Last year a bunch of people made blog posts outlining where they were planning to donate that year and why. This year, we have a better medium: the EA forum!
If anyone else is interested in discussing their giving plans and reasons--either completed or in-progress--post them below. I'd love to hear people's thoughts!
EDIT: as Jess Riedel points out, don't let this replace posting on your blog, where more/different people will see it!
Michelle can give a more detailed answer, but some combination of:
I describe some of this here: http://effective-altruism.com/r/main/ea/bq/ideas_for_new_experimental_ea_projects_you_could/
We are currently recruiting new members for under £500 each on average. The marginal cost is going to be higher, but my qualitative impression given the methods we are using is that it won't be that much higher.
The research director would not actually be directing research into which charity was best?