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Heather Heckman

 Dominika Krupocin

What keeps you busy? What makes you tick?

I'm a PhD student in social and cultural psychology. I have been working in global health and international development for 11 years now. I started this work in poverty and inequality because in Mississippi, where I'm from, inequalities are extreme. As I did work in the nonprofit space, I realized that I wanted to make sure any work I did would actually be impactful and that it wouldn’t be doing harm. It’s important to ensure you aren’t wasting money, especially when you're working with people in precarious positions who need effective support in meeting basic needs.

I started working with development economists. I worked on the long-term follow-up for a 

 randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Kenya for a few years. But I realized I had a few ethical concerns in addition to those about effectiveness. I questioned Westerners coming in and guiding development. That is partly why I decided to pursue a PhD in cultural psychology in particular. It lets me look at the values that are being imported by development programs. I wanted to ask, how can we make development programs more responsive to the realities of recipients? More responsive to their preferences? That's what I do now. I work broadly in the cash space, including universal basic income in the US, as well as unconditional cash transfers and other anti-poverty programs with the World Bank and in East and West Africa.

I just think that I, as a middle-class white person in the US, have been given more advantages than 99% of the world. A lot of those advantages have been economic. I should be redistributing more of my wealth, which was not necessarily earned.

Also, we used to have institutions for redistribution (like tithing or Zakat, which some groups still have) and there’s historical precedent for that being 10% of your income. I think we need some kind of social or cultural norms to reinstate that tradition among a more secular generation. I support taxes as a means to redistribute wealth, but since our safety net, at least in the US, is still insufficient I want to give directly to basic needs.

I like the idea that people will give together. I hope the 

 will start to build that social norm toward redistribution, specifically for basic needs and effective charities. I came to Giving What We Can through the 

Logistically, I also like Giving What We Can because it helps me track my giving. I just add my donations there, so when the time comes for my taxes, I can see what I gave.

Giving What We Can is public and accountable, and I feel like I'm a small part of what is hopefully a growing movement. I especially hope it will grow among middle-class white people in the US to counter income inequality.

I appreciate that there's this mechanism that facilitates the giving process really easily. It makes me feel more whole — less divided — as an individual because it aligns my values with my actions.

What are the issues in the world that you care most deeply about?

I care about inclusion — about deep poverty and inclusion. I work on universal basic income (UBI) because it can provide a cash-based safety net. And I also work on universal basic income because it has the potential to create more inclusive narratives about people who live in poverty. Here in the US, we have very individualizing, victim-blaming narratives about people who receive aid. I think that in part undergirds our dwindling support for redistribution. So I care about changing these narratives from a moral perspective. And then I also care about it from a practical perspective, because our current narrative is a barrier to societal safety nets.

 – that's kind of my base given the strength of evidence supporting it. This election season, this year, I've also given to a lot of other things, including local racial justice organizations. One thing that I think is a nice alignment of these two giving areas is Magnolia Mother’s Trust (MMT). It’s an organization in Jackson, Mississippi, where I'm from, that gives universal basic income to low-income black mothers. It's kind of seen as a modern-day manifestation of Dr. Martin Luther King's guaranteed income proposal. It's local, it deals with racial justice as well as economic justice. It's place-based plus evidence-based, which I think is kind of increasingly a sweet spot in terms of giving for me.

In terms of giving, I’ve recently been thinking a lot more about accountability, especially after reading Giridharadas’ book Winners Take All. One reason I’m moving more towards place-based giving is because I suspect it can, in some cases, allow for greater accountability and more democratic processes. When you're with a community that you can be accountable to, maybe the community you're from, then I think you could actually better understand the impacts of your donations, whether they're good or bad, wanted or unwanted. Winners Take All discusses the problematic trend of the global elite deciding unilaterally what is important to prioritize in the world through their private foundations and donations. Giridharadas argues that this is an anti-democratic trend. I’m thinking that place-based giving might have more democratic potential and less of a problematic power dynamic. Relatedly, you could get closer to a justice framework rather than a charity framework, which I think is a critical transition the philanthropic community needs to make.

