At some point in a disaster recovery, victims don’t need more in-kind goods or temporary lodging. They may benefit most from just plain cash to buy something specific from a reopened store (work gloves, maybe, or baby supplies), or to help pay bills, or for whatever feels like a lost necessity.

We were frustrated with the inefficiency of existing options. It simply doesn’t make sense to truck in food donations from across the country when food is readily available in local stores. We looked for options to just send money when we started GiveDirectly and there were none; when we saw something similar in Houston, we thought, ‘This should be available.'

After Hurricane Harvey, GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that gives unconditional cash transfers to poor families in the developing world, launched a new program to reapply its model domestically, in the hardest hit areas in and around Houston. The group has set up an online donation page and is working to identify the neediest families, each of which will be awarded a $1,500 prepaid debit card.

“I think our philosophy is pretty simple,” GiveDirectly cofounder Michael Faye tells Fast Company. “Recipients [in disaster zones] prefer cash and prefer making their own decisions and are often frustrated with receiving things that they don’t need.”

Read the full article on giving cash to disaster victims by Ben Paynter at FastCompany.