Yesterday, leading charity evaluator GiveWell announced they’re committing more money than ever to effective causes, which we commend. This generosity reflects great news: the world is wealthier than ever before. However, they also decided not to distribute $110M this year because they don’t believe they can find good enough ways to use it now. They […]
Blog - Recipients
Candid thoughts from staff, donors, and recipients on our work and the broader movement towards cash transfers.
Recipients
We’ve reached 1 million households in poverty and counting
We sent a cash transfer to our 1 millionth household this fall. In 2011, our first year operating, we paid… 99. See the growth in real time: The very first GiveDirectly payment ever Below is GiveDirectly’s co-founder Rohit Wanchoo making our very first test payment ever. Before we were instantly enrolling and paying tens of thousands people at […]
Recipients
The story of Eunice and 144 more in the Kibera program
Eunice lives in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya and was one of 494 people who received ~$1,125 between November 2020 and June 2021 as part of a GiveDirectly COVID-19 relief program focused on entrepreneurs. This program, funded by Google.org, provided women with cash transfers plus elective budgeting and entrepreneurial training from SHOFCO, a local […]
Recipients
Working in the U.S. helped us get more money to international recipients
Our U.S. COVID19 response was based on a bet In April 2020, we launched Project 100, a U.S. COVID-19 response, in partnership with Propel and Stand for Children. To date, the program has delivered one-time $1,000 payments to over 178K Americans living in poverty, with the most recent round going out last week. For the […]
Recipients
A Spotify Playlist by Women Recipients in Nairobi
We compiled a Spotify playlist featuring the favorite songs of five women enrolled in GiveDirectly’s urban youth program in Nairobi, Kenya.
Recipients
A photo update from 5 families receiving a basic income
Photos of recipients in our Universal Basic Income Program highlight the diversity of investment decisions families make when receiving cash transfers.
Recipients
In 9 minutes, meet everyone in this Liberian village
All 7 households in the Liberian village of Matay Ta have received a GiveDirectly transfer of USD $750. Even in this tiny village, spending choices vary widely.
Recipients
How receiving a basic income affects elderly women
Since October 2016, GiveDirectly has been sending monthly cash transfers to 95 adult residents in a remote village in Kenya. This village is the pilot site for our broader universal basic income initiative. “Remote” is often a code word for “poor.” But other vulnerabilities in age, gender and marital status contribute as much, if not […]
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 […]
Operations, Recipients
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 […]