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more families like Monica’s.
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Giving cash is
Help someone transform their life.
Ndiwo’s parents couldn’t afford to send him to high school. With $197, he was able to re-enroll and buy farm equipment. He’s saving the profits to study engineering at a university.
Help without conditions.
People in poverty deserve the dignity to choose for themselves how best to improve their lives — cash enables that choice.
Help that works – and lasts.
There are 300+ studies on cash transfers – making it one of the most-studied aid interventions. Cash has been shown to drive a range of impacts, even 5+ years after a transfer.
Help that is efficient and direct.
Cash has no shipping costs: your donation is delivered directly to a person in poverty via mobile money with support from in-country staff, not subcontractors or middle-men.
Help end extreme poverty.
The resources to close the poverty gap for 690M+ people already exist – they’re just not reaching those in greatest need. Unlike other forms of aid, cash can efficiently scale to reach and transform hundreds of millions of lives.
Receiving cash catalyzes change
Eunice installed water access with $796
“Fresh tap water used to cost me an arm and a leg. When I received the transfers, I embarked on installing a fresh water tap which has really helped me plus my community members as they no longer walk long distances to fetch clean water. I charge my community members $.08 per jerrican, thus generating some income.”
Saghirah and Ghala recovered with $384
“Me and my daughter, Ghala, were malnourished. When my husband, Khamsi, received our first two transfers, we started to eat more healthy food, and we were able to take care of ourselves and our five children. Ghala and I have been recovering day after day.”
Kalimba quit burning charcoal with $575
“For the past 10 years before GiveDirectly, I used to make and sell charcoal for a living. My palms would get burnt and the smoke was not good for my health. With the transfers, I rented a farm where I planted maize, soybeans, and sweet potatoes. I stopped making and selling charcoal and will be able to sell my harvest to make money.”
Mabel and William built a home with $919
“I am sixty-two years old and live in one room with my husband and four children. We are investing the money into a house. We’ve bought several types of nails and planks, and we will now get doors, windows, cement for plaster, and pay workers to complete the structure. I’m looking forward to generating more money to take care of my family.”
Safa stayed afloat after a disaster with $477
“As a Syrian refugee living in Turkey and a single mother, I’ve faced numerous challenges. [After the earthquake struck] we had no income due to the lack of customers, which made it even harder to make ends meet and I found myself falling behind on shop rent and bills. [Cash] was a lifeline that helped me pay off my debts and keep my business running.”
Agnes invested in a freezer with $200
“A friend taught me to fish and I became good at it, but some weeks there is less demand for fish. So I used my transfer to buy a freezer to freeze the fish so I can sell more when demand is high. Receiving money from GiveDirectly means so much to me because I haven’t seen an NGO who has given unconditional cash without expecting something in return.”
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Explore highlights from the field
Early findings from the world’s largest UBI study
We worked with researchers to compare the impacts of a short-term UBI vs. long-term UBI vs. lump sum transfer. These results look at just the first two years, when all three groups had received roughly the same amount of money.
Cash relief for earthquake survivors in Morocco
Our team has delivered cash to 9,000+ people in poverty in Morocco since 2019 and is working to reach survivors as quickly as we’re able to raise funds and establish secure payment channels.
Why too few disaster survivors get cash aid and what we can do about it
People impacted by a crisis prefer cash relief over in-kind aid (e.g. food, tarps), as it allows them to meet their own needs rather than having others guess for them. However, responders are not pivoting from in-kind aid fast enough…
What we got right and wrong when sending cash to flood survivors
We ran pilots to send cash remotely to flood survivors: in Nigeria, we sent funds to survivors weeks after flooding and in Mozambique, we sent funds days before predicted floods. Here are 4 things we got right and wrong…
For refugees in cities, large cash transfers support self-reliance
Half a million refugees have fled insecurity in their home countries to try to build a new life in Kenya. Having left nearly everything behind, many struggle to restart without a big missing piece: money. Watch how cash aid helps them restart…
The power of getting a mobile phone
16% of Africans do not live within reach of a mobile network, with the biggest gaps in the poorest regions due to a lack of demand. Our project reaching 15K families in Kiryandongo, Uganda motivated two telcos to extend coverage and mobile money agents to the area…
How AI helped 6x our disaster response speed
When natural disasters hit, the economic impact is immediate for people already living in poverty: wages are interrupted, homes and cars are damaged, spoiled food is thrown out. The sooner affected families receive cash, the sooner they can begin to put their lives back together…
Sharing stories of poverty but not ‘poverty porn’
People in poverty are often documented without their consent. GiveDirectly only documents recipients with their formal consent, or in the case of minors, both their and their parents’ consent. They opt to sign a plain-language form translated into local languages…