As we look to simplify our donation options and optimize for effectiveness, GiveDirectly will no longer be accepting donations for basic income and refugee programs through our website, and will be shifting active donations to fund our general Africa poverty relief programs. 

We’re focused on scaling our large, one-time cash transfer work in Africa, and testing monthly basic income only in unique cases  

We made the decision to wind down our broad-based Africa basic income programs, informed by the study of our program in Kenya done by researchers at MIT, Princeton, and UCSD. Early findings showed key advantages of a large lump sum payment over a universal basic income (UBI): 

  • 💰 Giving $500 as a lump sum enabled bigger investments and resulted in greater economic improvements than giving the same amount in smaller monthly UBI payments.
  • 🔄 Many UBI recipients simply joined rotating savings groups to pool small amounts into larger payouts, essentially creating their own lump sums.
  • 🤳🏿 Other research found 95% of recipients prefer larger payments over smaller monthly ones. 

This 12-year study is still ongoing and will run to its full conclusion, but has been fully funded. We’re now prioritizing:

  • Scaling larger transfers that enable investment, not just survival
  • Testing basic income to specific, high-leverage moments, like pregnancy, early childhood, or post-displacement

Read more on our current strategy here →

We are still running refugee programs, but optimizing funds for flexibility

We’re still running refugee cash programs in Kenya and Uganda and responding to crises in ways that help all vulnerable groups, including refugees and internally displaced people. However, these programs can be start-and-stop, leaving gaps when we have to wait to deliver donations to refugees.

When you direct your donation to our Africa poverty relief fund, it will still be delivered as cash to people in extreme poverty, including refugees and internally displaced people. This gives our team more flexibility to reach the people most in need and adapt quickly to changes like the aid cuts in early 2025.

Thank you for helping us to test and learn how to best send cash to people in need

We conduct research on our programs so we can maximize the cost-effectiveness of your donations and best meet recipients’ needs — thank you for supporting this work. This means your donation will go further in empowering people living in extreme poverty to choose the best path out on their own terms.

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