March 2025
Case
HBS Case Collection

GiveDirectly: Can Direct Cash Transfers End Extreme Poverty?

By: Natalia Rigol, Benjamin N. Roth, Sarah Mehta and John Schultz

Format:Print
| Language:English
| Pages:19

Abstract

Founded in 2008, GiveDirectly was a nonprofit organization that used direct cash transfers—giving people cash via mobile money—to combat poverty worldwide. By August 2024, the organization had transferred over $800 million to poor people in targeted communities and generated evidence illustrating the impact of its giving. As the cofounders considered the organization’s future, they wondered whether direct cash transfers could eradicate extreme poverty altogether. The ambitious proposal raised several questions, including how to target and optimize transfers, how to minimize negative effects on local communities, and how best to coordinate with national governments and other nonprofits. Was this goal possible?

Keywords

Economics; Ethics; Growth and Development; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Research; Social Enterprise; Society; Africa; Asia; Latin America; North and Central America; United States

Citation

Rigol, Natalia, Benjamin N. Roth, Sarah Mehta, and John Schultz. "GiveDirectly: Can Direct Cash Transfers End Extreme Poverty?" Harvard Business School Case 825-008, March 2025.