Giving Game: Introduction

Background: The Life You Can Save
The Life You Can Save is delighted to announce the launch of the Tenth Anniversary edition of the book from which it has taken its name, The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer. In celebration of the impact of this influential book, The Giving Games Project invites learners and alumni of the Effective Altruism course to decide where to donate $2000 between five nonprofits, all working to improve the lives of those living in extreme poverty.

Peter Singer founded the nonprofit The Life You Can Save to encourage people to do more to help people in extreme poverty, and enable them to do the most good with whatever resources they have available. We have a proven track record of effectively engaging and inspiring participants to work towards building solutions to complex but solvable global problems.

Giving Games is a project of The Life You Can Save in which people learn through the experience of deciding where a donation will go. Although we call it a “game,” it is not a simulation – the money will really go to the nonprofit that gains the most support.

Instructions: The Giving Game
Most people are motivated by a genuine wish to do good. However, only one-third of donors do any research at all before they donate to nonprofits and only three percent investigate and compare the impact that charities have. During this Giving Game, we will highlight tools for comparing and evaluating nonprofits, and provide proven resources to guide your donation decisions.

First, we advise you start by watching the “Giving Game Introduction,” then learn more about the nonprofits: The Against Malaria Foundation (AMF), GiveDirectly, Development Media International (DMI), Project Healthy Children (PHC), and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA). We include links to each non-profit’s profile on the website of The Life You Can Save, and to the nonprofits own websites.