Overall GiG Score: 3 ?
Finance Score: 5
Governance Score: -11
Support Score: 9
  • Strong growth: +2
  • Fundraising costs low: +3
  • No conflicts policy: -1
  • Only 3 Trustees: -2
  • Very static board: -5
  • All male board: -3
  • Grant maker support: +9

GIVEDIRECTLY UK 

Overview

GiveDirectly helps families living in extreme poverty by making unconditional cash transfers to them via mobile phones. These families are primarily based in the African countries of Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda and rigorous impact assessment has confirmed that this type of intervention produces positive results. More than $300m has been donated in the past decade.

GiveDirectly was founded by a collective of students researching philanthropy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

The UK charity employs no staff and remits all donations to the US operation which historically has used them for donations to Africa.

Source: Giving is Great

Mission:

Aiding people living in poverty through unconditional cash transfers
Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

  • This charity is endorsed by respected charity impact evaluators
  • There has been strong growth in spending over the last 5 years
  • There have been no material income shortfalls in recent years
  • Fundraising costs are unusually low relative to funds raised

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

  • This charity does not have a Conflict of Interests policy
  • There are only 3 trustees
  • The Board is completely male
  • The Board composition appears to be very static
Established: 8 years

http://www.givedirectly.org

uk@givedirectly.org

00000000000

Charity Commission for England and WalesFacebookInstagramX
UN SDGs
?
How you can help

Financial Data ?

Income & Spending ?
Sources of Income ?
Y/E Income
£k
Spending
£k
Surplus/
Deficit
Fundraising
Cost £k
Total
Funds £k
Unrestricted
Funds £k
Mths
Rsrvs
Staff Volun-
teers
31/12/22£2,634£2,456£178£31£923£9234.500
31/12/21£2,953£2,739£214£24£744£7443.300
31/12/20£2,078£2,176£-98£21£530£5302.900
31/12/19£2,486£2,063£423£10£629£5903.400
31/12/18£873£810£63£10£206£2063.100
31/12/17£514£393£121£9£143£1434.400
31/12/16£56£33£23£0£0£0n/a00

Financial Ratios
Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 1.2%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 1.3%
Highest pay band: Less than £60,000
Liabilities/Assets: 0%
Liabilities/Income: 0%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: 100%
Reserves/Spending: 4.5 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 5 months
Quick Ratio: 179.8
Asset Split ?
Comment: GiveDirectly UK was founded to help UK taxpayers make donations to GiveDirectly US, either through payroll giving or enabling them to easily claim gift aid on individual donations. Before GiveDirectly UK existed, as an individual UK citizen, it was often difficult to make small donations to GiveDirectly US without a significant overhead. The total grants made by GiveDirectly UK have grown substantially higher since their founding due to substantially increased income from donations, and this trend is expected to continue moving forward.

Source: Giving is Great

What it does
  • The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty
Givedirectly UK gives financial aid to households in developing countries via mobile phone-linked payment services. It targets extremely low-income households and people affected by humanitarian crises with the aim of relieve poverty by allowing beneficiaries to choose where they invest their grant.
Who it helps
  • Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies
  • The General Public/Mankind
How it operates
  • Makes Grants to Individuals
  • Makes Grants to Organisations
Where it operates
  • Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda,

Who's supporting them? ?

Endorsed by:
  • The Life You Can Save
  • Giving What We Can

How is it governed?

Trustees (3)
Current Trustees appointed
Gender Split

Commentary:Governance comments relate to the UK branch of the charity only.
  • JOSHUA FREEDMAN (Chair) Appointed: 2014 Occupation: Senior Software Engineer at Slack
Joshua is a Co-founder of GiveDirectly UK
  • PAUL NIEHAUS Appointed: 2014 Occupation: Associate Professor at University of California San Diego
Paul is Co-founder of GiveDirectly. He is also a co-founder of Segovia, which builds enterprise technology for the management of social programming in the emerging markets. He holds an academic appointment in the Department of Economics at UC San Diego, where he works with governments in India to improve the implementation of social programming.....more
Robin is a Product Manager and Data Scientist. In the past few years he has worked in different government departments to expand the use of data science techniques and enable them to be used by more analysts.
Legal constitution
  • Charity registered in England & Wales on 29/06/2016, number: 1167938
Gift Aid
  • Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid
Policies in force
  • Complaints handling
  • Risk management
Filing Record
7 returns made; all on time
Recent reorganisation events:
  • Asset transfer in from WOOD GREEN MENNONITE CHURCH TRUST on 29/03/2022
Main office

9 Love Lane
KINGS LANGLEY
WD4 9HW

Objectives

THE OBJECT OF THE CHARITY (THE OBJECT) IS THE PREVENTION OR RELIEF OF POVERTY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD BY PROVIDING: GRANTS, ITEMS AND SERVICES TO INDIVIDUALS IN NEED AND/OR CHARITIES OR OTHER ORGANISATIONS WORKING TO PREVENT OR RELIEVE POVERTY.

Data Sources

Charity Commission for England and Wales
CharityBase

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