Teacher Content Information

What does this unit aim to do?

This unit allows students to explore the economics behind poverty by understanding economic privilege, poverty, and the ethical considerations surrounding compassionate giving. Across the lessons, students engage in activities that foster critical thinking about economic status and explore actionable solutions to poverty. Students will develop the ability to respond to economic and business issues by identifying potential costs and benefits, fostering a sense of responsibility and empathy towards global challenges.

Students will be inspired and empowered to help people build better lives by learning about the importance of using one's privileges to make a positive impact on global challenges and will be encouraged to reflect on how they can contribute to social change beyond financial donations.

Throughout the lessons, students analyse the operations of non-profits, evaluating the factors that contribute to their effectiveness. They learn to balance impact and costs, explore the dynamics of running non-profit organisations and gain insights into the diverse ways these organisations operate, generate income, and make a significant impact on a global scale. Students will be inspired to take concrete actions by evaluating their spending habits, considering effective giving, and reflecting on their potential contributions to meaningful social change.

Created with The Life You Can Save

This unit was created in collaboration with The Life You Can Save. The Life You Can Save works to eliminate poverty. They look into different non-profits that are running highly impactful programs to help reduce poverty. They figure out which programs work well to solve problems stemming from poverty and then try to tell more people about them to gain support. They also help connect people who want to donate money with these non-profits, so their donations can make a big impact. They aim to create a world where everyone has an opportunity to build a great life and where there’s no suffering or death due to extreme poverty.

This unit and others in The Life You Can Save suite of lessons aim to use authentic examples which lead to engaging discussions, ethical considerations, critical thinking [on effective giving], and practical ways to make a positive impact. Equipping students with the tools to become informed, empathetic global citizens, shaping a future where each individual's choices contribute to a world where every life matters

You can find out more about the Life You Can Save at their website. Their founder, Peter Singer, wrote the first edition of The Life You Can Save to demonstrate why we should care about and help those living in global extreme poverty, and how easy it is to improve and even save lives by giving effectively. To delve more deeply into the themes and ideas in this unit, you can access a free copy of the eBook or listen to the free audiobook narrated by Kristen Bell, Stephen Fry, Paul Simon and more on Spotify.

Unit Structure

Tune In

Students explore the concept of poverty through the analysis of global statistics and research organisations that are working to prevent poverty in the world.

Lesson 1 - What is Poverty?

Find Out

Students explore global demographics, economic disparities and the concept of privilege, leading to discussions about how to use personal advantages for positive contributions to global challenges as well as explore actionable solutions to extreme poverty and principles of effective giving.

Lesson 2 - What Causes Poverty?
Lesson 3 - The Flow-On Effects of Charitable Giving

Take Action

Students consider what it costs to run a charitable organisation effectively

Lesson 4 - Balancing Budgets and Impact

Important Lesson Information

Safety

Psychological safety:

These lessons address potentially sensitive topics such as economic privilege, poverty, and the ethics of compassionate giving. Discussion around privilege and poverty may be a sensitive topic for some students. It’s important to create an inclusive and respectful environment that acknowledges diverse perspectives and experiences related to economic status. Teachers should be mindful of potential variations in students' backgrounds. Ensure any discussions are a safe space for students to express their thoughts and feelings. Discussions around compassionate giving may lead students to reflect on their own values and actions. Teachers should approach this reflection as an opportunity for personal growth rather than imposing specific beliefs.

Content

Extension Opportunities

Get your class involved in Charity Elections!

Run by Giving What We Can, Charity Elections is a program that allows high schoolers to use basic principles of charity evaluation to choose among three high-impact non-profits, all listed with Giving What We Can (GWWC), over a week—three sessions—of discussion, reflection, research and voting. A lesson plan is laid out in a self-contained slideshow provided to your school. Once your students vote, a pot of up to $2,000 (sponsored by GWWC) flows to the charities in a proportion chosen by the school.

The experience exposes young people to underlying principles of effective altruism with the aim of expanding the global community of people who incorporate them into their decision-making, especially around giving. The program is designed to empower students as changemakers and foster a culture of giving and giving effectively.

Apply here to run the program across a set of classes or the entire school!

Additional Information

Prerequisites

This is the second lesson within the Business and Economics unit, Understanding Poverty and the Impact of Compassionate Giving. Cool recommends that you teach this lesson as a part of the 4-lesson package.

Activity/partner-specific information

These great resources from The Life You Can Save are used throughout the entire suite of units created in collaboration with The Life You Can Save.

Best Charities
- Their list of recommended non-profits features over 20 high-impact organisations people can support with confidence. This list helps people find high-impact, cost-effective non-profits so they can give with confidence and save and improve more lives.
The Shallow Pond Thought Experiment by Peter Singer, founder of The Life You Can Save
- A simple thought exercise that shows how our assumed moral priorities are not necessarily the guideposts by which we’re navigating our lives.

The Shallow Pond: Would You Save a Drowning Child? - The Life You Can Save (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu-WUHD6mKg)

Impact Calculator
- Shows the substantial variety of achievements that can be realised through giving. When used with the detailed information provided about their recommended non-profits, it can provide tangible examples of just how much good giving can do.
Charity Evaluation Framework
- An adaptive evaluation framework that is applied to non-profits working with a wide range of causes and approaches to creating impact. The framework helps The Life You Can Save identify more great non-profits that are working to reduce the burden of poverty for hundreds of millions of people and offers their supporters greater choice around how and where to give.

Further learning and reading

Charities V Non-profits

You might notice that these lessons use the word ‘non-profit’ instead of ‘charity’ in many instances. The term “charity” can carry historical connotations of a paternalistic approach, implying a one-sided act of saving others. Using the term “non-profits” aims to emphasise collaborative efforts, focusing on the establishment of healthy contexts that enable individuals to lead dignified and productive lives.

What does it mean to say ‘years of quality life’?

Non-profits, especially those trying to improve public health, need to be able to determine the impact they are having on the problems they are trying to address. One way they do this is by considering the ‘years of quality life added’ that evidence shows is due to the non-profit’s programs. Other scientists might want to measure how significantly a problem affects people. They might use the same idea to estimate the ‘years of quality life lost’ because of a disease.

A way to think about this is as if a person, let’s call them Sasha, has a favourite park nearby. They go there every day, all year long, and can keep using it once they are grown. That park, its playgrounds and fields represent living a full life.

If Sasha is sick or disabled, they cannot use the park as often or as well. Over the course of a year, they lose some of the enjoyable time there that they would have otherwise. This is sometimes called ‘years lived with disability.’ They may not feel good enough to go to the park often or may not be able to enjoy the playground equipment to the fullest. Other areas of their lives might also be limited, like pursuing a hobby or going to school. Five years of this situation might count as only three or four years of ‘quality life.’

Of course, if they die early due to a disease or malnutrition, for example, they lose many years of use of the park. The years of using the park that they might have lived otherwise would be called ‘years of healthy life lost.’

Scientists use these sorts of measurements to figure out how different diseases and health problems affect people and communities. It helps them prioritise which health issues need more attention to keep everyone as healthy and happy as possible.

What Causes Poverty?

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Summary

Lesson guides and printables

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