Since 2009, GiveDirectly has delivered more than $580 million in unconditional cash transfers to families in need. These one-time cash transfers allow recipients to invest in what they need most and have been shown to improve their earnings, children’s school attendance, health, nutrition, and mental well-being.
GiveDirectly uses government data to target villages where most or all residents are living in extreme poverty, defined by the World Bank as earning under $2.15/day. In-country GiveDirectly staff enroll one member of each household in the entire village to receive a one-time transfer of about $1,000 USD sent in two installments using mobile money. Recipients can then withdraw the mobile funds as cash with local agents and use the funds to invest in what they need – whether it’s on starting a business, education, making their home safer/sturdier, healthcare, or livestock.
GiveDirectly uses rigorous experimental research (randomized controlled trials) to measure the impact of their unconditional cash programs and answer public policy questions, generating evidence on key design and implementation questions across varied contexts. You can find over 300 studies on the positive impacts of cash transfers in GiveDirectly’s Cash Research Explorer.
Fundraisers
Donors
Maria Goncharova I gave because I believe that we are all responsible for each other. As a privileged person you have to share with ones who are not the same lucky as you are.
Rahul Gupta-Iwasaki 14I've been really impressed by GiveDirectly's pioneering and research-driven approach to using direct cash transfers to help people climb out of poverty. They've helped show that just giving money to people so they can make their own decisio...
Haran Ramachandran 13There is too much poverty, need and inequality in this world and those of us who cannot do anything directly can at least try and help in any way we can. A big thank you to organizations like yours which support effective nonprofits.
Andrew Forsyth 8Not sure how I could spend $10 a month better than giving it away to someone who needs it a lot more
Felix Mbuga 7I gave because I was moved by the stories of extreme poverty I heard when I recently visited Kenya (one of the countries GiveDirectly delivers donations to): kids having to steal 50 cents in order to eat, kids not having money to buy shoes ...
Heather Heckman 8We pledged to give 1% more of our annual income to people living in extreme poverty this year