GiveDirectly is a charity that provides direct cash transfers to people living in extreme poverty in many countries, especially Kenya and Uganda.

History

GiveDirectly was founded in 2009 by Paul Niehaus, Michael Faye, Rohit Wanchoo and Jeremy Shapiro.

Evaluation

As of December 2021, GiveWell estimates that participants in GiveDirectly's programs receive $83 out of every $100 donated to that organization (GiveWell 2021a; GiveWell 2021b). GiveDirectly has been one of GiveWell's top-rated charities since 2012 (Sánchez et al. 2021). The Life You Can Save features GiveDirectly in their list of "best charities" (The Life You Can Save 2021).

GiveDirectly's programs have been the subject of several RCTs, and they have experimented with many ways to implement transfers, such as single lump-sum transfers, multiple transfers as "basic income", and transfers as a form of disaster relief.