Traditional ways of giving internationally are complex. Donors typically give to international NGOs that manage money, fundraise, and implement programs through partner organizations abroad which have their own, usually hidden, cost structures. Overall it is hard for donors to tell how their money will be used, what this will cost, and whether there is any evidence that it works.
At GiveDirectly, they have created a simpler way: they take money from donors and give it to the poor. They do this because modern payments technology has drastically cut the costs of sending money directly to the extreme poor. At the same time, new research has shown the powerful effects this has on their lives.
At GiveDirectly, they see these trends converging to make direct giving the benchmark against which the old, top-down models are evaluated.
They first locate extremely poor communities using publicly available data. Then send field staff door-to-door to digitally collect data on poverty and enroll recipients, typically targeting those living in homes made out of organic materials. They then use alternative poverty targeting methods.
They use a set of independent checks to verify that recipients are eligible and did not pay bribes, such as physical back-checks, image verification, phone checks, and data consistency checks. For example, they use GPS coordinates, satellite imagery, and crowd-sourced labor to detect irregularities.
They transfer recipient households roughly $1,000, or around one year's budget for a typical household. They use electronic payment systems; typically, recipients receive an SMS alert on their cell phone, paid for from the donation if needed, and then collect cash from a mobile money agent in their village or nearest town.
Then then call each recipient to verify receipt of funds, flag issues, and assess their customer service. They also staff a hotline for inbound calls.
CLICK HERE to find out more about this new venture.
I found this company from an article in Huffington Post by Nico Pitney.
CLICK HERE to read Nico's article "This Startup Gives Poor People A Year's Income, No Strings Attached".
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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