception provided by MSI or a public health facility we support
38.6 million women are currently using contraception provided by MSI or a public health facility we support
If you’re seeking high-impact charities that make a difference, MSI Reproductive Choices would love to hear from you. An investment in sexual and reproductive health is a vital force for social change and global health.
MSI’s Impact Investment Calculator
$10,000 can reach 770 people with sexual and reproductive healthcare and generate 1500 DALYs.
Calculate the impact we could make together
What makes MSI a cost-effective charity?
As one of the most cost-effective organisations working in global healthcare, MSI ensures every investment is directed towards high-impact services. Our models are strategic, evidence-based, focused on equitable services, and implemented by passionate teams that deliver at scale.
How do we ensure cost-effectiveness? MSI is led by data, giving us unparalleled robust and real-time insights.
We go where we’re needed most, to close gaps in reproductive healthcare access. Guided by geo-spatial mapping, deep local knowledge and partnerships, and guidance from governments and 10,000+ community mobilisers, we reach people most in need of our services and without other access.
We don’t stay still – we iterate our programming to deliver the greatest impact. Our 100 research, evidence and impact team members across the globe help us collect data, track results, undertake research and inform decisions, enabling swift course corrections for our country programmes.
We collect over 300 million data points each year, and we listen closely to the people we serve. Having heard from more than 200,000 clients through our ‘client exit interviews’ since 2011, we examine our approaches with their perspectives and experiences front and centre.
When one MSI country programme succeeds and learns, others benefit as well. With integrated data systems and a global infrastructure, frontline insights are rapidly disseminated, fostering nimble adaptation and the sharing of best practice across continents.
All of this helps us maximise every investment. And every investment means more people with life-changing reproductive healthcare.
$6.50
provides someone with contraception for one year
$4.70
per Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) averted
As a social business, we self-generate half of our income by selling health products and services. Our model ensures donor funding is directed to people who have the greatest need.
How to measure effective giving
Interested in high-impact philanthropy and making the most cost-efficient investment?
You are probably trying to decide which charity or cause to invest in. The most effective charities focus on outcomes, not inputs, and prioritise a cause that delivers life-saving and long-term impacts. People who invest in MSI are often looking to bring about lasting change with a measurable return on investment (ROI) for humanity and the world.
Family planning is an international development ‘best-buy’ with positive outcomes that ripple out for generations. Every dollar invested in contraception generates over $120 in health and socio-economic gains. When women and girls are empowered to be in control of their fertility, girls can stay in school, women can pursue careers and leadership, communities are more resilient to the climate crisis, and families can access financial opportunities that can break cycles of poverty. The impacts can be seen in this generation and the next.
MSI reports back to donors and investors regularly on our shared impact including with our Impact Brief and Annual Report. We’ve also developed bespoke tools for both the global reproductive health sector and socially-conscious investors, providing a transparent and evidence-based understanding of the impact created.
Impact Investment Calculator
Our impact investment calculator estimates the impact that your chosen amount of money would achieve through MSI’s service delivery programmes.
Impact 2 Tool
MSI’s socio-demographic mathematical model estimates impact, and the social and economic benefits of family planning and abortion services. It’s used widely across the sector.
Reaching people to have the greatest impact
82%
of MSI clients are from marginalised or underserved communities
54%
don’t have any other known or available option for accessing contraception – they rely on MSI
19%
are adolescents under the age of 20 – at a critical juncture in their lives
Efficiency without compromise on care
MSI’s cost effectiveness and resource allocation never comes at the cost of quality. We have an organisational mindset that puts clinical quality, client safety and choice at the heart of everything we do.
MSI’s clinical safety teams implement rigorous clinical protocols to uphold uncompromising standards. Whether someone seeks our services in a busy city or a rural village, they will encounter the same dedication to their safety, wellbeing and dignity, and will access rights-based, high-quality healthcare. Read more in our latest Clinical Quality report.
“As we serve the 90,000 clients who seek our services each day, we hold a firm belief that every single one of those clients deserves the same unwavering standards of safety and care.” – Dr Dhammika Perera, MSI’s Global Medical Director
Recognised for impact and accountability
We’re recognised throughout the global health sector and beyond as one of the most effective charities because of our exceptional focus on evidence, impact and equity.
Philanthropic investors such as the Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) work with MSI to expand reproductive choices to women and girls across the globe.
In Nigeria, a recent external impact assessment of our public sector strengthening work concluded that “the MSI model has had a transformative impact on reproductive health services in Nigeria, resulting in increased contraceptive use and improved service quality”.
New investors could help change and save the lives of millions more. Deep-dive into the numbers more, including our cost per DALY and cost per maternal life saved, with our post on the Effective Altruism Forum.
Stories of impact
Meet the people who deliver this care or whose lives are changed by high-impact investors who partner with MSI.
A family in climate-affected Madagascar
Women in regions affected by the climate crisis are asking for control over their fertility.
Beyond where roads end, a nurse is changing lives
A story of people taking control of their futures with contraception in rural Nigeria.
Two women in Afghanistan using contraception
Choosing to access these services is a small but powerful act of agency in their lives.
Invest in global family planning
Philanthropy fuels our ability to deliver results at scale and to reach those most in need. This means more women’s lives saved, more people with reproductive autonomy, increased economic growth, and a better world for the next generation.
Make an investment in a cost-effective charity delivering global impact in the field of reproductive healthcare.
You can transform futures and save lives, starting now.
