Hello from OpenResearch!
We’re the research partner for the RISE Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) program. As RISE GMI begins in your community, we wanted to introduce ourselves, share what our role is, and explain how the research fits alongside the program GiveDirectly is running.
What Is the RISE GMI Program?
The RISE GMI program is aimed at empowering residents in rural communities. The program provides no-strings-attached cash payments of $1,500 per month for 16 months to eligible county residents who are randomly selected to participate. Random selection means every eligible applicant had an equal chance of being chosen. The program is located in three counties: Mercer County, WV; Beaufort County, NC; and Warren County, MS.
RISE is administered by GiveDirectly. They manage all program operations, including payments, benefits counseling, enrollment, and the monthly payment surveys that recipients complete to receive their monthly transfer.
What Is OpenResearch?
OpenResearch is an independent, nonprofit research organization. We are partnering with recipients and communities to better understand what helps build lasting stability and opportunity and how we can improve programs like this one. We do not run the RISE GMI program or manage payments. Instead, our role is to listen and learn directly from recipients and communities about their experiences with the program.
We partner with recipients to understand:
What helps build lasting stability and opportunity
What challenges get in the way
How cash and other supports shape daily life
What programs like RISE mean for individuals, families, and communities
We learn through optional research surveys, interviews, and spending time in the community.
What happens if I don't participate in the research?
Nothing changes. The research is completely separate from RISE monthly payments.
Your RISE payments continue exactly as scheduled
No one will follow up or ask why
There are no penalties or consequences
What Does the Research Involve?
RISE recipients who choose to take part in the research may be invited to paid research activities like surveys and interviews. We pay because we're asking for your time.
Research Surveys
Over about sixteen months, recipients are invited to complete eight surveys covering topics like well-being, finances, health, work, goals, and daily life. These surveys are completely optional, private, and paid. Participation in the research does not affect anyone’s RISE payments. Taking part is always a choice. Any question can be skipped, and the survey can be stopped at any time.
These research surveys are separate from GiveDirectly’s required monthly payment surveys.
Optional Interviews
Some recipients may also be invited to longer, conversational interviews. Research interviews are also completely optional, private, and paid.
Together, these research surveys and interviews help us understand how life is changing during RISE directly from recipients’ perspective.
Meet Our Team in Your Community
A member of our research team, Amber Churchwell, will be staying regularly in each of the RISE communities throughout the program to listen, learn, and connect with residents. You might see her at local restaurants, libraries, or community events. Amber is learning about community life in general, not gathering information about specific people. Please feel free to say hello, ask questions, or share anything you think we should know. She's here to understand what life is like in the community, listen to people's stories, and help us learn things we might otherwise miss. Talking with her is casual and completely optional. Say hello if you want to, or don't. There's no pressure or expectation either way.
How to Stay Involved
As surveys and interviews begin, our team will start reviewing early themes across recipients’ experiences. When we see patterns, we’ll share them back with the community to make sure we’re understanding things correctly.
We'll also send periodic updates through newsletters like this one so you can follow along with what we're learning together. What we share will be about community-wide patterns, never about specific individuals. Survey answers and interview conversations always stay private.
If you have ideas about what you’d like us to share, questions you want answered, or thoughts on how research updates could be most useful to your community, we’d love to hear from you. Your voice is essential to this work.
