Humanly · The home of B-Givers
From generous giving to accountable impact.
Humanly is the agency responsible for B-Givers worldwide — the certification standard that asks foundations, endowments and grantmakers whether their own decisions, systems and conduct are effective and safe.
Effective Giver
Effective grantmaking across five principles, plus all six baseline safeguarding gates met.
Safe Giver
Every Effective Giver condition, plus ten enhanced safeguarding requirements.
The questions spending reports don't answer
A foundation gave 10 million. Did it succeed?
An illustrative case. Most reports tell a board the money was fully spent. That answers only the first of three questions.
How much was delivered?
This is what most reports tell us: activities completed and funds disbursed.
What changed in people's lives?
This needs evidence of results — not a list of activities.
Did the giving arrive safely and with dignity?
This is what makes responsibility complete. B-Givers examines all three.
The gap B-Givers closes
If we assess the implementer… who assesses the giver?
For years, organisations that receive funding have been audited, assessed and certified. The institutions that fund them have rarely been examined against a published standard of their own.
Yet giving begins long before a service reaches a person. A board chooses priorities, a programme team defines eligibility, finance sets the release schedule and a grants officer decides what evidence a partner must supply. Those choices shape who can take part, what local institutions can lead and whether protection is resourced when it is needed.
Routinely examined
Accounts, procurement, results and policies are checked again and again.
Rarely examined
Priorities, payment timing, conditions and the effects of its decisions.
Five principles
Built on the Paris Declaration, adapted for everyday giving.
B-Givers doesn't rewrite the Paris principles. It turns them into questions a giver's real decisions can be tested against.
Ownership
Communities and local institutions influence the priorities.
Alignment
Funding supports existing plans and local systems wherever possible.
Harmonisation
Coordination between givers reduces duplication and burden.
Managing for results
Decisions rest on evidenced change, not activity counts.
Mutual accountability
Giver and partner both answer for their commitments.
Pride in giving starts with generosity.
It is completed by impact that can be proven and protection that can be verified.
Humanly / The Standard
The B-Givers Standard
Principles you can test against real decisions.
Five principles explain what a giver should improve. Seven processes show where those decisions are made. Two scores show whether a practice is both well-aligned and well-executed.
Who it's for
Two delivery types. Neither is a lower level.
Delivers through its own people
Designs, funds, manages and delivers through its own personnel and supervised arrangements. Assessed against 30 effectiveness requirements.
Funds others to deliver
Funds and supports organisations that manage implementation. Assessed on its own funding design, selection, conditions, payment, support and oversight — 32 requirements.
Institutions with mixed delivery are assessed separately for each type. The two profiles are never averaged, and strength in one cannot compensate for a gap in the other.
The seven giving processes
Where the decisions happen.
Use the processes to find the evidence — not as seven separate compliance exercises.
Scoring
Two scores for every requirement.
Paris Alignment Score
How well a demonstrated decision or practice reflects its Paris principle. A principle cited in a policy does not establish that it was applied.
Operational Performance Score
How well the required practice is actually implemented. A smoothly run process can still be poorly aligned with local priorities.
Not evident
Not demonstrated by reliable evidence after a reasonable opportunity.
Initial
Referenced, but informal, partial, recent or inconsistent.
Established
Documented, assigned and applied, with reliable evidence of application.
Mature
Measured, reviewed and improved with local stakeholders; evidence of effectiveness.
Every applicable requirement must reach 2 on both PAS and OPS. A high average cannot hide a single unmet requirement.
What we examine
The real experience of people — not the institution's paperwork alone.
"We distributed 1,000 learning kits."
This proves an output. It doesn't prove learning quality or safe access.
"Did the children learn? Did they take part safely?"
This tests real change, the quality of delivery and the dignity of the people served.
Humanly / Two Levels
B-Givers certification levels
Two cumulative levels — not two separate certificates.
A Safe Giver meets every Effective Giver condition and then proves enhanced protection. Either level is available to Direct Givers and to Givers through Implementing Partners.
Effective Giver
Grantmaking effectiveness plus baseline safeguarding.
