GiveBetter x USA

Center for Science in the Public Interest

Nutrition and food-safety research, consumer education, and policy advocacy

Research time: 8 min on GPT-6 Astra Light + 23 min on GPT-6 Astra Medium + 9 min on GPT-6.1 Sol
  • Research — reviewed programs, finances and impact evidence.
  • Modeling — estimated costs, QALYs and uncertainty.
  • Source audit — checked claims, assumptions and calculations.

Updated: 2026-10-02

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Summary

What do they do? CSPI researches food and health risks, informs consumers and advocates for stronger public protections. Its sodium work includes scientific submissions, monitoring proposals and public accountability for industry reformulation. We examine whether additional charitable work could improve eventual sodium reductions or bring an otherwise similar reform forward.

Why we’re interested in this organization:

  • Sodium reduction has a well-supported blood-pressure mechanism and a finite US cardiovascular model.

  • Technical submissions and requests for better monitoring identify a concrete prospective advocacy pathway.

  • Three original charitable-recipient returns and a separate affiliate audit support a consistent financial boundary.

Our main reservations:

  • The effect of additional work on compliance or implementation timing is an explicit judgment, not measured charity attribution.

  • Government monitoring, manufacturers, other advocates and replacement funding would continue without this donation.

  • Clinical transport, household savings and broad food-price pass-through remain uncertain; the quantified sodium pathway is not the full portfolio.

What do you get for your dollar? $113K per DALY in USA. DALY is our one-year comparison unit. QALY-based health gains and income-welfare equivalents retain their original assumptions; they are not measured clinical DALYs. Conditional sodium-accountability health and household resources; full annual charitable-recipient cost, partial forecast..

Technical submissions, sales-weighted monitoring and public compliance reporting are native activities. National consumed sodium and finite cardiovascular cases are projected intermediate/final outcomes, not observed CSPI-caused effects.

1. What do they do?

CSPI researches nutrition and food safety, informs consumers, and advocates for public protections. An ordinary charitable donation supports the 501(c)(3) recipient, EIN 23-7122879, rather than the separate CSPI Action Fund. Its current strategy and impact report cover labeling, school meals, chemicals, dietary guidance and scientific communication. Historical policy achievements do not automatically become benefits of new funding.

The prospective sodium-accountability mechanism is sales-weighted packaged-food and restaurant monitoring, technical FDA submissions, and public reporting on industry compliance. Its January 2025 comment asks for stronger targets and better data. These are identifiable activities, not observed charity-caused reductions in cardiovascular disease. Our calculation charges the full annual charitable portfolio while quantifying only this branch; other programs may have benefits or harms not yet priced.

2. Monitoring and information sharing

As checked October 2, FDA’s sodium page still calls PhaseII draft and voluntary, with three-year targets across 163 categories and about 2,750 mg/day if achieved. This page check does not establish that no newer agency action exists elsewhere. The published2010–2022 comparison largely precedes final2021 guidance; the share of categories near targets cannot establish sales-weighted consumption changes or the causal effect of the guidance.

Useful measures would include a funded-versus-unfunded technical workplan, original submissions and agency responses, public data that the work changes, sales-weighted consumed sodium, compliance persistence and a credible counterfactual for industry/agency action. Meetings, comments and publicity alone are not health outcomes. No current uncovered sodium staff position or data contract was verified.

The randomized meta-analysis supports sodium lowering blood pressure, but trial reductions are much larger than the modeled125 mg/day. This review used indexed primary abstract material after native full-text access failed; it does not claim a refreshed full-text read. Potassium substitution evidence is not treated as an identical US food-reformulation trial.

3. Qualitative assessment

We are interested in technically informed advocacy addressing a large cardiovascular risk. Current submissions and requests for monitoring support a plausible contribution, while an existing FDA proposal, public agency duties, industry reformulation and other advocates provide strong alternative explanations. Neither alignment with a final decision nor an old legal victory identifies a new donation’s effect.

The revised forecast uses a direct with-versus-without probability difference for one additional annual charitable work portfolio: .255 versus .250 for a defined further125 mg/day consumed-sodium opportunity. The half-percentage-point increment includes replacement funding, reserves, agency/industry work and charity-affiliate limits once. It is a declared small-leverage prior, not an observed frequency. Small donations scale linearly up to one work-year; no extra coalition or funding multiplier is applied.

