A LOW-COST,
HIGH-IMPACT INVESTMENT CASE

Overview

We have already agreed: Save the Children must become a movement with young people, not only for them. We have committed to making their participation standard practice. We have said we will innovate boldly and embrace new models.

SHIFT is the clearest example we have of this commitment in action. Born from a single country office in Myanmar, it now operates in 25+ countries. Over 1,700 young changemakers have graduated and gone on to lead more than 150 community projects — from negotiating transport policy with city mayors in Kosovo, to running an EU-funded social enterprise in Bhutan, to mapping waste data with drones for government sanitation planning in Malawi.

The model works. The evidence is consistent. The global team costs just $350,000 per year — with an 80% cost recovery rate already in place. What has been missing is funding stability and financial simplicity — a straightforward model that maximises SHIFT as an asset across our movement.

This paper presents that model. It is economically sound, already proven by early Member adopters, and designed to scale through Member ownership. Our ask is simple: back this approach with concrete commitments in the coming months so we can focus squarely on delivery.