After Raising Over $13 Million for Evidence-Based Charities Amid Foreign Aid Cuts, The Life You Can Save and Founders Pledge Transition to the Next Era of Philanthropy

The nonprofit organizations are transitioning from emergency response to long-term solutions as reduced government funding becomes the new reality

SEATTLE, Oct. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Life You Can Save, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting extreme poverty, and Founders Pledge, a global nonprofit empowering entrepreneurs to do the most possible good with their charitable giving, partnered to form the Rapid Response Fund when life-threatening foreign aid cuts were made earlier this year. Since launching the Fund on Feb. 17, 2025, the organizations have raised more than $13.1 million for high-impact, evidence-based charities addressing urgent health and global development needs.

While the Rapid Response Fund accepted its final donations on August 31, both organizations will continue raising money, but will transition funding strategies from emergency response to managing and monitoring the long-term effects of reduced government funding. The final grants raised from the Rapid Response Fund will be distributed by early October. In total, the fund awarded 13 grants to 11 partner charities and non-profit organizations, projected to save the lives of more than 4,700 children.

Additionally, the Rapid Response Fund's partnership with Project Resource Optimization (PRO) introduced a joint funding initiative that raised $7.5M in donations and commitments.

"The Rapid Response Fund emphasized the importance of pairing evidence-based philanthropy with the ability to act quickly in moments of urgent need," said Jessica La Mesa, Co-CEO of The Life You Can Save. "As we look to the future, we see an opportunity to build on this approach by advancing models of giving that are both highly effective and adaptable to global challenges. Our goal is to continue demonstrating how strategic philanthropy can maximize impact, transform lives and strengthen resilience for communities most in need."

Both The Life You Can Save and Founders Pledge will continue the vital work of the Fund through other fundraising initiatives that continue to draw on their long-term expertise of evaluating and selecting high-impact organizations and giving opportunities, all while incorporating the learnings from the Rapid Response Fund.

The Life You Can Save will direct funders to its Maximize Your Impact Fund, ensuring donations go to organizations across all dimensions of poverty, guaranteeing the impact is meaningful, multidimensional and creating the greatest change. Recognizing that poverty is complex and interconnected, the fund invests in holistic solutions that break down barriers to well-being and advance human development. By pooling donor contributions, the Maximize Your Impact Fund supports a diverse portfolio of high-impact charities, creating opportunities for individuals and communities to thrive.

Additionally, Founders Pledge has launched a Global Health and Development (GHD) Catalytic Impact Fund, which directs resources toward opportunities where small investments generate outsized returns. Its first grant of $1.9 million, made jointly with the Rapid Response Fund, supports the Clinton Health Access Initiative(CHAI) in ten Sub-Saharan African countries affected by USAID cuts. By adding technical expertise to Ministries of Health, each dollar spent will influence hundreds of dollars in government spending, strengthen long-term health systems, and save more lives beyond the initial grant.

"We're humbled to be the first recipient of Founders Pledge's Catalytic Impact Fund and energized by what this catalytic investment means for our ability to support governments around the world save lives now and reimagine the future of global health," said Neil Buddy Shaw, the Chief Executive Officer of CHAI. "In a moment of unprecedented funding cuts, this partnership allowed us to act quickly to protect critical health services while helping governments revise their new health budgets to stretch every dollar further. It's more than emergency relief—it's an investment in resilient health systems that can save lives now and in the future."

"The lesson of the Rapid Response Fund is clear: a community of motivated donors can transform concern into rapid, coordinated action," said Katrina Sill, Global Health and Development Lead at Founders Pledge. "This next chapter is about building resilient, transformational health and development systems that don't just respond to crises, but prevent them."

To learn more about how you can still donate and help high-impact charities through The Life You Can Save, visit https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/.

For more information or to donate to Founders Pledge's GHD Catalytic Impact Fund, visit www.founderspledge.com/news/from-rapid-response-to-lasting-impact-launching-the-ghd-catalytic-impact-fund.

About The Life You Can Save 
The Life You Can Save  was founded to promote high-impact philanthropy, meaning giving that is research-based and cost-effective. Its mission is to improve the lives of people living in poverty by changing the way people think about and donate to charity. The team at The Life You Can Save does research to develop a list of recommended nonprofits delivering high-impact interventions across all of the dimensions of poverty. The Life You Can Save works to raise awareness of and connect donors with its recommended giving opportunities to increase the impact of giving. Through research and funds, The Life You Can Save offers a simplified donating process for individuals who want to maximize their impact in uplifting people experiencing extreme poverty.
Learn more about high-impact philanthropy at thelifeyoucansave.org.

About Founders Pledge
Founders Pledge is a global nonprofit empowering entrepreneurs to do the most good possible with their charitable giving. Since 2015, our growing community has given almost $1.5 billion to charities and has pledged $11 billion more. We provide tailored advice on high-impact charities vetted by our in-house research team, as well as the infrastructure to enable ambitious, international grantmaking through our Donor Advised Funds, coupled with invitations to private events to connect & learn. Our members include fast-growth startups as well as the people behind household brands including Bolt, Unity, Klarna, Wise, Webflow, Twelve and Replicate. Together, we are funding solutions to the world's biggest challenges, from health & education to climate change, AI safety and existential risk.
Learn more about making high-impact giving the norm at founderspledge.com.

LINK TO FINAL REPORT: HERE.

SOURCE The Life You Can Save