Delivering unconditional cash directly to the world's poorest households via secure mobile transfers. 

Since 2009, GiveDirectly has delivered more than $580 million in unconditional cash transfers to families in need. These one-time cash transfers allow recipients to invest in what they need most and have been shown to improve their earnings, children’s school attendance, health, nutrition, and mental well-being.
 
GiveDirectly uses government data to target villages where most or all residents are living in extreme poverty, defined by the World Bank as earning under $2.15/day. In-country GiveDirectly staff enroll one member of each household in the entire village to receive a one-time transfer of about $1,000 USD sent in two installments using mobile money. Recipients can then withdraw the mobile funds as cash with local agents and use the funds to invest in what they need – whether it’s on starting a business, education, making their home safer/sturdier, healthcare, or livestock.
 
GiveDirectly uses rigorous experimental research (randomized controlled trials) to measure the impact of their unconditional cash programs and answer public policy questions, generating evidence on key design and implementation questions across varied contexts. You can find over 300 studies on the positive impacts of cash transfers in GiveDirectly’s Cash Research Explorer.

GiveDirectly

We are devoted to abolishing immigration detention, while ending the isolation of people currently suffering in this system.

Freedom for Immigrants is a national nonprofit devoted to abolishing immigration detention through two main strategies, while ending the isolation of people currently suffering in this profit¬-driven system. First, we mobilize a network of 4,500 watchdog community members that uncovers and tracks abuses experienced by those in immigration detention, shedding light in a consistent manner for the first time on this hidden system. Second, we are modeling a community-based alternative to detention that welcomes immigrants into the social fabric of the United States. Through these windows into the system, we gather data and stories to combat injustice at the individual level and push systemic change.

Freedom for Immigrants

Supporting highly-impactful, evidence-based solutions to the triple challenge of climate change, air pollution and energy poverty.

The Founders Pledge Climate Change Fund exists to leverage each dollar and fund the most effective, neglected climate solutions.
 
Climate change is an incredibly complex problem borne out of how we produce and consume energy; it's intertwined with challenges of economic development, energy poverty, and emissions-fueled air pollution. It is an environmental and humanitarian crisis we must urgently address. 

We aim to take a holistic approach that recognizes the global nature of this challenge and the fact that, despite its urgency, we are still in the early days of climate action. We address the worst-case scenarios of climate damage, and look for solutions that can reduce current carbon emissions and accelerate the transition to clean energy to meet global demand, especially in developing countries. Through the Fund, we:

- Accelerate innovation in neglected technologies
- Catalytically grow the most effective climate organizations
- Promote policy leadership and paradigm shaping

### Our Approach to Grantmaking
When evaluating potential grants, we consider several key points:

- **Counterfactual impact.** Our grants are designed to create a meaningful outcome that would not otherwise have happened. This means that you can rely on the Funds to create meaningful, real change, rather than just maintaining the status quo.
- **Impact-driven philanthropy.** This fund prioritizes the highest-impact solutions to challenges. We assess where the gaps are, which opportunities may be neglected by other funders, and where the biggest wins are in terms of making the biggest difference.
- **The organization’s funding gap.** Not all organizations are set up to scale up their programming and many can’t productively absorb large amounts of unsolicited funding. We evaluate all potential grantees’ capacity for growth and consider how much money they could put to good use.
- **Organizational strength.** Particularly with unrestricted funding, it’s important to have trust in the leadership and capacity of the organizations we support. We look at their track record of success and their transparency about failures as well as successes, and we only support those organizations which are exceptionally well run.
- **Time-critical opportunities and funding certainty.** While Founders Pledge members give to our top climate charities regularly, sometimes there are time-critical opportunities which require fast decisions. We will use the Fund to make grants that enable such short-term opportunities and stability for high-impact funding opportunities thereby increasing the impact compared to individual giving to specific organizations.
- **Portfolio approach.** Because most climate damage comes from particular severe outcomes – with a world of 4 degrees of warming being much worse than twice as bad as a world with 2 degrees – and because every particular strategy – such as energy innovation – might underdeliver, we pursue a portfolio approach to maximize positive impact. This means we will diversify our bets in ways that, when one approach fails (such as energy innovation), the others we promote (such as carbon removal) can be expected to be particularly important and still available.

### Frequently-Asked Questions

**Can charities apply for money from the Fund?**
The Funds do not generally accept applications from charities, and we request that charities do not send unsolicited applications for funding. If the Fund Managers choose to open up an application round, this will be publicized. 

