Please visit GiveWell.org This CharityScorecard.org site was in use from 2006 to 2008, but is now mostly dormant, and the material here is out of date. The GiveWell project has similar goals and is being actively maintained. I've left the old CharityScorecard.org content here just for the historical record.

From CharityScorecard

Value of a Statistical Life (VSL) 

A crude estimate of the value to society of saving a life. VSL estimates are sometimes based on estimates of average wages and earnings, to assess society's loss of a productive worker. Or VSL numbers can be based on trying to empirically observe how much people actually seem to be willing to pay to avoid risks, either as individuals or as a society. For example, a civil engineer might use a VSL number when making a CBA estimate to decide whether to install a guard rail on the side of a highway. Studies often use different VSL numbers for people in different countries, but I would argue that ethically we should consider all people to have similar VSL numbers, without regard to race, sex, or nationality.