I'm not sure that's all true or likely, but that's what I’ve been pondering over these past few months.

I do. It was especially hard in the first years living in the Bay Area and having a grad student salary. But that's why I liked the 1% commitment for students, which was very achievable. It’s getting easier now, but it was challenging in the beginning for that reason. I'm sure it will be harder again once I have children and such, but right now, it’s doable.

Do you have any effective giving tips you would like to share, or any suggestions for other people considering taking the Pledge?

I’ve found it helpful to use it as an accounting device.

 a lot. I read this article many years ago about her living with her parents and thinking about whether she wanted to have kids and all the trade-offs that she makes in her life. And that made me reflect about my rent costs in particular. The reason I try to live in the least expensive housing I can find is because I want to be able to meet that Pledge. So, I think about rent a lot and oftentimes I think about small expenses, like whether to get a cappuccino versus drip coffee, too, but that's probably a marginal saving.

For society, I really hope that we'll have a minimum income floor and that we can just do away with deep poverty. There's no reason that deep poverty should be increasing in the US, as it has been since the 90s. I would hope that we're able to eliminate housing and food insecurity, and lower health care costs. I also hope that greed and hoarding become immoral again. Greed and hoarding have lost their moral sanctioning and I hope that we can recover that. Then, I hope that there will be more parity between high- and low-income countries.

I want reparations to happen, both within countries and between countries. It's obviously a very hard policy to implement. Who gets reparations? How much? Over what time period? One reason I like universal basic income is because it could achieve some of the goals of reparations, though not all by any means, in a straightforward way. It would disproportionately benefit black and brown communities, and I think that’s a start.

Are there any books, movies, or papers that significantly changed the way you see giving, and that you want to share with others?

Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo

 – those have definitely been very influential to me. The thing that changed my life, or how I got to giving and to my research trajectory, was Esther Duflo’s Tanner Lecture at Harvard in 2012. All of Esther Duflo’s work has hugely influenced me.

Then, there’s this documentary that I’d want to share with others called 

 which just came out. It’s about universal basic income in the South, and the Magnolia Mother’s Trust organization that I donate to.

Have you found anything to be helpful when talking to other people about effective giving, or giving in general?

Well, I do study how to reduce partisanship in views of UBI. I find that framing giving in terms of financial freedom, basically the way that Milton Friedman did, is surprisingly effective at increasing conservative support for universal basic income. That framing also reduces stigmatizing narratives. You would think that maybe it would increase stigmatizing narratives because it is all about this neoliberal, individualistic approach, but it actually makes conservatives see recipients of UBI as more hardworking, more competent, more moral -- all these good, humanizing things. I think that when you can bring people’s overarching ideas and values into the act of giving and situate giving as a means to realize their values, that can be an effective way to engage them. We need to recognize that different cultures, different groups have different values.

What else are you passionate about? What do you do for fun in life?

I read articles about income inequality [laughs]. What am I passionate about? Over the last 8 years, I've gotten more politically engaged. I've been doing canvassing and organizing work with friends. Other than that, I would say it's traveling. I move around a lot and I like adventures and hiking and trying new things. Recently, I've been hiking in the Tetons and in the Wind River Range. And right after that I got married on a fourteener [mountain above 14,000 ft] in Colorado in Leadville. We thought -- if our wedding was going to be canceled because of COVID, we might as well go get married in the mountains.

" series which profiles a selection of the Giving What We Can community. The Giving What We Can is a community of people from all walks of life, with different perspectives and motivations for giving – all united by their desire to make a significant commitment to use their income to effectively helping others. Read more 

 to help inspire others to give more, and more effectively.

