Blog - Opinions

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 […]

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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 […]

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Zev Minsky-Primus explains why he donated some of his Bar Mitzvah money, no strings attached, to poor families via GiveDirectly.I recently had my Bar Mitzvah, and as you might expect, that came along with a lot of gifts. And let’s be real, a few thousand dollars is more than a 13-year-old knows how to spend, […]

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From November 30th to December 4th 2015, Google San Francisco hosted their annual Giving Week, highlighting one organization each day and encouraging employees to donate to their favorite organizations. GiveDirectly was chosen as one of very few charities featured during that week. Not only did Google employees step up to support direct cash transfers to […]

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After hearing from Beverly Archer on one of our open conference calls, we asked her to share her perspective on why she gives directly. Here she describes her search for a better way to help.  When I was a very little girl, I saw a picture of emaciated children in a magazine. It frightened and […]

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Benckiser Stiftung Zukunft, a forward-thinking German philanthropy, was looking for ways of giving that were efficient, effective, based in evidence, and had “the potential to improve the future of aid overall.” After visiting us in New York and Uganda, they decided to give directly, in addition to funding a randomized controlled trial to gather further […]

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“Part of charity is learning how to imagine other people complexly… that receivers of charity are real people too, and often smart, thoughtful people just like us.” One of our supporters, BostWiki, made a video explaining why he chooses to give directly, and why cash transfers make sense. Watch his video below, or here.

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This holiday season we pulled together some of the top reasons people GiveDirectly. Let us know if you have others and we hope you’ll share these with your friends and family.   GiveDirectly was just named one of the four most effective charities to give to for the 4th year running by the charity evaluator GiveWell, […]

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GiveDirectly’s new domestic Chief Operating Officer, Ian Bassin, writes to introduce himself and why he joined: Last week, I joined GiveDirectly as our domestic COO – gratefully at a moment with tremendous potential for the work we can do together. I joined because, at root, I know that my winning a birth lottery is all […]

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Stewart Bainum Jr. is the Chairman of the Board for Choice Hotels International. He was the CEO of Manor Care, Inc. from 1987 to 1998 and has served on various boards including the UCLA Anderson Board of Visitors and the Board of Trustees of Johns Hopkins University. Last month Stewart visited GiveDirectly’s operations in Western […]

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