The preferred judgment assigns25% to additional lasting reform and75% to two-year acceleration of an otherwise identical finite stream. Existing draft guidance and monitoring plans weaken the old all-durable interpretation, but they do not prove timing-only influence. All-durable and timing-only alternatives are approximately$33K and$575K per DALY—not confidence limits.

Potential harms include food-price changes, adverse substitutions and microbiological effects. Marketable investments do not prove either spare capacity or no funding need. This is a conditional research estimate, not a qualified donor-ready recommendation or a verified marginal work purchase.

4. What do you get for your dollar?

GiveBetter sees sodium-accountability advocacy as a potentially cost-effective route to better cardiovascular health. Our revised conditional estimate is about $113K per DALY, combining health and net household-resource effects; the initial health-only estimate was$48K. The change is principally a revised clinical comparison and reform counterfactual, not simply adding income to the old model.

The donor denominator is one full annual charitable-recipient expense of $17,926,322. A plausible technical module might use3,000 fully loaded expert hours at $120, $100Kdata procurement, $20K external review and$20K publication/support: $500K total. Those allocations are illustrative priors, not a quote or observed sodium-only cost. Charging the full annual portfolio and then applying another sodium-budget share would double-charge allocation. The old model charged five annual budgets.

The source US simulation covers adults30–84 over2017–2036. The nearer modest-minus-pessimistic comparison gives400K discounted QALYs,100K cardiovascular cases and a265 mg/day endpoint difference. These are rounded scenario projections with different exposure ramps, not measured outcomes or a new paired uncertainty interval. We scale to a judged125 mg/day consumption opportunity and a .7future clinical-transport factor. This is approximate endpoint interpolation, not a rerun. Its original finite health horizon and competing mortality are already included; only a separate five-year implementation delay is added.

The direct probability contrast and25% lasting / 75% two-year-acceleration mixture yield 0.09 gross health years per $10K. A separately judged policy/substitution harm allowance leaves 0.09 net health years. Independent harms remain evaluable even with no extra policy influence. Health effects are not supplemented with saved lives’ baseline earnings or another lifetime utility tail.

Only baseline-alive nonfatal cases enter the household savings branch. A judged 90% nonfatal share, .8distinct household episodes per case and 30% actual cash incidence identify the modeled affected households. Half avoid$500 net medical out-of-pocket cost; half avoid$2000 including$1500 unreplaced after-tax short-recovery earnings. Insurance, public coverage, paid leave, disability benefits, employer payments and work costs are assumed offset first. These are explicit incidence/amount priors, not the paper’s gross economic savings. Retired patients do not automatically receive wages.

Case cash occurs once per episode, with a judged uniform 20-year event profile and independent one-year consumption window. The Coefficient Giving logarithmic resource crosswalk uses a $50K annual household baseline. The actual primary annual incidence profile was not reconstructed, so timing alternatives are tested. Case resources contribute .000045524 equivalent years per $10K.

Food-price costs apply separately to a judged130M exposed household episodes, not only avoided-CVD households: a once-only $3 net pass-through burden per conditional reform, after assumed retail/competition/public offsets. This is not an observed price increase or the manufacturer’s gross reformulation cost. It contributes−.00268246 resource years, making net resources−.00263694 and combined benefit .08885769 years per $10K. The food loss is not repeated 20 times. The source paper’s$41B societal savings mix medical spending, productivity and informal care and cannot be credited wholesale as household income.

Food costs and policy harms remain if clinical benefit is zero. The zero-consumption diagnostic means costly physical reformulation without improved consumed intake, not no physical reform; zero policy contrast is a different case. Positive-health overlap alternatives never erase negative resources or independent harms. Other programs, recurrent medication savings, long-run disability earnings and full public/industry social costs remain unpriced, not zero. The numerical partial pathway is neither complete EV nor a proven lower bound.

Model, assumptions and sensitivity

One full annual charitable-recipient portfolio cost; only the sodium-accountability pathway quantified. Illustrative500K module is not a quote or extra allocation multiplier.

USA share .99 is a declared resident/coverage prior; original clinical reference is adults30–84, not all ages.

