I occasionally listen to the podcast econtalk. not often tho, because it's pretty academic so I often don't know what theories they're referring to. but I did listen to one recently about givedirectly.org. the podcast interviewed the two guys who started givedirecly, and why they did it, what they've accomplished, and what they're trying to accomplish still.
givedirectly is really interesting because it's like privately funded UBI in other countries where the impact is greater. giving an american $500 to spend on whatever they want doesn't get them very much: food for the month, school supplies, a car payment, but certainly not rent. give a non-urban area dwelling kenyan $500 and they can send multiple kids to school for a year, or start a whole business, or build a small house.
it's similar to kiva, in that way, sort of. encouraging the idea that smaller amounts money pooled from donors in wealthy countries can create an outsize impact on poorer areas. but better than kiva, is that it's free money, AND they don't have to justify a damn thing.
as someone who works in non-profit, i love donations. but i LOVE unrestricted donations. even better? large unsolicited unrestricted donations! that's what this is. the givedirectly people go from town to town asking people if they want free money. sometimes people say no (because it sounds too good to be true!). often times they say yes. eventually they get the money deposited to a digital wallet, which they withdraw from, and spend it on whatever they want. the givedirectly people follow up about what they spent on, and such, for research and accountability purposes, but there's not supposed to be judgement. because, well, people know their own needs best.
I think I'll be donating to kiva whatever balance I get back from them, since it's a micro-lending org. and instead give to give directly more often because it better aligns with my values. I never really cared to get the kiva money back anyway.
