Increasing Wellbeing Through Compassionate Action

This unit allows students to explore how behaviours related to compassionate giving influence the health, safety, relationships, and overall wellbeing of both individuals and communities. Throughout these three lessons, students will delve into the concept of compassionate giving, considering its benefits and challenges. 

This unit was created in collaboration with The Life You Can Save. The Life You Can Save conducts research to identify nonprofits running highly impactful programs that address the multiple dimensions of poverty. They also help connect people who want to donate money and resources with these nonprofits to maximise the impact of their gifts. They aim to create a world where everyone has an opportunity to build a better life and where there’s no suffering or death due to extreme poverty.

Students will be inspired and empowered to help people to build better lives by reflecting on factors that influence how we make charitable decisions to understand how we can give to those who have no personal connection to us, considering the moral and ethical aspects of charitable giving as well as evaluating the effectiveness of non-profits to become aware of the importance of ensuring giving is informed and impactful.

This unit allows students to deepen their skills of empathy and critical thinking, emphasising the positive impact of compassionate actions on both individuals and broader communities. 

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.