Further Information

The amount to give

The Pledge to Give is a promise to donate at least 10% of your income. This sounds simple, but can be interpreted in several ways, so we offer a couple of clarifications.

By income, we mean your salary or wages, prior to income tax being deducted. Thus, if you earn $30,000 in a year before tax, you would be required to give at least $3,000. Depending on your country and choice of charity, you may well get a form of tax deduction for your giving. Thus, the real cost of giving 10% may be less than it first appears. This is fine. What counts is that the charity receives an amount equal to 10% of your income. Of course you are more than welcome to instead make a correspondingly larger donation so that you end up paying the full 10% out of your own pocket and the government's assistance effectively goes to the charity. You can even commit to giving a higher proportion should you wish.

The choice of charities

By making the pledge you commit to giving your donations to the charity or charities that you think can best use it to eliminate suffering in the developing world. Some charities aim to do this directly, through medical or food aid; some do so indirectly by fighting the root causes of poverty via education or local governance; some do so at an even higher level by lobbying for fairer trade or more foreign aid. You are free to support charities operating at any level, so long as you sincerely believe that the chosen charity offers the most effective way of eliminating the hardships of life in extreme poverty.

The difference in the amount of good that charities can achieve for a given donation is staggering: some medical interventions are known to be more than 10,000 times as efficient as others.1 By focusing our attention on the charities that have proven themselves to be most effective, we can achieve much more with our donations and also encourage the charities themselves to put more effort into research on how effective their methods are. Efficiency sounds boring, but it is the difference between saving a life and saving 10,000 lives — the difference between saving a life just once and saving a life every single day throughout your career.

Though it is very difficult to know for certain which charities are the most efficient, Giving What We Can helps by providing the best figures and discussion available, then leaving the final choice to you. While you may never be able to find the very best charity in the world, you will be confident that your choice is in the top tier.

The nature of the commitment

The pledge is not a contract and is not legally binding. It is, however, a public declaration of lasting commitment to the cause. It is a promise, or oath, to be made seriously and with every expectation of keeping it. All those who want to join Giving What We Can must officially make the Pledge to Give and show evidence each year that they have kept it. This auditing is rather painless: you simply send in copies of your charity receipts along with a signed declaration that they comprise at least ten percent of that year's income. If someone decides that they can no longer keep the pledge (for instance due to serious unforeseen circumstances), then they simply cease to be a member. They can of course rejoin later if they renew their commitment to the pledge. Obviously taking the pledge is something to be considered seriously, but we understand if a member can no longer keep it.

What about students and those not earning a wage?

The pledge involves donating 10% of one's income, and we have defined income as salary or wages. In this sense, many students, unemployed people, and full-time parents will have little or no income. They will instead be largely supported by money from other familty members or the government or a student loan. What does the pledge require in this case?

As written, it does not require one to donate any of this additional funding, just 10% of one's salary or wages (which may well be nothing) and of course a commitment to continue to give 10% in the future. However, we feel that it makes more sense to have all of our members giving at least a small amount, even if they are not strictly earning an income. We therefore require them to donate at least 1% of their spending money. That is, 1% of the money that flows into their accounts for the purpose of spending on things such as food, rent, travel, children, or personal items, (but not counting spending on tuition fees).

If a couple with shared finances both wish to join, then things are a bit simpler, as they can just donate 10% of their combined earnings.

Retirement and the pledge

The Pledge only commits people to give until they retire. This was done to allow members a bit more financial security in their later years, and thus to make it easier to give during their working lives. People who retire while members of Giving What We Can remain 'honorary' members and valued parts of our community, though they are no longer required to give.

While we did not anticipate that people might wish to join after they had already retired, a number of people have asked about this and we now have a way of allowing them to do so. People who have retired or partially retired (which we roughly define as having started to draw a pension) can join Giving What We Can and remain members for as long as they continue to donate at least 10% of their spending money (as defined in the section above). If you have any further questions about this or related matters, please contact us.

More information

The following Frequently Asked Questions may also be of interest:

• What about climate change and the environment?
• Can I donate to charities working in other areas?
• Why are the members' names public?
• How can I join and make the Pledge to Give?