We’re delivering cash quickly and safely using mobile money to families impacted by COVID-19 in Africa.
We’re responding to this crisis by doing what we’ve done for a decade: delivering cash.
As governments impose lockdowns to limit the spread of COVID-19, many families will suddenly be unable to continue earning a living. Few will have the financial resources to weather this storm, let alone provide care if a family member falls ill. To make matters worse, traditional aid programs that rely on face-to-face interaction may need to scale back at the same time.
This is the moment for digital cash. To protect the safety of recipients and staff, all enrollment and payment processes will be conducted remotely from end-to-end.
To begin, we’re targeting low-income, informal sector workers in urban areas.
We will focus first on urban areas, where we expect the economic impacts of COVID-19 will hit first and hardest. We’ll coordinate with local governments and NGOs to identify and prioritize underserved groups. To start, we’re enrolling recipients in Nairobi slums — mostly youth — in partnership with SHOFCO.
We’re using a basic income model as a short-term assistance solution.
Each household will receive $25-50 per month (dependent on location), initially for 3 months. We expect the main constraint on how many we can reach will be how much we can raise.
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COVID-19 DONATIONS
+Is my donation tax-deductible?
Yes, donations are tax-deductible in the United States. GiveDirectly is a registered 501(c)(3), and our U.S. federal EIN is 27-1661997.
+I’m an existing GiveDirectly donor – will my donations go to COVID-19?
Given that COVID-19 is widespread and we don’t have a clear line of sight into when we’ll shift back to in-person operations, all donations will be considered “COVID-19 relief” and will be delivered remotely. The only difference is that new recipients will be enrolled remotely (as detailed above). As a donor, at point of donation you can select whether you’d like your donation to be allocated to “COVID-19 – Africa response” or “COVID-19 – U.S. response.”
+How much of my donation does a recipient receive?
In 2019, on average across all of our programs, 85 cents of every dollar donated was delivered to recipients. The remainder was spent on key aspects of our operations: identifying the recipients most in need, preventing fraud, and ensuring a high bar of customer service.
+How do I know recipients will spend cash appropriately?
The research is clear: households living in poverty are some of the most effective spenders around. Despite the stereotypes, recipients of cash do not systematically waste or misuse it. Common concerns that people will spend money on vices have been consistently disproven (Evans and Popova, 2016).
+Can I sign up to be a recipient?
Unfortunately, GiveDirectly is not able to respond to individual requests for cash transfers. In order to ensure fairness and equity in our processes, we only select recipients using our eligibility process detailed above.
COVID-19 OPERATIONS
+How do you decide who receives money?
Our top priority right now is moving quickly to get cash to vulnerable families. To start, we plan to target families in urban areas, where we expect the economic effects of COVID-19 to hit hardest and fastest. We are partnering with SHOFCO in Kenya to enroll recipients in Nairobi slums first.
+Can I choose to whom to give?
No; you cannot choose an individual recipient. Practically speaking, if we allowed this we would risk being regulated as a money transfer service and losing our charitable status. Philosophically, we aim to target the poorest possible recipients in high impact areas of COVID-19, and not those with compelling profiles or narratives.
+How do you prevent fraud?
We use a mix of prevention, detection, and auditing techniques to manage fraud. These include, for example, defined staff roles, spot checks of data captured in the field, remote GPS coordinate checks, and independent follow-up calls with recipients, among others. We use government-issued IDs and other documents to confirm the recipients' place of residence.
+Are you directly implementing the program?
Yes — as we work to target particularly vulnerable recipients impacted by COVID-19, we will occasionally work with partners (like SHOFCO) to reach recipients more rapidly. We will continue to own the end-to-end implementation process. As we scale, we will use a combination of (a) our own existing databases of low-income households, (b) rosters provided by local NGO partners whom we have vetted, and (c) rosters of mobile money subscribers recruited through our partner mobile network operators. Specific approaches will vary across countries.
+Who is SHOFCO?
Shining Hope for Communities
(SHOFCO) is a grassroots movement that catalyzes large-scale transformation in urban slums by providing critical services for all, community advocacy platforms, and education and leadership development for women and girls.
Send cash now
Send funds directly to those hardest hit by the economic effects of COVID-19.
Give now