The second milestone for cash in 2016 (see here for Part 1) was GiveDirectly’s launch of the first long-term Universal Basic Income evaluation in history. Over the last twelve months, cash transfers have moved toward center stage in international policy circles under a new name, Universal Basic Income (UBI). While there has been much debate, […]
Blog -
Candid thoughts from staff, donors, and recipients on our work and the broader movement towards cash transfers.
Opinions
The year in cash – $27 million distributed
The end of the year is always a time for reflection, and this year asks more than most. With a confluence of global crises, and rising skepticism of institutions, the actions we take as individuals – and the signals they send – are perhaps more important than ever. At GiveDirectly, we’ve been deeply encouraged to […]
Uncategorized
19 studies – Cash in the News
With the release of two important papers – one meta-analysis showing the poor do not spend cash transfers on alcohol or tobacco and another showing the anti-poverty effects of mobile money – this week saw a flurry of news on cash transfers, from the Christian Science Monitor, Yahoo Finance, Quartz, NPR and more.GIVEDIRECTLY IN THE […]
Operations
On GiveDirectly’s use of paid media
We’ve received a couple of questions about an online advertising campaign for GiveDirectly that’s been running on Facebook and general banner ads. The ad inventory for the campaign was donated by a corporate partner, and so comes at zero cost to GiveDirectly aside from staff time. We are not yet sure what role advertising has […]
Uncategorized
The needs of poor people – Cash in the News
With many people focused on charitable giving last Tuesday, this week saw several pieces on GiveDirectly, effective altruism, and cash transfers. Business Insider profiled GiveDirectly’s new product, GDLive, and 12 specific recipient stories. NPR Morning Edition featured GiveDirectly with an interview with our own Ian Bassin. Vox, Deadspin, The Life You Can Save, and GiveWell […]
Uncategorized
Charity as simple as possible – Cash in the News
With the release of GDLive and the holiday giving season approaching, several articles featured GiveDirectly this week. In the Observer, reporter Brady Dale profiled GDLive, including a specific recipient named Besides, from Uganda. On the BBC, co-founder Michael Faye joined a panel to discuss GiveDirectly’s basic income experiment, and Yahoo News profiled GiveDirectly as a […]
Opinions
On GiveWell’s recommendation
GiveWell has just recognized GiveDirectly as one of their top rated charities for the fifth year running. We’re proud to have been recognized as the “strongest” on every dimension of organizational performance, and are excited to see GiveWell adopting cash transfers as a benchmark for their evaluations. But perhaps most importantly, GiveWell has recognized our […]
Uncategorized
The basic question – Cash in the News
This week, the World Bank issued a feature on climate change, where they mention cash transfers as a policy that might help people recover from the shocks of climate-induced natural events, and the The New York Times mentioned cash transfers to help with labor-displacing shocks brought about by technology. In Canada, the debate over Ontario’s […]
Opinions
How participants opt in to GDLive
The idea of respect was central to how we built GDLive. For donors, respect means providing more transparency into where their dollars are actually going. Donors know that GiveDirectly is an efficient way to help the poor, but they often ask for more information about the families they are helping. With GDLive, donors can see when […]
Operations
We’re ahead of target in sending cash
GiveDirectly staff across Kenya and Uganda are working hard to send cash transfers to thousands of families each month. Over the last several months, we are actually tracking ahead of our current enrollment budgets for our standard rolling cash transfer campaign for 2016. Right now, we are ahead of these enrollment goals by ~18%. What […]