This week the Pope endorsed giving unconditionally, because giving something to someone in need is “always right,” reports The New York Times. Many people ask us, when we talk about giving unconditionally to the poor, “what if they spend the money on alcohol?” Someone asked the Pope the very same question, and here’s how he […]
Candid thoughts from staff, donors, and recipients on our work and the broader movement towards cash transfers.
Operations
What it’s like to receive a basic income
Last October we began sending monthly universal basic income (UBI) payments to 95 people living in a rural village in Western Kenya. While people in 200 villages will eventually receive cash transfers as part of our test of a UBI, we wanted to begin with a one-village pilot. Doing so allows us to test and […]
Operations
Sending cash to remote places
This year, we are running a small pilot in Uganda’s Acholi sub-region, on the border with South Sudan. Until just over ten years ago, this area was the heartland of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, and the region was embroiled in a protracted civil war. Today, Acholi is at peace, but its people remain amongst […]
Opinions
Why We Invested: GiveDirectly’s Basic Income Experiment
Omidyar Network’s Tracy Williams and Mike Kubzansky describe why Omidyar is investing in GiveDirectly’s basic income experiment. Omidyar Network’s foundational belief that empowering people frees them to better themselves, their families, and their communities has great evidence in the growing literature around the benefits of cash transfers. In these programs, low income individuals who receive […]
Operations
Research Director Field Studies – Day 3: Cash transfer experts
In the final part of this three-part series, GiveDirectly’s Research Director Michael Cooke discusses key takeaways from his trip to visit field teams and recipients in Kenya.At GiveDirectly we talk a lot about the poor being the true poverty experts. Today I had the great privilege of being able to ask questions of poverty experts […]
Operations
Research Director Field Studies – Day 2: Gimoro amora
In the second part of this three-part series, GiveDirectly’s Research Director Michael Cooke discusses key takeaways from his trip to visit field teams and recipients in Kenya. Today I went out with GiveDirectly field staff to shadow the process of enrolling new program recipients. Luo was the primary spoken language of the recipients in the […]
Operations
Research Director Field Studies – Day 1: In the details
In the first part of this three-part series, GiveDirectly’s Research Director Michael Cooke discusses key takeaways from his trip to visit field teams and recipients in Kenya. Truth and customer service: two of many things that have been said to be in the details. What I saw today was GiveDirectly’s call center team in Kisumu, […]
Opinions
What would you do with an extra $1,000?
Mika Marcondes de Freitas explains what biking across Europe has to do with GiveDirectly, and why he’s committed to donating 10% of his earnings directly to extremely poor families.What would you do with an extra $1,000? I would personally take a couple of months off and ride my bicycle solo from Copenhagen to Istanbul. […]
Recipients
Uncurated communication from recipients
In addition to enrolling 31,000 new families and launching the world’s first long term, universal basic income study in 2016, GiveDirectly also released GDLive – a new way to receive unfiltered, unedited communication from cash transfer recipients.This product is made possible by our end-to-end (donor to recipient’s door) operating model, in which we collect all […]
Opinions
Why Cash Transfers are a Great Option for Foundation Year End Giving
Brittany Erikson of the Ray and Tye Noorda Foundation explains how their foundation has thought about meeting their annual giving goals and why as part of that they have given to the poor via GiveDirectly. The end of the year is an exciting time at the Ray and Tye Noorda Foundation. It’s when grants go […]