Donors have been asking us why they can’t direct online donations to pay for fundraising, which could potentially generate tremendous leverage for them (details below). It’s a fair question. Here’s how we think about it. For context, we’re not happy with the status quo in which donors typically have very little information about how their […]
Candid thoughts from staff, donors, and recipients on our work and the broader movement towards cash transfers.
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The myth that the poor cannot be trusted – Cash in the News
Following last week’s New York Times Magazine feature on our basic income experiment, GiveDirectly had a big week in the global press. Dylan Matthews of Vox released a long, reported feature on the lives of recipients in that village. Meanwhile, the BBC reported on GiveDirectly’s standard, lump-sum cash transfers in print, radio, and TV, focusing […]
Opinions
The Pope on giving unconditionally
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 […]
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Peals of ululation – Cash in the News
This week the New York Times magazine reported a long feature on our groundbreaking basic income experiment. They talked about the research behind cash transfers, the work of our field team in Kenya, and most importantly the lives of the recipients in the basic income pilot village. Also of note this week: Devex reported on […]
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Empathy seems well aligned with effective altruism – Cash in the News
From Sydney to Stanford, cash transfers remained part of the public conversation as Effective Altruism Australia launched with a discussion on what it means to give effectively, while in Stanford’s Social Innovation Review, several articles discuss cash in the context of empathy and evidence. GIVEDIRECTLY IN THE NEWS AND BLOGS 1. A Tour Of The Job-Free […]
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 […]
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The most ambitious experiment – Cash in the News
GiveDirectly’s co-founders Michael Faye and Paul Niehaus, along with our senior partnerships manager Joanna Macrae, defended cash transfers this week in Newsweek. They argued why cash transfers provide excellent value-for-money for taxpayers. GIVEDIRECTLY IN THE NEWS AND BLOGS 1. WaterAid: What do we buy, and at what cost, when we give to nonprofits? Nonprofit Chronicles, Marc […]
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 […]
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Old stereotypes, old and inaccurate – Cash in the News
GiveDirectly’s co-founders Michael Faye and Paul Niehaus, along with our senior partnerships manager Joanna Macrae, defended cash transfers this week in Newsweek. They argued why cash transfers provide excellent value-for-money for taxpayers. GIVEDIRECTLY IN THE NEWS AND BLOGS1. Data-driven charityJohn D. Cook blog, Paul Niehaus, February 5, 2017PN: GiveDirectly is the first nonprofit that lets individual […]
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 […]