Our Mission
To empower donors by connecting them directly to the efforts of churches and faith-based organizations to enact local solutions to prevent human trafficking, strengthen communities, and protect and care for vulnerable children.
How We Are Different
A new kind of cash transfer
First, like other crowd-funded approaches we provide a tool to give directly to the neediest global communities. However, we do not give cash to random individuals, who may or may not use these funds wisely, but to those who have organized together for the collective well-being of their community.
Embracing faith-based approaches
Second, we embrace faith-based approaches. The development literature is clear that local churches by truly addressing the whole person has resulted in dramatic results for the chronically or intergenerationally poor. Churches do the practical work of addressing social marginalization, economic disadvantage, and political disenfranchisement but also address mindsets, values, and spiritual well-being. The embrace of a local church provides a clear pathway to transformation to those in most need.
Training and support
Finally, local community organizations and churches are supported with training, certification, and ongoing consultancy by experts who assist these groups at landing on solutions that are supported by research and best practice evidence.
Approach
What We Believe:
- The best solutions are locally imagined and asset-based.
- Giving directly to community-based efforts is more efficient and provides a higher level of donor clarity and project accountability.
- The power to prioritize and creatively address community needs should be given to the most immediate contributors.
- Best practice agencies should serve local approaches to maximize outcomes.
What We Do:
- Invite community-based groups to post their projects on our site in three categories:
- Family and community strengthening.
- Alternative family care for children who have lost biological and extended family support.
- Prevention, intervention, shelter, and restoration for young girls and ladies at risk of trafficking and systematic abuse.
- Project verification and promotion through our crowdfunding platform.
- Process contributions directly to projects.
Financial Information
90% of all funds received go directly to projects, while 7.5% is used for the certification, verification, and training processes that ensure Direct Good projects are legitimate, financially sustainable, and effective. We want to ensure that donations are given to projects that make a significant impact and show promise of long-term success. 2.5% is used for bank fees and processing financial transactions to projects.
Development Redefined
We recognize that development is never effective when solutions are coming from the outside. Local knowledge and resources will always be more sustainable in the long run, so that's why Direct Good supports individuals and groups who are making a difference in their own communities. So why are we more effective than traditional non-profits?
SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE
In one rural area of Nepal, girls were previously subject to shame and punishment in their schools when their teachers called them to the front of their classrooms and placed their hands in the pockets of their school uniforms, right above the chest. A group of students gathered together and asked, how do we solve this problem? They created a petition to remove the pockets from school uniforms and talked to students from their school about why it was a problem. The petition was successful, and today there are no pockets on the uniforms.
These children knew exactly what the problem was and how to solve it. So much of why "development" has failed is because most of the solutions that have been created for communities around the world originated apart from the people who were receiving that aid. There is a growing trend today around "listening to the poor", but there is still a degree of separation when a foreigner creates and guides those solutions, however much they had listened to and interacted with the poor in a particular community. We should not only listen, but also transfer the ownership of creating, building, and operating development solutions. In this way, solutions are both locally imagined and sustained on a local level.
ASSET-BASED
Individuals within their own communities are better equipped to both recognize their needs and understand the assets and resources owned by that community. Instead of focusing on needs-based development, where solutions are created just by focusing on the needs of a community, Direct Good promotes asset-based development where we first determine the assets of a community and then support individuals and groups in mobilizing those resources. This could be something as simple as picking up a piece of paper and a pencil and walking around to fellow students asking if they think abuse against girls in their school should end.