NEWSLETTER -  DECEMBER 2021

2021 and beyond...

As 2021 comes to a close, we still find ourselves in the grips of the pandemic, reluctantly adjusting our holiday plans, and unaware of what’s in store for 2022 and beyond. I still have much to be grateful for personally and professionally in 2021, but I’m deeply saddened by the great suffering the pandemic has caused, particularly the additional people it has reduced to extreme poverty.

Despite the many challenges worldwide, 2021 has been another very good year for The Life You Can Save. Earlier this year, we made two key promotions — Rickard Vikstrom to Executive Director and Stacey Black to Deputy Director — that have worked out exceedingly well. Smooth leadership transitions are not to be taken for granted, as I know all too well from my days in business! I know I speak for our other Board members Peter, Chris and Neela when I say thank you, Rickard and Stacey, for your hard work and dedication.

As most of you know, I decided to “lean back” more into my retirement earlier this year so I could focus on my family. Spending time with my two young granddaughters has given me such great joy in a year of constant adjustments and uncertainty. But I’ve also found that my work at The Life You Can Save continues to sustain me. I still wake up early with ideas for this newsletter, or find my mind turning to our recommended charities on my regular walks. There is something so rewarding and energizing about saving and improving the lives of others who are less fortunate, and I hope that your support for The Life You Can Save has brought you a similar joy and energy amidst the chaos of the pandemic.

The other day on one of my walks, I found myself thinking about Peter Singer’s “The Girl in the Pond” thought experiment and what makes it so compelling. Here is a story that not only captures the urgency of saving lives, but also makes doing so seem completely doable. It makes most everyone who reads it immediately want to “jump in,” so to speak. And for me, it revives the concrete experience I had the one opportunity I had to intervene to save the life of someone right in front of me.

Most of us will not be called upon to save someone else’s life directly in this same way. But every day we have the opportunity to save not one but many lives with effective giving. Every year, 5 million children die of largely preventable illnesses. The problem is that saving these lives through effective giving can feel abstract, hard to visualize and does not feel the same pull as rescuing a drowning child in plain sight. The biggest challenge our Team faces now and in the future is to make this opportunity come alive for more of us.

Even though I have been immersed in the work of The Life You Can Save for nine years, I still have a hard time concretizing the impact of our work in the same way I can recall saving the life of someone in front of me. But I will also say that as I have done more research, the impact of my donations have increasingly felt less abstract. I have also become more generous.

I don’t think my experience is unique. It’s something I’ve had the pleasure of seeing happen time and again with our supporters. Don’t believe me? Take a look at Peter Singer’s suggested minimums for our annual donations and try yourself.

Thanks to our donors and the work of the Team, our growth over the past nine years has been excellent. But as I look ahead to the future of the organization, I hope we will develop ways to further scale our impact. These strategies will come from the creativity of the Team and donors who want to support their work at scale.

Peter Singer’s recent donation of $500,000 to our operational expenses, as well as Diana’s and my similar donations in the past, attest to the fact that those of us most closely involved believe that giving to The Life You Can Save itself is critical to helping us scale our impact. We firmly believe that we can increase our operating budget (primarily for staff and marketing and partnership development) well beyond the current size and still maintain our leverage. Currently, we raise $17 for our recommended charities for every dollar spent on our own operations — a great return. The more we can scale our impact, the more lives we can save, and the more we can reduce unnecessary suffering and empower livelihoods through the great nonprofits we promote!

I want to wish all of you the perseverance to stay safe and to find ways to maintain your wellbeing and that of your families and community, despite the challenges 2022 will certainly bring. Of course, I hope that donating to help people living in extreme poverty is one of the strategies you use to energize yourself and feel like you are contributing as a good global citizen.

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