In late 2020 after my retirement from RIP Medical Debt as its co-founder, I mulled over the extraordinary success of that charity. Exactly what made it one of the most impactful charities to come into existence in the last decade — one that has taken over $3,000,000,000 (yes, billion) in medical debt off the backs of millions of Americans in six-plus short years?

Could its impact be duplicated in other fields and to the same beneficial effect? Bottled? Distributed? The derived answer was and is to be found in rethinking.

I and Let’s Rethink This co-founder Dina Magnes along with our co-creators at LRT are set to showcase such change-makers via interviews, media promotions and introductions to the people and processes necessary to accelerating their efforts and amplifying their impact.

Getting There from Here

What follows is the ‘Why, How, What, and Who” details of that pronouncement and our still-forming mission and purpose for the year 2021.

Why

Why did Let’s Rethink This have to come into existence? The world is in desperate need of a major do-over. Name a structure, organization, belief, or process that doesn’t need to be rethought. Politics. Healthcare. Race relations. Religion. Wealth distribution. Laws. The Presidency, Senate, House and their replications downstream in states, counties, and cities.

An almost endless list of broken, extractive, or regressive systems.

By any measure, the United States of America is bankrupt. Financially and in verifiable ways, morally. How well we come out of this bankruptcy will determine the state of the world in which we and generations after us will be living. The beneficiaries (or victims) will be our children, their children, and their children’s children, and society at large. Are these compelling enough reasons to rethink?

How

I walked into Occupy Wall Street as a debt collector. Months later, I walked out of Occupy Wall Street as a debt forgiver. Impact!

There could be many more referent examples other than our inspiration, RIP Medical Debt as to how a change of mind can create impact. How are they doing it? How are they setting us an example? We intend to find and feature them.

What

LRT will make visible and available the talents and creations of people whose work promises great social impact for good…work that comes out of their reflection on and re-thinking of something amiss in their work or our society.

Importantly, LRT will serve these individuals, organizations, or causes as an accelerator. We often will find these people and their ideas already formed and even in action — just not noticed. We will bend every effort to facilitate the introductions needed (funders, partners, clients) to ensure the impact of their work.

In a unique fashion, we intend to be a media attractant. In addition to exclusive Zoom features and Medium articles at our site and elsewhere, we will engage our friends in the press and blogging world to feature our heroes in articles and interviews to secure national and even international attention.

All in all – a good start.

— Jerry Ashton, Founder, LRT