For more information about Giving What We Can we recommend you check out our 

"I like the idea that people will give together. I hope the pledge will start to build that social norm"

Member Profile: Catherine Thomas

Luke Freeman

Yesterday we reached 5,000 members who have pledged to give at least 10% of their lifetime earnings!

This is the online edition of our September 2020 email newsletter (

This edition includes information about our 5,000 member celebration events; updates from Giving What We Can, EA Funds, Open Philanthropy, GiveWell and Charity Entrepreneurship; a selection of interesting articles; upcoming events you can join; and some ways you can help.

To celebrate reaching 5,000 members who have taken The Pledge we are organising a huge global hangout day (in person and online) 

5,000 People Have Pledge To Give At Least 10% Of Lifetime Income

More than 5,000 people have pledged to give at least ten percent of their lifetime earnings to effective charities. We're hosting events to celebrate and many of our members have submitted messages about this milestone.

GWWC has been in the news around the world lately

'The global financial elite? You are that!'

'What worms can teach us about the AI apocalypse'

'The Giving What We Can Pledge encourages you to donate 10% of your income'

 featured our member Tom Bry-Chevalier in the French 

We've made significant updates to our giving recommendations page, including tips for giving as a community, picking an individual charity, and where to find local regranting organisations.

Giving What We Can member and Swedish singer-songwriter José González did a live streaming performance in partnership with The Life You Can Save to raise funds to help people living in extreme poverty.

Moral Uncertainty by Will MacAskill and Toby Ord

The two founders of Giving What We Can, Will MacAskill and Toby Ord, have released a new academic book "Moral Uncertainty" which looks at how we should make decisions in the face of moral uncertainty.

You can now follow @giving_what_we_can on Instagram -- thanks to the efforts of our wonderful volunteer 

"I think that people unfamiliar with giving not only miss out on the positive impact that we can have on the lives of others, but also the positive impact on ourselves. There is a strong satisfaction in doing what you think is good!"

The Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund published a payout report for its 

. The Long-Term Future Fund published a payout report for its 

Open Philanthropy made grants to support work on advancing 

universal antiviral drug candidate against all influenza strains

GiveWell has changed the name of their donation option "Grants to recommended charities at GiveWell's discretion" to the 

. The new name better reflects how donations with this allocation are used.

Charity Entrepreneurship announced their 

. Included specific suggestions in mental health, health & development policy, animal advocacy, and family planning.

How does GiveDirectly's basic income affect recipients during COVID-19?

 Did cash transfers keep people from going to work sick, or help them avoid hospitals full of other infected patients?

Can a philosophy class alter ethical behavior?

 One study found that sitting in a discussion section on the ethics of meat led students to lower their meat consumption.

 Understanding the timing of human-level AI is an important consideration if we care about protecting our long-term future. Asya Bergal discusses reasons you might think human-level AI is unlikely to happen soon.

Africa has been declared free of wild polio

. Twenty-five years ago, thousands of children in Africa were paralysed by the virus. Today the disease is found only in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

ALLFED has published a new research paper in Sustainable Production and Consumption

. Their paper explores alternative foods for preventing mass starvation in catastrophic scenarios (i.e. nuclear winter).

Ben Todd on the core of effective altruism and how to argue for it.

 The latest 80,000 Hours podcast with Arden and Ben covers a range of topics related to effective altruism ranging from whether it includes a moral obligation to give to how to talk about effective altruism for people who aren't already familiar with it.

How do you weigh selfish decisions versus altruistic ones?

 This discussion on reddit covers how people tackle this question and includes some links to great resources.

Want to fight climate change effectively? Here's where to donate your money.

 These are six of the most high-impact, cost-effective, evidence-based organisations. You may not have heard of them.

Why we're excited to fund charities' work a few years in the future

. This article by GiveWell covers the key reasons why funding today leads to more impact in the future.

Is your company interested in making a pledge?

 We've had increased interest in companies pledging to give a significant portion of their profits to effective charities. 

 if you're interested (or are already doing this).

