Every organization that aims to improve the lives of others has to confront some basic questions: Who should we help with our limited resources? How should we find the people we’d like to help? And how should we make sure that the people we’re actually helping meet the criteria we’ve established? Surprisingly, this isn’t something […]
Candid thoughts from staff, donors, and recipients on our work and the broader movement towards cash transfers.
Operations
Biometrics in Uganda
How do you verify individuals’ identities in a country where identification documentation is not prevalent and personal data is non-existent? In fact, this is a massive problem faced by anti-poverty programs worldwide. Organizations from national governments to NGOs struggle with how to accurately and safely identify their beneficiaries, especially in regions that lack reliable infrastructure […]
Recipients
New Year’s notes from GiveDirectly recipients
Every day we talk to dozens of recipients to get feedback, find out how things are working out for them, and ask if there’s anything we can do to improve our own processes. This week we selected several recipients at random, and asked if they wanted to share any end of year thoughts with the […]
Opinions
Why we give directly to GiveDirectly
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 […]
Opinions
GiveDirectly, as told by BostWiki
“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.
Opinions
The Top Ten Reasons to GiveDirectly as Part of Your Holiday Giving
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, […]
Opinions
A great time to join
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 […]
Opinions
Why I give directly: Service at the local level
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 […]
Opinions
GiveWell recommends GiveDirectly (again), and benchmarks others against cash
For the fourth consecutive year GiveWell has named us one of their top-rated charities of 2015. GiveWell also rated GiveDirectly strongest on all aspects of organizational performance, including on “transparency and communication,” “robustness of the case for impact,” and “room for more funding.” Perhaps most significantly, Givewell has adopted cash transfers as a benchmark (or […]
Recipients
In their own words: “What have you always wanted, just name it right now!”
The second family I visited on my trip to Kenya last month, after speaking with Jane and James, was Janet, Dennis, and their two children. Cindy, my GiveDirectly colleague, and I met Janet at the door of her boarding house. With Cindy translating, we sat in the living room and spoke with Janet, while the […]