[3] The NMI was started by the Effective Philanthropy Group at the Hewlett Foundation in 2006 with the goal that "by 2015, ten percent of individual philanthropic donations in the US (or $20 billion), would be influenced by meaningful, high-quality information about nonprofit organizations’ performance.
"[1][2][3] Jacob Harold was the program officer responsible, and the Hewlett Foundation at the time was headed by Paul Brest.
[5] In April 2014, an article the Chronicle of Philanthropy announced that the Hewlett Foundation was ending the Nonprofit Marketplace Initiative.
Karnofsky argued that GiveWell's money moved in the years to come would alone more than justify the grand total of 12 million dollars spent on the NMI.
[2] This would be validated in the years to come: in 2014, GiveWell moved $13.0 million to its top charities from donors excluding Good Ventures, a multi-billion dollar foundation it works closely with.