How We Select Our Partner Organizations

Our partners are key to lifting people out of extreme poverty. Here’s how we find the right ones and make partnerships work.

At Social Income, the right partner makes sure our support is ethical, effective, and fits the community’s needs. So how do we choose them?

The process has two phases: finding the right partner, and building the partnership.

Finding the Right Partner

Research and Alignment

Every partnership starts with research. We look for organizations that share our values, such as agency, empowerment, and inclusion, and that run programs where direct cash transfers fit into what already exists. To find them, we combine online research with conversations with people on the ground who know the local context. We want to understand:

• Who their target community or cause is

• Where their programs are currently active 

• Whether Social Income’s support would enhance their existing programs 

Initial Contact

Once we’ve identified a potential partner, the country office reaches out to introduce Social Income and expressing interest in collaboration. We usually start with a few questions to get to know them better:

• How many beneficiaries does your organization work with , and how many are over 16 years old?

• Have you initiated a cash transfer program before?

• Have you partnered with other organizations before?

The responses give us a preliminary sense of alignment and potential synergies.

Exploratory Meeting

If the first conversations go well, we meet in person. The goal is simple: get to know each other, and see whether there’s enough trust and value to work together.

We also make our approach clear from the start. No money goes to the partner organization. We support their mission by sending every payment straight to the recipients.

Afterwards, our team talks it through. Is there real alignment? Can we add something to the work this organization already does? A partnership only makes sense if both sides benefit.

We also talk openly about risks: what could go wrong, where the gaps are, and what we need to clarify before committing. Saying yes is easy. Making a partnership work for years takes an honest conversation up front.

Field Visits

If we decide to move forward, we visit the partner’s field sites to see their programs in action. Talking to communities directly shows us what people need and whether cash transfers can work there. Seeing the work firsthand is how trust gets built.

Field visits are also part of our compliance checks. We make sure the partner meets our requirements and operates ethically. Depending on how much the organization already publishes online, this usually leads to a few follow up questions.

Building the Partnership

Becoming Partners

Once we’re confident the partnership is a strong fit, our country office and the partner sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the partnership begins.

Before the first payment goes out, two things happen:

1. Building the Candidate Pool

Every recipient is drawn from a shared pool. Each partner adds its own candidates to it, covering everyone it supports in its fight against poverty, either the whole community or a specific program. Before submitting it, partners are asked to remove anyone who is under 16, isn’t living in poverty, or doesn’t need Social Income’s support.

Once the pool is set, it stays that way. Partners have three months to submit names, and after that no one new can be added. The only change allowed is removing people who have passed away. From then on, the partner can’t add anyone new, so everyone on the list from the beginning keeps a fair shot.”

2. Selecting at Random

Every draw is random, so the partner has no say in who becomes a recipient. Partners decide who goes into the pool, but chance decides who comes out. Learn more about our selection process.

How many are selected? Two numbers set the frame:

We usually start with a few recipients. Starting small gives everyone time to learn the process, agree on who does what, and adjust before the program grows.

From there, programs grow step by step: first to the guaranteed 20, then toward 100 where possible. The pace depends on local conditions, the capacity of our country office, and Social Income’s funding, which comes mostly from individual donors.

Staying Partners

Supporting recipients well takes practice, and practice takes time. That’s why we stay with our partners for years.

For up to five years, the partner’s candidates are included in our random draws, and the program can grow to a maximum of 100 recipients. After that, their candidates are no longer included, so Social Income funds no new recipients for that partner. The partner can still enroll them if it finances them itself or raises the money.

The partnership doesn’t end when growth stops. A partner stays a partner as long as at least one of its recipients is still in a program with us.

Throughout the partnership, we send partners monthly updates on their programs. Once a year, our country office brings them all together in person to review what’s working, name what isn’t, and share practical knowledge.

Current Capacity

Close support only works if the number of partners stays manageable. That’s why each country office sets its own limit and publishes its current status below: either open for new partners or at capacity. Interested organizations can see where things stand before they reach out.

Sierra Leone

Open for new partners

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Ghana

Open for new partners

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Liberia

Open for new partners