Cash for Poverty Relief

Help end extreme poverty — Send large one-time cash directly to people who need it.

Edina in Malawi

As featured in

No strings attached

We give large, one-time cash to people in the poorest parts of Africa

Cash for Poverty Relief is our flagship program, running since 2009. Our website donations go here by default.

We send a large one-time sum of transformative cash to every adult living in areas with high levels of extreme poverty. Each adult receives roughly $650-$950 - about what they live on in a year - via mobile phone payments. They are free to choose how to spend it.

That's it. It is simple, respectful, and one of the most cost-effective ways to help families and entire communities out of extreme poverty.

How cash is used

People spend their cash on things that last

Large one-time cash helps people cover immediate needs while also making investments that generate longer term gains. Almost two decades of data from our programs confirm people consistently use at least half of their cash to invest in their livelihoods, homes and children's education.

Hastings in Malawi paid school fees and bought a bicycle

"The first thing I bought with my transfer was a bicycle because I was tired of walking two hours to school every day. The bicycle made life much easier. I paid my own school fees of $68 this term and set aside money for the next. I'm always excited to go to school, and words can't express how grateful I am for this support. My goal is to study agriculture at university."

Hastings in Malawi

Eunice in Kenya bought a water tank

"Fresh water used to cost me an arm and a leg. When I received the transfers, I bought a water tank and installed a fresh water tap. I earn an income by charging a fee for jerry cans of water. I and others in my community no longer walk long distances to fetch clean water."

Eunice in Kenya

Esther in Rwanda started a business

"I used to walk almost two hours a day to do casual farm jobs, earning only $1 per day. When I received the transfer, I already had business ideas in mind. I invested over $300 in mobile money services, and now make between $3 to $5 in profits every day."

Esther in Rwanda

Lasting impacts

This transforms lives, even many years later

Families have better quality of life

Incomes increase (up to 50%)
and improve (by ~0.6 and ~0.5 standard deviations, a medium to large effect)
Children more (~20% increase)
More babies survive (infant mortality drops by half)

Local economies grow

Because direct cash is spent locally, nearby business revenues and incomes of those who don't receive cash also increase, acting as an economic stimulus.

Every $1 given in cash can generate $2.50 in the local economy, with minimal inflation. Cash shifts the economic reality of the entire community.

Where your donation goes

>80% of your donation goes directly to people in extreme poverty

We have worked hard to make our systems both efficient and secure when delivering cash in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Uganda.

While >80% of your donation reaches people directly, the rest covers the cost of getting the cash safely there. Our systems are set up to reach more people quickly, with increasing effectiveness as we scale.

��ϸ��'s process

Baraza in Kilifi, Kenya 🇰🇪

Identify villages

Identify areas of extreme poverty
Meet government & communities

Edna getting enrolled in Malawi 🇲🇼

Meet & enroll people

Enrol adults over 18 (door-to-door touchpoint)

Lucia receiving her payments in Malawi 🇲🇼

Send payments

>80% of your donation goes here

First send ~$100
Then send ~$650 two months later

��ϸ�� Call Center

Follow up

Verify cash was received
Respond to call center calls
Manage fraud & safeguarding
Track outcomes

Ending extreme poverty is possible

$318B would almost eradicate extreme poverty

Give Directly aims to accelerate the end of extreme poverty by giving large, one-time cash. We are testing ways to deliver ever more cost-effectively. And we are scaling from working village-to-village to paying entire regions at once, with an aim to run nationwide programs.

$318B is just....

33%

of what Americans spend on holidays every year

14%

of what people spend on alcohol every year

0.3%

of global GDP

1.9%

of all billionaires' net worth

0.6%

of what people spend on cosmetics

Together we can end extreme poverty

Make a major gift

Frequently asked questions

How can I donate?

Donations made through this page will be directed to "Poverty relief (Africa)", which helps fund our flagship poverty relief programs in Africa. We have poverty relief programs currently running in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, DRC, and Uganda.

You can explore and support our other cash programs .

Will my donation to your poverty relief programs actually increase the total amount of funds delivered to people in poverty?

Yes. We aim to deliver $250M via Poverty relief programs in 2026, but we have the capacity to deliver $250M+ with significant room to scale in future years. Marginal donations to our "Poverty relief" program will increase proportionally the funds we send to people in poverty through this program and bring us closer to that capacity estimate, rather than simply displacing existing program funding.

Why does this program focus on countries in Africa?

Africa has an - the highest in the world. It is the only region that has not made significant progress on extreme poverty in the past decade and is home to over 60% of the global extreme poor population.

How has the program changed over time?

Our flagship program remains much the same as the one we started nearly two decades ago. Adjustments made are mostly tweaks based on our research evidence and operational experience. Some of these tweaks include:

We give cash to all individuals over 18 years rather than one adult per household.
We give cash to the entire village instead of targeting houses with thatched roofs (which we used as a proxy for extreme poverty).
We provide the cash in two tranches instead of three.
We focus exclusively on providing large sums of one-time cash and no longer provide small, regular amounts of cash.

We are always testing and learning other ways to improve.

Do you have a Theory of Change for the program?

Yes, we have a Theory of Change (TOC) informed by evidence from research and operations, program data, and recipient inputs. The TOC includes multiple impact pathways, some of which are very well-evidenced (e.g. the economic pathway) while others are priority research areas in which we are still learning. The TOC guides our decisions on how we structure our program design, research, and Monitoring and Evaluation.

How do you prevent corruption and fraud?

The main corruption/fraud risks to our programs are:

Manipulation of the list of eligible recipients
Diversion of transfers sent to eligible recipients

To address the first risk, we implement a comprehensive audit process with multiple independent checks to ensure enrolled recipients are eligible. These checks include:

In-person visits by fire-walled teams
In-person audits by senior management
Remote data audits
Phone calls with each recipient

To address the second risk, we use identity-matching between our records and those of our payment providers, conduct comprehensive follow-up calls to ensure money reaches the intended recipients, and in some cases, directly monitor cash-out points with our staff. Learn more here.

find cash transfers are no more prone to diversion than other forms of aid. In many ways, cash can be more secure.

Consider a program giving food aid to people in poverty – the procurement process of finding a food producer is open to corruption, and the long journey the food takes from manufacturer to recipient is open to diversion at every step.
In a ��ϸ�� program, money is digitally transferred from our bank account directly to a SIM card given to the recipient.

We still must carefully safeguard this process as risks remain. However, there are far fewer variables to monitor compared to other forms of aid.

How exactly do you send people money?

We send recipients cash transfers through a technology called '' that allows funds to be sent digitally to someone's SIM card.

Most recipients do not yet have a mobile money account, so we guide them through the process of opening one, which may include obtaining required government identification.

Recipients receive a text alert when we send their transfer. Most choose to then cash out with local mobile money agents but they can also make purchases directly from most merchants completely digitally if they choose.

Is my gift tax-deductible?

Yes, donations are tax-deductible in the United States – you can give through one of our international partners to receive tax benefits outside the U.S. ��ϸ�� is a registered 501(c)(3), and our U.S. federal EIN is 27-1661997.

We accept all major credit and debit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, checks, wires, stocks, cryptocurrencies, and more. Reach out to us at info@givedirectly.org for more information on ways to give.

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