Classroom Exercise from The Life You Can Save: Feedback Sought
Academics Stand Against Poverty is exploring a collaborative partnership with The Life You Can Save, an organization focused on motivating giving to effective poverty alleviation efforts. The Life You Can Save, founded by Princeton philosopher Peter Singer, has recorded more than 17,000 individual pledges to give a certain percentage of annual income on an ongoing basis.
Here, TLYCS Director of Philanthropy Education Jon Behar talks about some of the activities the organization has developed for classroom use. We at ASAP are interested in our own members\’ assessments of these materials, and in your feedback on possibilities for ASAP and TLYCS to collaborate. Please send any feedback to ASAP Vice President Luis Cabrera at l.cabrera@griffith.edu.au
Title: Giving Students the Chance to Give
Teachers and campus groups at schools around the world have been using \”Giving Games\” to teach thousands of students about both strategic philanthropy and their own values. Â In a Giving Game, the participants learn about two or more pre-vetted charities, discuss their relative merits, and are given funds to make a real donation to their favorite organization. Â This model pushes information about highly effective charities and valuable donor resources to students, while encouraging them to reflect deeply about what they care most about.
If you\’d like to incorporate a Giving Game into your course or extracurricular activity, it\’s easy for you to do so.  Giving Games can be run in a single class period (or less), and are the choice of charities can be structured to introduce tradeoffs relevant to a variety of disciplines including philosophy, psychology, world health, and economics. Sponsorship for the donations, presentation materials, and advice on how to structure your Giving Game can be provided by The Life You Can Save. Learn more here, or email GivingGames@thelifeyoucansave.org.