- Every applicable effectiveness requirement reaches PAS ≥ 2 and OPS ≥ 2 — 30 for direct delivery, 32 for partner delivery
- All six baseline safeguarding gates (B1–B6) Met, each backed by evidence
- No unresolved critical finding or major nonconformity within the scope
- Awarded for a defined scope, on reliable evidence, after independent review
Safe Giver
All Effective Giver conditions plus enhanced safeguarding.
- Everything required for Effective Giver
- Ten enhanced safeguarding requirements (SG01–SG10), reviewed across 30 mandatory components
- Every applicable component scores 2 or above — not an overall average
- Governance, prevention, response and continuous strengthening all evidenced
Improvement is cumulative — never compensatory. No strength elsewhere makes up for a required protection that is missing.
Which level fits?
A quick orientation.
Answer three questions to see the requirement set and level that would likely apply. This is a guide, not an assessment.
The formal scope — entity, delivery type, activities, locations and evidence period — is agreed with your assessor before any evidence is sampled.
Humanly / Safeguarding
Safe giving
Good results never justify weak protection.
Safeguarding is not a sixth principle and is never averaged into an effectiveness score. It carries its own judgments: six baseline gates at both levels, and ten enhanced requirements for Safe Giver.
Both levels · B1–B6
Six baseline gates.
Each gate is judged Met, Not Met or Hold. None can be excluded, and none can be averaged. Not Met or Hold blocks a positive recommendation.
Leadership responsibility and conduct
A named senior owner and an operational contact with a safe alternate. Binding conduct rules are communicated, and leaders act on material concerns.
A signed policy alone is not enough.
Material safeguarding risks controlled
Risks to children and adults from activities, decisions and delivery arrangements are identified and controlled before exposure, then reviewed as circumstances change.
Recording a risk as accepted does not demonstrate protection.
Prepared personnel and an accountable delivery chain
Proportionate recruitment checks, induction before unsupervised work, and supervision. Partner, contractor and downstream responsibilities are mapped and verified.
Preparation follows the role — a driver, volunteer or moderator each differ.
Accessible reporting and protection against retaliation
Safe, accessible routes for affected people and personnel — including one that bypasses an implicated manager or partner — in suitable languages and formats.
Zero reports is not proof that reporting works.
Safe response and referral capability
Safe receipt and triage, immediate safety assessment, support or referral, and competent case handling. Support never depends on proving an allegation.
A list of organisations copied from the internet is not a referral pathway.
Protected information and ethical communications
Personal and case information is protected, and images, stories and data are gathered and used with meaningful consent and respect for dignity.
A photograph, visit or feedback channel can itself expose people to harm.
Safe Giver · SG01–SG10
Ten enhanced requirements.
Each requirement has three mandatory components, scored 0–3. Every applicable component must reach 2. The weakest component sets the requirement — there is no overall percentage.
Sources
Grounded in recognised safeguarding practice.
IASC Six Core Principles
The foundations of conduct on sexual exploitation and abuse.
Keeping Children Safe
International Child Safeguarding Standards.
Survivor-centred practice
UNICEF PSEA guidance and the survivor-centred approach promoted by the IFRC.
B-Givers converts these sources into its own assessable requirements for givers. References identify intellectual sources and do not imply endorsement by those organisations.
Humanly / Certification
The certification journey
Independent assessment proves practice within a defined scope.
Each level carries its own validity, with continued review whenever risks or scope change.
Self-assessment
Map your delivery, choose a level and test your own practice.
Evidence & verification
Decisions are followed through to implementation and people's experience.
Correction & improvement
Findings lead to action on exposure and underlying causes.
Independent review
A Certification Expert recommends; an independent authority reviews.
Decision & scope
A certificate for a defined entity, type, level, activities and locations.
Validity
Certified — and kept under review.
Monitoring during validity is essential. A material change or the failure of a core control may trigger re-examination.
Material changes can include a new delivery type, substantial expansion, a change to central reporting or data systems, or a serious control failure. Public status always distinguishes active, suspended and withdrawn claims.
Why it's worth it
What the board, the institution and the people served gain.
Trust you can explain
Proof that funding decisions rest on reasoning and evidence.
Higher-quality impact
A shift from counting activities to tracking results and learning.
Fairer partnerships
Clearer conditions, reports and funding — with less burden wherever possible.
Protection that works
Procedures that function in practice, not only written policy.
Earned institutional pride
Leading a professional standard that raises the quality of giving and strengthens reputation.