 Consider helping us spread the word by (a) writing something about Giving What We Can; or (b) linking to us in your sidebar or footer (e.g. 

What are the best charities to donate to?

 Reply and suggest a topic you'd like to write about, or ask us for ideas.

Do you want to run an effective giving event within your workplace, school, or community group?

Feel like sharing your effective giving story?

telling the story of your experience, and why you give

Want to help spread the word about effective giving?

Yesterday we reached 5,000 members who have pledged to give at least 10% of their lifetime earnings! Read more about this milestone, watch the video message from our founders & members, and join us this weekend to celebrate!

Yesterday we reached 5,000 members who have pledged to give at least 10% of their lifetime earnings! Read more about this milestone, watch the video message from our founders & members, and join us this weekend to celebrate!

This edition includes information about our 5,000 member celebration events; updates from Giving What We Can, EA Funds, Open Philanthropy, GiveWell and Charity Entrepreneurship; a selection of interesting articles; upcoming events you can join; and some ways you can help.

September 2020 Newsletter

Today we reached a major milestone. More than 5,000 people have 

 at least ten percent of their lifetime earnings to 

Since its founding in December 2009, Giving What We Can has attracted members from 87 countries. Together, we have donated at least $195 million to highly effective charities across many different cause areas. This money has a tangible impact on the lives of many individuals now, and will help many others in the future.

Thank you for your generosity, your support, and your commitment to helping others.

 (in-person and virtually) for you to meet other people who have made effective giving a meaningful part of their lives. We encourage you to attend one of these events!

Several of our members have submitted some words to share with our community – we’ve collated them all below for you to read (or 

If you’d like to share something please do so in the comments or email us at 

Read our official press release about this milestone

Toby Ord (Co-founder, researcher at Future of Humanity Institute)

“I’m so excited that Giving What We Can is over 200 times larger than when we launched 10 years ago. It’s overwhelming to be part of such a large and friendly community of people, all striving to make the world a much better place.”

Will MacAskill (Co-founder, researcher at Forethought Foundation)

“Getting to 5,000 members absolutely blows my mind. That’s a full 217 times as many members as we had at launch 11 years ago. I remember when I first took the pledge, it felt really quite scary. I was a graduate student at the time and I had a scholarship for my accommodation paid for but I was living on about £4,500 per year and I was trying to give £900 of that away over the year. It was tough. I remember I refused to get a haircut because it seemed like an unnecessary expense... One of the things I worried about back then was whether I’d be a social outcast, always having to explain to people why I’ve chosen this weird life for myself. The answer turned out to be “no”, quite the opposite in fact. The pledge functioned like this bat signal, attracting people all around the world with a similar set of values and it’s been such a joy to see so many people come together and make a commitment to use a significant proportion of their income for the common good. So thank you, for taking the pledge and for showing what it means to take giving seriously.”

Julia Wise (Member #179 and former President of GWWC, community health at CEA)

"When I first learned about Giving What We Can, I remember feeling so relieved that there were all these other people out there who were not just thinking about what we can do for others, but were taking concrete action on that."

Derek Ball (Member #57, Lecturer in the philosophy departments at the University of St Andrews)

"I first read about Giving What We Can in a newspaper article almost 10 years ago. At the time, I strongly felt that I needed to do more to help others, but I wasn’t sure what to do. Giving What We Can provided guidance and inspiration that I needed — an easy-to-follow recipe for doing some good. I can honestly say that it has changed my life. Congratulations on 5000 members!"

Michelle Hutchinson (Member #153 and former ED of GWWC, Head of Advising at 80,000 Hours)

"It’s been really incredible watching GWWC grow from a few members early on to a 5,000 strong community. It’s really incredible how much people in our community donate and how much they think about how to use those donations to help people as much as possible. I really feel it’s helped me to live up to my values and I hope it’ll make a better world for [my son] Leo to grow up in."

