Last year, a decade-long study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that when poor families in Kenya received $1,000, infant mortality rates fell by a striking 48%. The nonprofit GiveDirectly, helmed by Nick Allardice, has applied the same model around the world, including in the U.S.: In 2025, the organization sent emergency cash to 238,153 American families in just under two weeks to subsidize a potentially devastating pause in SNAP grocery benefits.
Over the past year, GiveDirectly sent more than $145 million to over 443,000 of the world’s poorest households. Unlike many aid models, the money—from philanthropists, foundations, individuals, and institutional partners—is not designated for specific purposes. Recipients decide for themselves how to use it to improve their lives.
“When you trust people with the resources that they need to make their own decisions,” says Allardice, “they use that money and those resources far more effectively than anyone else could.”