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, […]

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Launch of core operations in Rwanda

In October, the Rwanda team launched its core operations project entitled “Kungahara” (which translates to “Prosper”) with the aim of enrolling 3,600 households by the end of February 2017. Kungahara operates in two sectors in Gicumbi, which is the second poorest district in Rwanda.The modelGiveDirectly Rwanda is utilizing a new model, also being tested in […]

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A turning point in my life

Joice was living in poverty when she received a cash transfer from GiveDirectly’s donors in 2014. Now she is a GiveDirectly field officer whose job includes telling new recipients about GiveDirectly. This is her story.  I was born in Kisumu County and I was married in Siaya County. I had great dreams of improving my […]

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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 […]

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Announcing: GDLive

The last week has been an emotional one for many of us, and I hope that today we can provide a small channel for something more uplifting: a reflection of your collective compassion for the global poor and an honest look into their lives and the impact of your investments. Today, we launch GDLive, which […]

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We’re ahead of target in sending cash

GiveDirectly staff across Kenya and Uganda are working hard to send cash transfers to thousands of families each month. Over the last several months, we are actually tracking ahead of our current enrollment budgets for our standard rolling cash transfer campaign for 2016. Right now, we are ahead of these enrollment goals by ~18%. What […]

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GiveDirectly UK opens

We have some exciting news for GiveDirectly supporters in the UK. The recently launched GiveDirectly UK trust (UK charity #1167938) makes it easier to claim Gift Aid which boosts donations by 25p for each £1 donated. Additional rate taxpayers can also reclaim tax relief via their Self Assessment returns. All money donated via GDUK (less […]

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On enrolling over 50,000 families

GiveDirectly started in 2008 as an idea in the minds of a few graduate students and a handful of documents. Many thought the idea of giving out money unconditionally to aid the poor was doomed to fail.Recently we enrolled the 50,000th household in our history and wanted to take a moment to mark the milestone. […]

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Refusals in Kenya

In general, an overwhelming majority of eligible recipients opt to receive cash transfers from GiveDirectly. In Siaya, where GiveDirectly Kenya has operated from 2011 to the beginning of 2016, over 95% of recipients who are given the opportunity to be a part of the program accept it. In Uganda and Rwanda more than 96% of […]

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