Peter Eckersley (Member #8, artificial intelligence researcher)

“It’s felt extraordinary to be part of a growing movement to try to structurally address those problems with the resources we have available… Now at 10 years on, with Giving What We Can having now having 5,000 taking that pledge, and being part of a larger and flourishing effective altruism movement, it seems like we’re really succeeding… To pause in reflecting on this particular moment in 2020, it feels in some ways a stranger and darker time than the period in which we were setting up to create this movement. But I really think that we’re positioned as effective altruists to be a constructive force for change in the years ahead.”

Habiba Islam (Member #105, Advisor at 80,000 Hours)

“I first came across Giving What We Can at a talk that I went to as an undergraduate at Oxford University. The talk was about 80,000 Hours and they mentioned The Pledge. So I’d already thought that I’d donate some proportion of my income to charity but hearing about Giving What We Can really helped me raise my ambitions to donate a significant portion of my income and also think really hard about the effectiveness of the charities that I was donating to. Both those ideas made a lot of sense to me and so I signed the Further Pledge while I was an undergraduate. Fast forward 10 years and now I really enjoy being part of the effective altruism community. Many of my close, best friends, and my colleagues are people that I’ve met through EA – and that all traces back to that first meeting about 80,000 Hours, and hearing about (and signing) the Further Pledge.”

Peter Singer (Member #16, Moral philosopher and author of books including Animal Liberation and The Life You Can Save)

“I date the start of the Effective Altruism movement from the founding of Giving What We Can. I'm delighted that it has now reached the significant milestone of 5000 members, because that means a very significant sum going to help the most effective charities. But let's not forget that GWWC has done so much more than that - it has been the spark for a movement that has inspired many more people to think about their charitable giving, and about the overall direction of their lives.”

Nick Beckstead (Member #29, Program Officer at Open Philanthropy)

"I took the GWWC pledge because I believed my donations could do much more good for others than they could do for me; I had enough money to be happy and productive; and I wanted to encourage others to give for the same reasons. I think there's something powerful about putting our ideals into practice as a group with the core intention of doing the greatest expected good for others. It's been a great way to inspire myself and connect with people who have similar priorities. I'm delighted that our numbers have grown to 5,000, and I look forward to celebrating the 10,000 mark in the future!"

Ben Eidelson (Member #26, Assistant professor of law at Harvard Law School)

"It’s extraordinary to see the way this community has grown over the past decade and all of the good that it has accomplished. When Will MacAskill shared the idea of a giving pledge with me in 2009, I thought it was a great way for a handful of people committed to certain values to raise the cost of drifting away from them. But I don’t think anyone imagined that the community would grow as it has, or that it would help to spark a broader movement. I’m grateful for and inspired by all of the work that so many put into achieving a milestone like this."

Joseph Millum (Member #6, Bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health)

"For more than a decade, this pledge has reminded me and inspired me to give. The incredible growth of the effective altruism movement in that time – exemplified by nearly 5000 people taking the GWWC pledge – makes me optimistic about what we can do, as individuals and as a collective. Each of us can make a meaningful difference to the lives of others. Together we can keep each other committed to giving more, and to doing so on the basis of good evidence."

Tom Ash (Member #42, Founder of Rethink Charity)

"I look forward to the 10,000th member! I've always thought that effective giving is one of the most valuable ideas in EA and something that's worth putting more focus on, which was part of my thinking behind the annual EA survey. This growth in pledgers is heartening, and I hope it encourages EAs to spread that core, practical concept."

Blog

Member Profile: Catherine Thomas

September 2020 Newsletter

5,000 people have pledged to give at least 10% of their lifetime incomes to effective charities

Member Profile: Pablo Ollier

5,000 Member Milestone Celebration Events

Online Meetups: 5th or 6th September, 2020

Visualizing Donations

Member Profile: Heather McLaughlin

Introducing Luke Freeman as Head of Giving What We Can!

Toby Ord's book released: "The Precipice"