The real value isn't the logo.
It is clarity of decisions and improvement that can be proven.
Accurate claims
How a certified giver describes its award.
Illustrative format. Safe Giver includes Effective Giver. Claims must not imply that all partners, activities or outcomes were certified when the scope does not support it. Confirm approved wording with Humanly before publishing.
Start with self-assessment.
Know your gaps, improve your practice, then move to independent assessment.
Humanly / Certification Experts
B-Givers Certification Experts
The scheme is only as credible as its assessors.
Humanly trains and calibrates the Certification Experts who assess givers against the B-Givers Standard.
The training
Twelve hours over two days.
Day one
Navigating the Standard: delivery types, levels, the five principles and seven processes, PAS and OPS scoring.
Day two
Examining evidence safely: baseline gates, enhanced requirements, worked cases and reasoned recommendations.
Completing the course does not by itself authorise anyone to assess.
What every Expert commits to.
Apply the Standard as written
Score against the exact controlled wording and its qualifiers, recording evidence and reasoning in the Assessment Workbook.
Stay independent and competent
Declare conflicts, decline work they can't assess impartially and seek specialist support where needed.
Judge on reliable evidence
Test practice, not policy alone. Triangulate documents, records, interviews and observation; score PAS and OPS separately.
Protect people throughout
Keep participation voluntary and safe, protect confidential information and refer any disclosure — never investigate it.
Recommend, don't decide
Present a reasoned recommendation with its limitations. Decisions rest with an independent authority.
Keep learning
Take part in calibration with other assessors and maintain competence as the Standard develops.
The reference handbook
The Effective Giver, The Safe Giver.
The B-Givers Certification Experts Reference Handbook explains every requirement with difficult decisions, evidence examples, complete fictional assessments and adaptable tools.
Written for governing bodies, leaders, programme and grant teams, finance and operations staff, safeguarding specialists, partners and Certification Experts. Reference Edition, October 2026.
B-Givers Reference Handbook
The Effective Giver,
The Safe Giver
The B-Givers Certification Experts Reference Handbook
Humanly / About
About Humanly
The agency behind B-Givers, worldwide.
Humanly is responsible for the B-Givers Standard globally: maintaining it, training Certification Experts, guiding givers through assessment and keeping the scheme credible and independent.
The Standard
Maintain the controlled B-Givers Standard, the Assessment Workbook and the reference handbook as one matching set.
The assessors
Prepare, calibrate and support B-Givers Certification Experts around the world.
The givers
Help foundations, endowments and grantmakers prepare, improve and pursue certification.
A history of standards
The world asked about aid quality long before B-Givers.
It wasn't one standard's journey, but a gradual rise in what everyone expects — first of effectiveness, then of safety, and now of givers themselves.
OECD evaluation criteria
Standards for evaluating development results.
IASC Six Core Principles
Core principles for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse.
Good Humanitarian Donorship
An initiative on how humanitarian donors should behave.
UN Secretary-General's Bulletin
Special measures to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse.
Paris Declaration
Five principles that changed the language of aid. A February 2005 regional workshop in Jeddah fed into its early drafts.
Accra Agenda and Busan Partnership
Wider ownership and participation, then multi-stakeholder results, transparency and accountability.
Core Humanitarian Standard
Shared commitments to quality and accountability, updated in 2024 with 4,000+ contributors from 90+ countries.
The Grand Bargain
Grant efficiency, harmonised reporting, predictable funding and a stronger local role.
B-Givers begins in the United Kingdom
Independent assessments of giving institutions' practices.
London Safeguarding Summit and OECD DAC Recommendation
Shared commitments from 22 donors, then clearer expectations for prevention and response.
Broad adoption
Humanitarian organisations adopt the standards and apply safeguarding standards across the board.
The B-Givers name and a full review
A clear identity focused on givers' effectiveness and responsibility, and a comprehensive review applying responsible-giving and safeguarding standards, including staff and board training.
Humanly
The agency responsible for B-Givers worldwide.
Not a call to follow a foreign standard — a call to help lead one.
A standard that raises the quality of giving everywhere, shaped by the givers who hold themselves to it.
Humanly / Contact
Get assessed
Begin your B-Givers journey.
Tell us about your institution and the level you're considering. We'll help you define your scope and start with self-assessment.