Facebook Co-Founder Hughes Backs Cash-for-Poor Charity

Chris Hughes, who co-founded Facebook and started the cause-conscious social network Jumo, has joined other prominent Silicon Valley figures in supporting GiveDirectly, which advocates making no-strings-attached cash payments to the world’s poorest people, writes Forbes.

Mr. Hughes has taken a seat on GiveDirectly’s board and last week hosted a San Francisco meeting of tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to promote the charity, which has also won backing from Google.

He told the gathering he had soured on the traditional nonprofit aid model after his experience with Jumo, which he launched in November 2010 with a goal of helping charities connect online with donors and supporters but failed to gain traction and was sold to a for-profit entity within a year.

“Instead of building hospitals, why don’t we just give poor people money? Research shows it’s effective,” Mr. Hughes said.