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Non-trivial Scholarships

      • Non-trivial 2023 Youth Fellowship

      • Start solving the world's most pressing problems Non-Trivial are organising a 7-week online fellowship for pre-university students to start an impactful research, policy, or entrepreneurial project. FINANCIALLY SUPPORTED BY OPEN PHILANTHROPY
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OUR MISSION

Help you help the world

Non-trivial is a non-profit enabling ambitious teenagers to start solving the world’s most pressing problems.

Many bright young people are already capable of having an extraordinary impact on the world. And if you fail, starting now can allow you to learn a lot, meet world-class collaborators, and accelerate your career. We exist to help young people work out how they can chart a path to making their mark on the world, starting from today.

People often can do more improve the world than they think

Imagine you earn the median US salary of ~$36,000 and donate 10% to an effective global health charity.

Here’s what that could achieve over your life1:

Distribute 144,000 vitamin A supplements

Saving the equivalent of 32 healthy lives

Saving the equivalent of a child's life every 15 months

This statistic is based on the How Rich Am I Calculator by Giving What We Can.

This would be a heroic feat. Yet, many people are in a position to achieve even more.

Teenagers of today will soon be making decisions that reverberate far into the future, especially with the emergence of transformative technologies like artificial intelligence and synthetic biology.

Good intentions aren’t enough

Take, for example, PlayPumps International (a real charity). They install water pumps on top of merry-go-rounds for kids to play on. The village gets a pump to provide clean water, and the kids get a new toy.

The problem is that PlayPumps cost four times as much as a standard hand pump, only have 20-30% the output, and kids didn't actually want to play on them.2

PlayPumps ??are far from an isolated failure; many well-intentioned programs just don’t work.3

Achieve hundreds of times more by thinking critically

In wealthier countries like the US and UK, governments often spend over $1 million to save a single life. This is a worthwhile endeavor. 

However, in many poorer countries, the cost of saving a life is much lower. Some charities, such as the Against Malaria Foundation, can save a life for around $5,500 on average, 180 times less than the NHS.4

There may be problems that are more pressing again, such as preventing catastrophic pandemicsreducing risks from artificial intelligence, or promoting international peace

However, what the world’s largest social problems are is a crucial, unsolved question. We aim to empower you to use the available evidence and reasoning to approach it.

The same money or time spent helping others would save 180 times more lives in poor countries5

What you need to (actually) change the world

Many want to create a meaningful change but it’s hard to know what problems and paths will be best for them.

Even if you find something that’s a good fit for you, it may not make as much of a difference as you intend, as with the PlayPumps example above and many other initiatives.

We use our experience to help you navigate the biggest challenges you’ll encounter in trying to change the world. We do that by connecting you with the knowledge, skills, funding, and opportunities to set you up to leave your most meaningful mark on the world.

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