Work fraction=min(one-year capacity,gift/annual recipient expense). Probability delta=work fraction*(with−without opportunity probability). Apply a lasting-versus-complete finite shifted-stream mixture separately to discounted clinical health and cash ledgers. Price=10*gift/(net health+net resources) only when known and positive.

gift
10000 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
annualRecipientCost
17926322 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (observed). Original charitable-recipient FY2025 tax functional expense, not consolidated affiliate cost. [cspi-99025]
capacityWorkYears
1 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
withProbability
0.255 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
withoutProbability
0.25 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
durableShare
0.25 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
accelerationYears
2 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
delay
5 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
discount
0.03 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
geography
0.99 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
referenceQ
400000 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (observed). Rounded original modest-minus-pessimistic simulation summaries, not observed charity impact or a new uncertainty interval. [sodium-us-model]
referenceSodium
265 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (observed). Rounded original modest-minus-pessimistic simulation summaries, not observed charity impact or a new uncertainty interval. [sodium-us-model]
consumedSodium
125 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
healthTransport
0.7 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
healthSign
1 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
positiveHealthOverlap
0 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
referenceCases
100000 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (observed). Rounded original modest-minus-pessimistic simulation summaries, not observed charity impact or a new uncertainty interval. [sodium-us-model]
caseTransport
0.7 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
nonfatalShare
0.9 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
householdsPerNonfatal
0.8 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
cashAffectedShare
0.3 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
workCashShare
0.5 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
caseCash
2000 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
medicalOnlyCash
500 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
baselineConsumption
50000 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
resourceYears
1 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
caseHorizon
20 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
foodHouseholds
130000000 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
foodCashBurden
3 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
foodResourceYears
1 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
policyHealthHarmSuccess
1000 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
independentHealthHarm
0 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
independentCashHarm
0 Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
healthUnknown
false Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]
incomeUnknown
false Calculator parameter; units and priors in source decision (judgment). Explicit conditional judgment, not measured marginal productivity; see complete source memo and diagnostic semantics. [sodium-us-model]

Conditional sodium health and signed household resources: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

all Durable: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.31; all-population health QALYs: 0.31. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.01. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"durableShare":1}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

timing Only: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.02; all-population health QALYs: 0.02. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"durableShare":0}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

half Durable: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.17; all-population health QALYs: 0.17. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"durableShare":0.5}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

no Policy Change: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"withProbability":0.25}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

replacement: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"withProbability":0.25}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

weak Influence: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.02; all-population health QALYs: 0.02. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"withProbability":0.251}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

strong Influence: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.37; all-population health QALYs: 0.37. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.01. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"withProbability":0.27}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

adverse Policy Change: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: -0.02; all-population health QALYs: -0.02. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"withProbability":0.249}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

zero Capacity: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"capacityWorkYears":0}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

one Year Acceleration: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.08; all-population health QALYs: 0.08. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"accelerationYears":1}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

four Year Acceleration: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.10; all-population health QALYs: 0.10. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"accelerationYears":4}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

later: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.08; all-population health QALYs: 0.08. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"delay":8}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

lower Sodium: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.05; all-population health QALYs: 0.05. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"consumedSodium":75}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

full Near Reference: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.18; all-population health QALYs: 0.18. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"consumedSodium":250}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

clinical Low: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.05; all-population health QALYs: 0.05. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"healthTransport":0.4}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

clinical High: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.13; all-population health QALYs: 0.13. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"healthTransport":1}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

clinical Gross Zero: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"healthSign":0}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

clinical Negative: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: -0.02; all-population health QALYs: -0.02. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"healthSign":-0.2}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

original Wide Clinical Scale: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.15; all-population health QALYs: 0.15. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"referenceQ":1400000,"referenceSodium":565,"referenceCases":330000}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

cash Zero: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"caseCash":0,"medicalOnlyCash":0,"foodCashBurden":0}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

cash Benefits Only: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"foodCashBurden":0}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

food Cost Zero: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"foodCashBurden":0}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

food Cost High: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.01. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"foodCashBurden":10}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

food Cost Small: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"foodCashBurden":0.5}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

case Cash Low: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"caseCash":500}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

case Cash High: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"caseCash":5000}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

case Cash Adverse: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"caseCash":-500,"medicalOnlyCash":-500}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

lower Cash Incidence: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"cashAffectedShare":0.1}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

no Nonfatal: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"nonfatalShare":0}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

short Case Timing: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"caseHorizon":10}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

