Cash transfers offer a transformative solution to multidimensional poverty, by enhancing dozens of outcomes simultaneously. They have already proven effective, adaptable, and replicable, and now they are becoming more attainable every year with growing mobile coverage and improved digital infrastructure. LOMÉ – For decades, the international community has grappled with the challenge of ending extreme […]
Blog -
Candid thoughts from staff, donors, and recipients on our work and the broader movement towards cash transfers.
Operations
Tech improvements we made in 2023
We think of GiveDirectly as the pipes that deliver your money to people living in poverty. Sharing some updates (big & small) we made to those pipes this year: Improved payments Simplified operations Tightened fraud prevention Made donating easier Improved org-wide analytics General systems updates
Research
Early findings from the world’s largest UBI study
Summary of findings 2 years in: Here’s a 3 minute audio summary of the findings from NPR: To learn about the most effective ways of delivering cash aid, GiveDirectly worked with a team of researchers to compare three ways of giving out funds.1 About 200 Kenyan villages were assigned to one of three groups and […]
Donation Info
Charitable Donation Deadlines for 2023
If you’re planning to make a donation around the holidays, we’ve pulled together details below on United States tax deadlines.
Opinions
Give more money directly to end extreme poverty
Summary Tuesday marks the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, a U.N. observance to rally support for their number one goal and a good chance to take stock of where that goal stands.1 Poverty can mean many things, but extreme poverty has a specific definition: $2.15 per day. This line, set by the World […]
Opinions
4 reasons to give cash to disaster survivors, rather than stuff
After a disaster strikes, images of destroyed homes motivate many of us to donate. Often we give to charities handing out things like tarps and food, because that’s what we imagine people need. Here are 4 reasons you should instead… 1. Survivors use cash for urgent goods and services Markets and businesses rebound quicker than […]
Operations
Update on GiveDirectly leadership roles
Summary Rory Stewart is transitioning from President to Senior Advisor Rory Stewart has served as GiveDirectly’s President since August 2022. Under his leadership, GiveDirectly delivered more cash to people living in extreme poverty than any year prior, expanded our climate change response, and secured formal collaborations with multiple African governments. Rory is transitioning to a […]
Operations
A new tool to give even more directly
UPDATE: As of August 2023, we have stopped matching donors with participants receiving cash transfers. We began matching donors with recipients receiving transfers to better illustrate the impact of your donation, and we learned a lot from testing this approach. Delivering this experience in a high-quality way required more time from field and technical staff, […]
Operations
Canva partnership tackling extreme poverty in Malawi one year on
Last fall, GiveDirectly and Canva, the visual communication platform, announced a partnership to give money directly to some of the world’s poorest people – a $10 million pilot that is sending a basic income through mobile money payments to people in extreme poverty in Khongoni, Malawi. The pilot, launched this March, will deliver ~$50 per […]
Recipients
Inflation is worst for people in extreme poverty
You’ve likely been impacted by the cost of living crisis: U.S. gas prices spiked this summer and energy prices are still at all-time highs across Europe. While overall inflation in high-income countries is at 6%, in low-income countries it’s at 9%. Consumers in wealthy countries can often switch from higher-quality goods to lower-quality ones, an […]