**How frequently will you make grants from the Fund?**
In general, Fund Managers will review grantmaking decisions on a quarterly basis. Decisions will be made based on the value of Funds and the available options for high-impact grantmaking. We may disburse funds outside of quarterly review dates if we become aware of a particularly promising and time-sensitive funding.

**How will my contribution be used?**
All funds are granted out. The Fund is not an investment vehicle. The Fund does not use any percentage of contributions to cover staff time or other overhead costs. Every dollar contributed to the Fund will be used to make grants directly to end-user organizations creating a real difference.

### More Questions?

To learn more about the Founders Pledge Climate Change Fund, please visit [founderspledge.com](https://founderspledge.com/funds/climate-change-fund) or email the Fund Managers at [funds@founderspledge.com](mailto:funds@founderspledge.com).

Founders Pledge: Climate Change Fund

Legal advocacy nonprofit dedicated to the civil rights of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI).

Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta’s mission is to protect and promote the civil rights of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in Georgia and the Southeast through policy advocacy, legal services, civic engagement, and leadership development. Our vision is a social movement where individuals are fully empowered, active in civic life, and working together to promote equity and fair treatment for all.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta

We're working every day to reinvent charity while bringing clean drinking water to the 771 million people living without. Join us.

charity: water is a non-profit bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 

Since we began in 2006, we've funded more than 121,314 water projects in 29 countries. When complete, these projects will provide clean, safe drinking water for more than 16.9 million people.

Nearly 771 million people in our world don’t have access to clean drinking water. Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of diseases and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.

The good news: there are simple solutions, from deep drilled wells to water filtration systems. And with the help of 1,000,000+ donors and individual fundraisers, we're forming a strong force against the water crisis.

charity: water

Works to exonerate innocent people through DNA testing and reform the criminal justice system to prevent injustice.

The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University to assist prisoners who could be proven innocent through DNA testing. More than 350 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing, including 38 who pleaded guilty to crimes they did not commit and 20 who served time on death row. The Innocence Project provided direct representation or critical assistance in more than 200 exonerations.   The Innocence Project’s full-time staff attorneys and Cardozo clinic students provide direct representation or critical assistance in most of these cases. The Innocence Project’s groundbreaking use of DNA technology to free innocent people has provided irrefutable proof that wrongful convictions are not isolated or rare events but instead arise from systemic defects. Now an independent nonprofit organization closely affiliated with Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the Innocence Project’s mission is nothing less than to free the staggering numbers of innocent people who remain incarcerated and to bring substantive reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment.  With the generous support of individuals like you the Innocence Project has exonerated scores of innocent people and worked around the country to reform our criminal justice system. With the generous support of individuals like you the Innocence Project has exonerated scores of innocent people and worked around the country to reform our criminal justice system.

Innocence Project

The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan organization whose sole purpose is to end homelessness in the US.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization whose sole purpose is to end homelessness in the United States. We use research and data to find solutions to homelessness; we work with federal and local partners to create a solid base of policy and resources that support those solutions; and then we help communities implement them.

Our strength is that we are an outcome-driven organization. Starting with our name and continuing with how we choose the work we do, allocate staff time, and use our resources, we focus on one thing: ending homelessness.

National Alliance to End Homelessness

We share our knowledge, hopeful that one day it will cease to be needed. 

Our mission is to offer scientifically-informed programs based in trauma-informed Mindful Awareness and Social-Emotional Learning which equitably support children, educators and communities with tools to manage stress and navigate life’s challenges.
As our world continues to suffer from man-made systemic struggles like poverty, inequality, racism, violence, isolation, and ACES, Adverse Childhood Experiences, the need for increased access mindfulness skills becomes even more profound. Scientific studies, experts like Ellen Langer, as well as our own professional experiences, demonstrate that when we address the issues that stem from our most basic instincts - fear and stress, the pervasive problems we see in humans are impacted for the better.

Mindfulness First

A hot plate of food when it’s needed most. For people fighting or fleeing disasters, we are here. 

Ten years ago, my wife Patricia and I had a big dream to start World Central Kitchen. We envisioned an organization that would create smart solutions to hunger and poverty, and for many years we saw an amazing impact through our clean cookstoves initiative, culinary training programs, and social enterprise ventures that empower communities and strengthen economies. But we had no idea we would one day be answering the call in Puerto Rico and around the world – “Food First Responders” serving millions of meals each year. In the process, we learned that a small NGO can change the world through the power of food.

