This week, in response to a poorly-argued front-page Daily Mail article against the UK’s cash transfers, we saw a pretty extraordinarily response to cash from a range of organizations and officials, including the Prime Minister Theresa May, herself. Also, this week, Benjamin Soskis wrote a long piece on cash and benchmarking in The Atlantic, and […]
Blog -
Candid thoughts from staff, donors, and recipients on our work and the broader movement towards cash transfers.
Uncategorized
One of the best things you can do – Cash in the News
Joe Huston, GiveDirectly’s regional director in East Africa, appeared on TVO this week to explain GiveDirectly’s cash transfers and some of our new projects including a basic income experiment and our digital platform, GDLive. Elsewhere, basic income made headlines, from the launch of Finland’s pilot to a new survey showing almost half of Americans support […]
Recipients
Uncurated communication from recipients
In addition to enrolling 31,000 new families and launching the world’s first long term, universal basic income study in 2016, GiveDirectly also released GDLive – a new way to receive unfiltered, unedited communication from cash transfer recipients.This product is made possible by our end-to-end (donor to recipient’s door) operating model, in which we collect all […]
Opinions
Why Cash Transfers are a Great Option for Foundation Year End Giving
Brittany Erikson of the Ray and Tye Noorda Foundation explains how their foundation has thought about meeting their annual giving goals and why as part of that they have given to the poor via GiveDirectly. The end of the year is an exciting time at the Ray and Tye Noorda Foundation. It’s when grants go […]
Uncategorized
Economic security – Cash in the News
This week, basic income was in the news, with the announcement of the “Economic Security Project.” This group is considering whether cash assistance and basic income might better guarantee economic opportunity in the United States, and it supports organizations like GiveDirectly, whose work can add to that discussion. Elsewhere in cash news, The New York […]
Operations
The largest basic income experiment in history
The second milestone for cash in 2016 (see here for Part 1) was GiveDirectly’s launch of the first long-term Universal Basic Income evaluation in history. Over the last twelve months, cash transfers have moved toward center stage in international policy circles under a new name, Universal Basic Income (UBI). While there has been much debate, […]
Opinions
The year in cash – $27 million distributed
The end of the year is always a time for reflection, and this year asks more than most. With a confluence of global crises, and rising skepticism of institutions, the actions we take as individuals – and the signals they send – are perhaps more important than ever. At GiveDirectly, we’ve been deeply encouraged to […]
Uncategorized
19 studies – Cash in the News
With the release of two important papers – one meta-analysis showing the poor do not spend cash transfers on alcohol or tobacco and another showing the anti-poverty effects of mobile money – this week saw a flurry of news on cash transfers, from the Christian Science Monitor, Yahoo Finance, Quartz, NPR and more.GIVEDIRECTLY IN THE […]
Operations
On GiveDirectly’s use of paid media
We’ve received a couple of questions about an online advertising campaign for GiveDirectly that’s been running on Facebook and general banner ads. The ad inventory for the campaign was donated by a corporate partner, and so comes at zero cost to GiveDirectly aside from staff time. We are not yet sure what role advertising has […]
Uncategorized
The needs of poor people – Cash in the News
With many people focused on charitable giving last Tuesday, this week saw several pieces on GiveDirectly, effective altruism, and cash transfers. Business Insider profiled GiveDirectly’s new product, GDLive, and 12 specific recipient stories. NPR Morning Edition featured GiveDirectly with an interview with our own Ian Bassin. Vox, Deadspin, The Life You Can Save, and GiveWell […]