short Cash Exposure: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"resourceYears":0.5}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

food Affected Half: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"foodHouseholds":65000000}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

food Affected Broad: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"foodHouseholds":160000000}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

overlap Half: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.05; all-population health QALYs: 0.05. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"positiveHealthOverlap":0.5}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

overlap Full: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"positiveHealthOverlap":1}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

negative Health Full Overlap: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: -0.02; all-population health QALYs: -0.02. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"healthSign":-0.2,"positiveHealthOverlap":1}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

policy Harm High: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"policyHealthHarmSuccess":10000}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

health Unknown: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: unknown; all-population health QALYs: unknown. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"healthUnknown":true}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

income Unknown: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"incomeUnknown":true}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

both Unknown: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: unknown; all-population health QALYs: unknown. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"healthUnknown":true,"incomeUnknown":true}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

independent Harms At Zero Policy: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: -0.01; all-population health QALYs: -0.01. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"withProbability":0.25,"independentHealthHarm":0.01,"independentCashHarm":500}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

independent Harms At Zero Capacity: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: -0.01; all-population health QALYs: -0.01. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"capacityWorkYears":0,"independentHealthHarm":0.01,"independentCashHarm":500}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

cash Zero Independent Harm: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"caseCash":0,"medicalOnlyCash":0,"foodCashBurden":0,"independentCashHarm":500}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

mean Annual Cost: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"annualRecipientCost":17740602.666666668}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

audit Cost: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"annualRecipientCost":17916541}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

scope Uncertain F Y26 Cost: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.08; all-population health QALYs: 0.08. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"annualRecipientCost":20124186}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

full Annual Work: Cost: $17.9M; USA health QALYs: 164.02; all-population health QALYs: 164.02. Income-equivalent healthy years: -4.73. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"gift":17926322}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

medical Only Households: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"workCashShare":0}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

all Affected Work Households: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"workCashShare":1}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

low Baseline: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"baselineConsumption":30000}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

high Baseline: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"baselineConsumption":80000}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

policy Harm Zero: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.09; all-population health QALYs: 0.09. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"policyHealthHarmSuccess":0}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

consumed Sodium Zero: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Declared unweighted diagnostic; overrides {"consumedSodium":0}. Direct annual-work probability contrast; finite existing clinical scale, complete shifted counterfactual streams and independent once-only net household resources.

Initial five-year partial-health estimate: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: 0.21; all-population health QALYs: 0.21. Judgment scenario, not a confidence bound or restricted purchase. Inputs {"C":17926322,"dm":250,"e":0.5,"t":0.7,"L":5,"p":0.2,"a":0.1,"b":0.5,"h":0,"g":0.99,"f":1,"accel":3}; H=187025.79838417712; timing multiplier=1. G=$10,000 and Y=5. Price=484088.1877269368. h is not multiplied by policy-success probability.

Complete portfolio unknown: Cost: $10K; USA health QALYs: unknown; all-population health QALYs: unknown. Other health-policy effects and full social resources are unpriced, not zero or a lower bound.

Counterfactual: FDA guidance/monitoring, manufacturers, other advocates and reserves/replacement continue; direct joint contrast includes these once. Existing outcomes receive no retroactive credit.

Attribution: Judged .005 response per additional charitable work-year; preferred25% lasting extra reform/75%two-year acceleration, not observed causal estimates.

Partial conditional forecast; clinical endpoint interpolation, policy response, mix, incidence, pass-through and timing are explicit priors. Full donor and social returns unidentified.

Sensitivity

  • Initial484088.19 to revised1125395.00 per DALY; causal/dose/timing changes drive the revision.
  • All-durable329800.46 and timing-only5745243.12 are judgment alternatives, not confidence bounds.
  • Clinical-zero retains food/policy harms; no policy contrast retains independent harms.
  • Uniform physical-case cash timing is a proxy, not reconstructed original incidence; one-off food loss is never repeated20times.

Unresolved inputs

  • Current uncovered charitable sodium workplan and priced incremental capacity
  • Empirical direct policy/compliance/timing probability response
  • Current consumed-sodium and finite clinical model with actual implementation ramps
  • Nonfatal severity, unique household paid-cost/pay incidence after offsets
  • Population-wide net food-price pass-through and distribution
  • Other portfolio effects and complete public/industry social resources

Health and income breakdown

For the modeled $10K: 0.09 health QALYs + 0.00 income-equivalent healthy years in USA: $113K per DALY. Income equivalents are welfare comparisons, not observed QALYs or DALYs.

