More to Give

Hi everyone, Amy here.

Coming into 2025, we knew that we needed to double down. As a solutions-oriented news publication, we're interested in what's going right in the world, but that also means we're keenly aware of how much is going wrong.

In the last few months we've felt a shift; one that has less to do with our reporting and more about our duty of care. We’re at the point where it feels like our brand of journalism doesn't just require better coverage — it demands action. Our work feels incomplete unless we take responsibility for directing more resources to support people who are driving the kinds of solutions we highlight here each week.

Until now, the way we’ve done this is by donating a third of our subscription fees to small, grassroots organisations using innovative solutions to solve societal challenges. Since 2019, we’ve partnered with almost 60 of these organisations in over 30 countries, with an average donation of $5,000 USD. These partnerships, although not always front-and-centre in our journalism, are core to our identity as an organisation.

Now we think it's time for us to do more; not just by expanding what we give but rethinking how we give.

Thanks to years of hard work by social movements around the world, global philanthropy is undergoing a transition. There’s a growing trend to democratise and diversify giving. Many organisations are making genuine moves to transform the unequal power dynamic of traditional charity models, by changing how they fund, who they fund and the language they use.

Last year, we had a lightbulb moment during a podcast conversation with Sigrid van Aken, the CEO of the Postcode Lottery Group. As one of the largest philanthropic donors in the world, their model of trust-based philanthropy gives recipients complete freedom to choose how they use the funds. It sounds obvious - the best people to decide where the money should be funnelled are those on the ground who are already making it happen.

Another rock got added to the pile when we published our Annual Giving Update in May last year. One of the reasons our donations are set up as an automatic part of the sign-on process for premium members is because we've always felt uncomfortable asking people for more than their attention.

However, when we experimented with a crowdfunding campaign for two organisations providing girls in Afghanistan and Mexico access to education, we were blown away by the response. Not only did we reach the target in record time, the scale of donations and the messages we received showed us that many of you were looking for more ways to meaningfully contribute.

Your response lined up with another big trend that we’ve spotted in global giving. While traditional philanthropy has long been the preserve of the wealthy, the rise of giving circles is allowing groups of ordinary people to pool resources to support causes they collectively choose. Regardless of whether it's $10 or $1,000, everyone gets a chance to make a meaningful contribution.

So this year, we want to improve our ability to give, and make it easier for our readers to give too. We also want to get more consistent - our giving has always been a little ad hoc, but our commitment in 2025 is to announce a new partner every month.

We're not getting into the business of philanthropy! Our value lies in being a trusted source of news. However, given the nature of our work, we regularly come across organisations that make a real difference, and we think we can help on the side, by making small, strategic interventions to sustain them through critical growth phases.

Here's what will stay the same:

We will find organisations creating real solutions at ground-level.
Every donation will be transparent with a tangible, measurable impact.
We will deliver funds and resources directly to the people who need them most, and give them the freedom to choose how they're spent - no middlemen, no admin, no complicated forms to fill out.
Our focus will be on the areas of healthcare, education, conservation and the empowerment of women and girls.

Here’s what we want to grow:

More collective giving opportunities for all subscribers.
Stronger long-term relationships with our partners and increased coverage of their ongoing progress in our newsletter and podcast.
Create a simple, open-call application process.
In-kind giving – in addition to funds, we want to ask our partners if they need support in other areas like volunteers or expertise. Expect to see some calls-to-action in our partnership announcements and updates.
Aim to increase our monthly donation level from US$6,000 to US$10,000.

Announcing our first partner for 2025

Who: Sungai Watch
Where: Bali, Indonesia
How much: US$6,000

River warriors with a circular solution to waste

Combating plastic waste is one of the great challenges of our time, especially in Indonesia. The country ranks as the second largest source of ocean plastic after China, and is home to 90 of the world's 1,000 most polluted rivers.

Despite the scale of the problem, in 2020 French-born and Bali-raised siblings Kelly, Gary and Sam Bencheghib took it upon themselves to find a solution. After deciding that the simplest ways to clean the ocean is by preventing the flow of plastic in their local rivers, the siblings created Sungai Watch (which means ‘river’ in Bahasa) and designed floating devices to catch the waste as it headed downstream.

And they didn’t stop there. Determined to create a full-circle and scalable solution, the team has built a system of collecting, sorting and up-cycling waste that allows them to collect valuable data that helps them advocate for wider policy change.

However, despite their big vision, Sam believes that empowering the local communities are the biggest key to driving change. “Rivers are the lifeblood of communities and ecosystems,” he says. “Every barrier we install doesn’t just collect waste; it sparks awareness, empowers local communities, and creates a ripple effect of positive environmental action.”

We’ve been tracking their work in our newsletter since 2021, and when I met them in person last year, I was so impressed by their passion and commitment. They’re not afraid to get their hands dirty and they keep stepping up to deal with each phase of the problem.

We’re delighted to announce that we're sending them $6,000, which they've decided to spend on a new river barrier in Central Bali. It's one step closer to achieving their mission of 1,000 barriers throughout Indonesia, and hopefully expanding Sungai Watch internationally.

We are only getting started, and at the rate that plastic is being produced, we need to press the fast forward button and scale massively across every Indonesian region and other countries if we really want to see a world with clean rivers.
Sam Bencheghib

We'll share more specifics about the river barrier soon. Until then you can listen to my conversation with Gary on our podcast, and here's a call-to-action from Sam:

Spread the word: Share our mission and projects across all social media platforms to bring more awareness about plastic pollution.

Volunteer: Whether it’s through hands-on cleanups with us here in Indonesia, with another organisation near you – every piece of plastic removed from the environment is a step in the right direction.

Donate: We have a lot of work ahead of us. This means we need to invest a lot more in our team, in better infrastructure, in better technology, and in scaling up our solution across the most polluted regions.

An update from Mexico

In July 2024, we donated 18 computers to Fondo Guadalupe Musalem - a school for young women in Oaxaca, Mexico who come from rural, indigenous and Afro-Mexican communities. Three of the computers went to support the operational team and 15 were given to new students as a personal computers.

Last week we received a message from the school's coordinator, Dr Claudia Margarita Chávez Gómez:

We are very happy to send you these photos, where you will see the joy that receiving a computer has brought to the young women of the Fund. It has been their 'King’s Day' gift! The smiles and gratitude are endless. This year has begun with hope and a great deal of momentum to continue with their school tasks.

We continue to make progress with this work, and seeing the results in our young women fills us with gratitude. Last month, the girls who are in their final year of high school completed a project that involved children and young people from their community. Watching how they transform into agents of change is truly wonderful.

All of this is possible thanks to this kind of support. I have no more words of gratitude, I can’t find them. I can only say: THANK YOU FOR THE LOVE.

And here are some photos of them receiving their new kit!

Thanks to everyone who made these stories possible.

We'll be back to regular programming next week.

With love,

Amy