Last year, WCK activated in response to dozens of disasters — some of them natural, and some man-made. From serving children in the shelters on our border with Mexico to making deliveries by lamplight to those keeping watch over beaches in Indonesia, our fight to feed the hungry has taken us to more places than we ever expected.

At the same time, WCK continues planting roots in the communities where we work. Our Plow to Plate program is helping to create food resiliency in the face of future disasters. In Haiti, aspiring chefs are obtaining the skills and confidence they need to elevate their careers and the country’s tourism sector.

With your help, we have shown that there is no place too far or disaster too great for our chefs to be there with a hot plate of food when it’s needed most.

I hope you’ll dream with us as we envision a world where there is always a warm meal, an encouraging word, and a helping hand in hard times. Thank you for taking this journey with us.

Join me in fulfilling the inspiring words of John Steinbeck: Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people may eat, we will be there.

We must be there.
- Jose Andres, founder

World Central Kitchen

Founders Pledge is a global nonprofit empowering entrepreneurs to do the most good possible with their charitable giving. 

We equip members with everything needed to maximize their impact, from evidence-led research and advice on the world’s most pressing problems, to comprehensive infrastructure for global grant-making, alongside opportunities to learn and connect. We’re grateful to be funded by our members and other generous donors. 

Founders Pledge

GEtbxbwooXQnIe2md2dfkO0cqTQuegbAt74YHjHuS7Y=

K42v2rPnyXTvEMlOPwVL8Cac/MSSUeXlt4aqkWPQoso=

L2J7ERPDqXyDj3E+RnwVUpRI4sraISk/0HbPwNe3PCc=

ipacWjgvkUpq55wyZUwsN4Qjjl7hLlH+eEjYOaQHYFw=

HMbe47+AneGCvW/Xo3JKBD0CoNn+J5g7nYakke86o7I=

Xzooxu7EFYOfep+MPJko33CDGhIpi48EHFdc8PC0QKQ=

founder @ camp.org, expa.com, uber.com & mix.com

I give because I like any thing that would help change the 🌎 and help change other peoples lives 

Engineering @ Every.org. I believe we can all do good together.

I believe in gratitude+action and that together we can build a better world. Have the best job as Cofounder at Every.org :)

Designer at every.org. Passionate about animals and nature. Taking action so our children can inherit a better world 💚

Direct cash payments seem to be the most effective way to actually affect change.  I love that give directly is pioneering this approach and hope to see more of it!

An amazing organization helping immigrants and detainees being held in Detention Centers across the US. From visiting, helping them get proper paperwork for their asylum hearing, matching them with proper legal help and aiding them after their release. Another personal one for me - been volunteering and have supported the release of several women from Cameroon from Adelanto Detention Center in California. 

50,000+ immigrant children and adults are being detained, many with no path to being released. Some have been kept for 9+ years.

Freedom for Immigrants fights for and supports these unfortunate souls.

Climate Change Fund uses scientific and evidence based methodology to tackle real problems.
We only have one planet, let's do what we can to protect it.

I really want our Earth to live on for a long time. And so I can say that I had a very good environment when I was young. 

Nobody should have to live their life in fear of being assaulted or worse, just because of their race or gender.

The recent acts of violence against Asians has deeply saddened me, not just as an Asian-American myself, but as a human being.

We need to support organizations trying to make a difference, however we can.

These recent acts of anti-asian violence are just part of an unavoidable truth that stretches back to this country's founding. Yes, we must do our work to be anti-racist, but our responsibility to fix this goes beyond our own actions. We must support the organizations that are working to change the deeply structural racism of our society and are supporting those most at risk.

We use clean water for everything. Drinking, washing, cleaning, cooking, and even recreation.

Billions (with a B!) of people around the world go daily without any clean water. Help save lives by donating.

I can't imagine how hard it must be to live without access to safe drinking water and charity: water is helping relieve that

Innocence project minimizes wrongful convictions through DNA testing, giving people a second chance at life.

The criminal justice system is broken. The Innocence Project showed that a large fraction of people confess to crimes they did NOT commit, partly because of this. I support any efforts to right the wrongs of the broken system. Justice for the wrongly incarcerated!

A non-partisan organization that gathers, consolidates, and presents data about homelessness to encourage action and policy change.

Although they try to remain objective, the picture they paint is grim. We need to help.

Mental health should be as transparent as physical health.

Mindfulness First provides programs that teach kids mindfulness and awareness, so that they're aware from an early age.

WCK has provided millions of meals. Whether they're for people going through a disaster, frontline workers trying to help, or humans who have been displaced.

Food is a basic human need that no one should ever have to worry about.