Making giving to charity simple

Louise Pfeiffer is this month’s change maker, you can read about her work with the life you can save below.

Louise’s journey with Effective Altruism started when she was just a little girl. A memory that has long stayed with her is being in the backseat of her parent’s car on the freeway from Adelaide to the town of Murray Bridge on a hot, stinking summer’s day, Down Under. Alongside her on the highway was a truck being loaded with dozens – of what appeared to Louise –  to be ‘unhappy’ sheep. All she can remember is thinking ‘The poor sheep – why doesn’t anyone care about the sheep?’

Compelled by Peter’s arguments, after reading it, Louise decided to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle. For Louise, this was only the beginning.

Moving to Sydney after completing her degree in 1998 Louise found herself in Financial Services. Louise knew in her core, that for her, there was more to life than making money. The pull to be part of something bigger and do more good in the world remained strong. 

Having come across Peter’s latest book The Life You Can Save – initially she admits, she was reluctant to read it – because she knew once she did, there could be no turning back.

Having children was a pivotal moment in Louise’s life, acutely connecting her to the suffering of mothers and their babies all around the world. Up until that point, the suffering of mother cows was something she could not relate to.

When Louise’s first child was six months old, she experienced a big shift in her consciousness and decided the ethical thing to do was to become Vegan.

At around the same time, she finally read Peter Singer’s book, The Life You Can Save. As expected, this changed her worldview again, and feeling more empowered she embarked on the Effective Altruism route of pledging ten per cent of her income to charity.

Following this Louise was asked to be included in an article on Effective Altruism in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. While she felt uncomfortable, one of the ideas in The Life You Can Save is that sharing what you do may influence your peers.

For two years, Louise met up with a Chapter Group of The Life You Can Save once a month in Melbourne where they would talk about opportunities to share Peter’s book.

It was then that Louise, along with director Chris Quin, spoke at high schools about the concepts within the book.

She also undertook pro bono work as the social media and marketing manager at Giving 1 Percent – a non-profit organisation dedicated to creating a culture of giving in Australia. 

With two growing children, Louise wanted more flexibility and set up a business as a Financial Advisor but she soon realised it still wasn’t enough for her.

While still in Melbourne, she attended a rally in 2011 about the live export trade. Suffering on live export ships had recently been exposed, and while thousands of people joined in the rally Louise struggled to understand why more people weren’t talking about it, and why the government had not yet banned live exports. It  reminded her of the sheep when she was a little girl. Government inaction ultimately led her to join the Animal Justice Party, where she is now Vice President.

Read on for our interview with Louise.

Describe your career trajectory and how you got to your current position.

My dad was a maths teacher and mum worked in mental health, so I set my sights on becoming a psychologist, but she soon learned it wasn’t the role for me. Having excelled at debating in school, I considered becoming a lawyer but chose to study ethics and philosophy at university in the mid-90s. Following my BA, and living in Sydney and then Melbourne, I took on a second qualification in financial advising, and established a career in retail and institutional financial services, and funds management before embarking on an MBA through Melbourne Business School. I guess more recently I’ve bought those two streams together – ethics, organisational and financial acumen – to my roles as Vice President of the Animal Justice Party and Director of Philanthropy at The Life You Can Save.

Can you describe what the Life You Can Save does?

Australians want to be smart with their financial investments – they work with trusted advisors to ensure their money works hard and gets a return. However, evidence shows that most people don’t do research and simply give without knowing the impact when it comes to investing in charities. The reality is that some charities are hundreds or even thousands of times more effective than others. 

The Life You Can Save makes smart giving simple and vets charities so donors don’t have to. The Life You Can Save recommends organisations proven to be highly impactful and cost-effective at improving health and opportunities for those living in global extreme poverty. 

They even have an easy-to-use impact calculator so donors can see exactly how much of an impact their dollar will make. 

How do you like to unwind?

I live in the Adelaide Hills with my partner, two gorgeous boys and rescue animals. When I have the time, I love to cook, play bridge and golf.