Canva gives $150 million to Malawi’s poorest as Buffett ends Gates Foundation era
Canva founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht have committed another $100 million to expand direct cash transfers for Malawi’s poorest citizens, taking their total pledge to $150 million.
The funding will help GiveDirectly scale what is now the world’s largest unconditional cash transfer programme, reaching about 185,000 people while testing whether direct cash can accelerate the end of extreme poverty.
The announcement comes as global philanthropy shifts in other ways.
While Canva is expanding its giving, billionaire investor Warren Buffett has confirmed that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will receive none of his annual Berkshire Hathaway donation for the first time in nearly two decades.
Since 2021, Perkins and Obrecht have partnered with GiveDirectly to send money directly to adults living in extreme poverty in Malawi.
“We’ve spent many years learning about different solutions. The more we learned, the more complex the space became. In every village, every person has differing needs,” Perkins said.
“We wanted to find a solution that would balance our goals of having a long-term impact, empowering recipients to use the money on what was most needed for them, and having the ability to scale over the years to come.”
Why Canva backs direct cash transfers in Malawi
Rather than funding infrastructure projects or distributing food, the programme deposits money directly into recipients’ mobile money accounts with no conditions attached.
Each adult receives around $550, a sum that exceeds a year’s income for many households in rural Malawi.
What started as a $10 million pilot has grown rapidly. Canva expanded the programme to $50 million between 2021 and 2023 before adding a further $100 million anchor commitment, bringing the pledge to $150 million.
More than $52.5 million has already reached recipients, with the remaining funds scheduled for distribution over the next four years.
The programme has already delivered more than $52.5 million to recipients, with the remaining funds scheduled for distribution over the next four years.
Perkins and Obrecht say the initiative reflects Canva’s long-standing “Two-Step Plan”: build one of the world’s most valuable companies, then use that success to create the greatest possible social impact.
Early Malawi cash transfer results show poverty falling
Early findings suggest the model is producing measurable improvements.
According to GiveDirectly, the share of adults living above the poverty line in Malawi’s Khongoni sub-district more than doubled within a year of receiving the transfer.
The organisation also reported a 48% drop in child mortality, a 27% reduction in illness and a 23% increase in school enrolment in participating communities.
Recipients are also reporting lasting improvements. One beneficiary reopened a grocery shop after closing it following a robbery, allowing him to pay his children’s school fees.
Another invested in a motorbike and solar power for his family business, increasing weekly sales from fewer than 40 scones to more than 320.
Economic studies have also found that every $1,000 transferred generated roughly $2,400 in local economic activity.
Canva says the next phase will expand to Malawi’s Chiradzulu district, reaching about 185,000 people by early 2027.
The programme will run in coordination with the Malawian government and Oxford University as the largest randomised controlled trial ever conducted on unconditional cash transfers.
The findings are likely to shape how governments, charities and private donors tackle extreme poverty across Africa.
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Meanwhile: Buffett ends a historic partnership
The latest philanthropy announcement comes just a day after Warren Buffett confirmed the Gates Foundation would not receive any of his latest annual donation.
Instead, Buffett is donating nearly $6 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway shares to foundations run by members of his family.
The move ends a philanthropic partnership that channelled roughly $48 billion to the Gates Foundation over the past 19 years.
It also follows renewed attention on the wider wider fallout from the Jeffery Epstein investigation, although Buffett has said the decision is part of a long-planned transition that will see his family foundations manage his remaining charitable giving.
