Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is an American non-profit research and policy organization founded in 2002 by economist Dean Karlan that discovers and advances what works to improve the lives of people living in poverty. IPA brings together researchers and decision-makers to design, rigorously evaluate, and refine solutions and their applications, ensuring that evidence created is used to improve the lives of the world's poor. The organization conducts randomized controlled trials (RCTs) along with other quantitative research methods to measure the impacts of development programs across sectors including microfinance, education, health, peace and recovery, governance, agriculture, social protection, and small and medium enterprises.
Since its foundation, IPA has worked with over 400 academics to conduct over 900 evaluations in 52 countries, headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut with offices in New York, Washington D.C., and throughout Africa, Asia, and South America. IPA-generated evidence is improving the lives of more than 300 million people affected by poverty worldwide through access to improved social safety nets, cash transfers, free health products, and more, with support from major funding sources including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Omidyar Network, and others.