Method and caveats.

5. Funding and previous grants

Original FY2023/24/25 charitable-recipient expenses are $18,005,982/$17,289,504/$17,926,322, exact mean$17,740,602.67 (about $17.7M). Fiscal years end June30. Latest functional costs reconcile to $15,140,797 program,$569,181 management and$2,216,344 fundraising; salary/benefit/payroll costs were$8,999,433 with 94 employees. No reported direct event/gaming/inventory expense addback changes the chosen gross boundary. These accounts establish size and continuing activity, not an available sodium work package.

The charity-only audit expense is$17,916,541, versus the higher tax expense used in the model. The unresolved$9,781 classification difference is paired with a revenue difference after investment adjustments, leaving the same$2,805,236 netasset decrease. Consolidated affiliate expense is not recipient cost. Charity net assets of $31,412,665 and marketable investments do not by themselves identify unrestricted cash availability, marginal staffing or unused commitments.

A stronger funding assessment needs current charitable-versus-affiliate allocations, a costed uncovered sodium workplan and evidence of what changes with new support. The direct probability prior already includes reserves/replacement, so no extra 50% funding-response factor is added. The illustrative technical module is not a restricted gift offer; no donation, contact or form submission was performed.

Annual expenses

Organization-level spending, including programs, administration and fundraising. The research list averages three comparable, consecutive full fiscal years when available.

  • FY 2023: $18.0M; Center for Science in the Public Interest, EIN23-7122879, 12-month period, Recipient Form990 accrual functional expenses plus any direct operating costs netted against revenue. Source
  • FY 2024: $17.3M; Center for Science in the Public Interest, EIN23-7122879, 12-month period, Recipient Form990 accrual functional expenses plus any direct operating costs netted against revenue. Source
  • FY 2025: $17.9M; Center for Science in the Public Interest, EIN23-7122879, 12-month period, Recipient Form990 accrual functional expenses plus any direct operating costs netted against revenue. Source

6. Sources

  1. FY2025 consolidated audit and recipient-level consolidating statements. CSPI / Calibre CPA Group. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-02.
  2. Form 990, fiscal year ended June 30, 2025. CSPI / Internal Revenue Service. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-02.
  3. Form 990, fiscal year ended June 30, 2024. CSPI / Internal Revenue Service via ProPublica. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-02.
  4. Form 990, fiscal year ended June 30, 2023. CSPI / Internal Revenue Service via ProPublica. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-02.
  5. 2026 Impact Report. CSPI. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  6. Comments on FDA Phase II voluntary sodium targets. CSPI. Published: 2025-01-13; retrieved: 2026-10-02.
  7. Sodium reduction in the food supply: Phase I and draft Phase II. FDA. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-02.
  8. 2010–2022 preliminary sodium assessment. FDA. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  9. Human Foods Program 2026 priority deliverables. FDA. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-02.
  10. US FDA voluntary sodium reformulation microsimulation. Pearson-Stuttard, Kypridemos et al. / PLOS Medicine. Published: 2018-04-10; retrieved: 2026-10-02.
  11. Randomized sodium-reduction meta-analysis: primary indexed abstract, not refreshed full text. Huang et al. / BMJ. Published: 2020-02-25; retrieved: 2026-10-02.
  12. Effect of salt substitution on cardiovascular events and death. Neal et al. / New England Journal of Medicine. Published: 2021-08-29; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  13. CSPI v. FDA: sodium-petition litigation. Public Citizen, counsel in the case. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  14. Official homepage donation link. CSPI. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  15. Citizen petition requesting long-term sodium targets, monitoring and public database. CSPI. Published: 2023-04-06; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  16. 2025–2030 strategic plan. CSPI. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  17. Current original-accountability document index. CSPI. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  18. Randomized dietary sodium/BP meta-analysis, original PDF. Huang and colleagues / BMJ. Published: 2020-02-25; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  19. Appraising the FDA’s Sodium Reduction Efforts. Musicus and colleagues / JAMA. Published: 2025-03-24; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  20. Health and income welfare-equivalence reference. Coefficient Giving. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-30.