While the broad cash program in this study is certainly more expensive per family than other global health programs, the researchers note that if the cash was targeted to pregnant women in their third trimester, it could be “comparably cost effective to a number of WHO-recommended maternal and child health interventions, even without taking into account other possible benefits of unconditional cash transfers (such as consumption gains).”

We’re launching a pilot this fall in Kenya specifically for pregnant women to learn just how much more cost-effectively cash can improve infant and maternal health, one of our many tests to improve our programs for specific outcomes.

(updated our post above to clarify this)

Darren "We don’t push hard for donations. Our primary goal is to educate and inspire, not fundraise. Donations are a bonus. We usually have sponsors for the videos, and the money we earn from those sponsors goes directly to the projects. In the case of the GiveDirectly video, we made a $200,000 donation, and anything beyond that is a bonus. However, someone who saw the video is now matching up to $150,000, which will help reach the fundraising goal."

If you want to help this match succeed, reshare the campaign page or Darren's X post.

Also here's our blog on how we optimize matches to maximize impact. 

You can read more about how the project came together on our blog. Adding a specific section below that might be of interest: 

Working with the most watched person on Earth will help us reach more people in need

Beast Philanthropy videos are typically seen by 20-40 million people and dubbed into over a dozen languages to improve accessibility. We expect this will help us reach more families in need. Here’s why:

Partnering with content creators means large, new audiences learn about direct cash

You may support direct cash giving, but most people still do not. GiveDirectly recently ran a survey of potential donors, and found only 13% of respondents had heard of us. Direct cash was their least favored way to help people in extreme poverty. 

Clearly more people need to learn about the impact of our work. While we’re good at our main job of delivering cash to the most vulnerable families in the world, we’re not as good at reaching large audiences from our own channels and platforms –– few nonprofits are. Press and content creators are very good at it. 

Beast Philanthropy’s video dispels common concerns about direct cash 

In that same survey, most respondents said giving $1,000 to families in extreme poverty was not a good idea. Their most common concerns were that recipients…

1. may spend the money unwisely
2. need something else (training, education, resources)
3. won’t be able to make lasting improvements 

We approached Beast Philanthropy because they excel at engaging audiences while showcasing the finer points of a charity. Their GiveDirectly video tackled the most common concerns about cash, highlights the dignity of giving choice, and documents the broader economic benefits – all in just 12 minutes.

Some of their viewers will start giving directly, helping reach more people living in extreme poverty with life-changing cash transfers.

good idea! just did https://www.givedirectly.org/evidence-on-how-cash-transfers-empower-women-in-poverty/ 

Good call! Added

Fair point re: "nearly twice" vs. "over 50%." Edited original point to reflect this update. 

To the second point, the differences in data sources seem moot to the overall argument. If we stick just to OWID's visual from 1990 to 2019 (pre-COVID), this is is still a 117 million person (43%) increase of the number people living in extreme poverty since 1990, which is certainly an undercount given the well-documented setbacks post 2019. 

Responding below, much of which are direct quotes from the original post. 

Eradicating extreme poverty is not a high bar, it's actually the lowest and one very much worth clearing. 

• The $2.15/day threshold is not "completely arbitrary." It's set by the World Bank, is an estimate of what a person needs to afford a basic basket of goods including food, clothing, and shelter. It’s a rough measure of how many live in unacceptable deprivation in our wealthy world.
• While this metric is limited, it’s also quite descriptive. The many symptoms of poverty – disease, starvation, education deprivation, psychological suffering – are improved when a family is less monetarily poor, and further still when their whole community is less poor. 

Cash transfers have been shown to grow the wider economy

• As cash transfers are spent by recipients, the cash multiplies. Research finds that because people spend this money locally buying goods, starting businesses, visiting clinics, or going to school, the local economy can grow by as much as 2.5x what you give. In effect, the money you give grows the entire economy. 
• Researchers also found minimal inflationary effects: “Average price inflation is 0.1%, and even during periods with the largest transfers, estimated price effects are less than 1%.”

Many countries use cash transfers to eliminate extreme poverty, which economic growth alone will not solve. (more here)

• Cash transfers alone will not eradicate extreme poverty, as countries also need essential public goods like access to healthcare, well-maintained infrastructure, and dependable institutions to foster a thriving economy. However, cash transfers are still needed to help people take full advantage of these resources. 
• Take Rwanda as an example: 
  • Over the past three decades, Rwanda has maintained peace and security, with the GDP growing annually by 5-10%.
  • The government has invested in education and healthcare, providing subsidies to make them widely accessible.
  • Despite these commendable strides, over half of Rwandans still live in extreme poverty.
  • This is why Rwanda is now using cash transfers as part of their social safety net to help their poorest citizens take full advantage of these other opportunities. 
• Even China, widely recognized for its economic growth and poverty reduction efforts, is using cash transfers to lift the final ~1% of their population out of extreme poverty. For more on why we should not expect extreme poverty to “solve itself” overtime through economic growth alone, read here.

As people escape extreme poverty, that total decreases year-over-year -- explained in detail here. 

Sure. We expanded the excerpt from the blog for clarity: "[GiveWell's moral weight approach] results in a spreadsheet. This framework combines the views of a relatively small number of stakeholders and then applies those outcomes to millions of people. GiveDirectly believes that the weights that should count the most are those of the specific people we’re trying to help. Each individual will have their own specific needs, preferences, and aspirations. We have yet to see a place we worked in (village, county, country) where everyone made the same investments, so why prescribe the same solution for everyone? Why not treat each individual person living in poverty as exactly that, respecting their individuality and allowing them the dignity of pursuing their own goals?"  This is to say, we don't subscribe to GiveWell's moral weights approach, but instead hold recipient's preference as our north star. 

Research finds people use these funds to improve their health, education, income, and self-reliance, ultimately reducing adult and child mortality. And these results can be sustained years into the future. [Footnote: Source on reducing adult & child mortality.  Two examples of long-term cash impact: Uganda (12 years), Mexico (20 years).]

GiveDirectly's baseline measures don't date back that far, but we do expect research on 5- and 9-year follow-up measures sometime in 2024. 

Cash transfers alone won't eradicate extreme poverty globally, however they're an under-funded and under-utilized tool that would massively reduce extreme poverty and work in compliment with other efforts.