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Giving What We Can

Giving What We Can's new wealth pledge option recognises that the wealthy have an opportunity to contribute more in addressing global problems through philanthropy.

Head of TED Chris Anderson signs new “Wealth Pledge” to give 2.5% of wealth to high-impact charities each year


Jan 25 2024, London – In conjunction with the release of his new book 

, which highlights generosity as a tool to change the world for the better, head of TED Chris Anderson has committed to giving the greater of 2.5% of wealth or 10% of income to high-impact charities each year. Upon his suggestion, the nonprofit 

, which inspires people to give more significantly and more effectively, has added this wealth pledge option to its longstanding 10% income pledge, signed by over 8000 individuals. The new wealth pledge option encourages the world's wealth holders to give more proportionally to their circumstances, recognising that for the very wealthy, income is only a small fraction of wealth.

In addition to becoming one of the first wealth pledge signers, 

“The more I’ve thought about generosity, the impact it can have, and the joy it can bring, the more determined I’ve become that it be an absolute core part of my identity. Jacqueline’s work as a pioneering social entrepreneur has definitely inspired me, and together we’re now ready to sign that combination pledge, effectively committing to giving the higher of 10% of our income or 2.5% of our net worth in any given year for the rest of our lives.” - Chris Anderson, in 

Launched in 2009 by moral philosophers William Macaskill and Toby Ord, 

 reflects the core belief that — because of severe global inequality —even median income earners living in high-income countries have significant power to yield profound positive changes in the world through their donations. Prior to the new wealth option, the Giving What We Can pledge  only acknowledged one of the two sources of money people have (income, but not wealth), excluding in some sense the ultra-wealthy from meaningfully joining the global effort to help those who need it most.

 co-founder of Giving What We Can and author of NYT bestseller 

“Toby and I founded Giving What We Can with the aim to pioneer a new era in philanthropy: one where all people felt inspired to help solve the world’s most pressing problems through effective and impactful philanthropy. The option to pledge a percentage of wealth (rather than just income) makes perfect sense in light of this goal, and I’m excited to see those for whom it is appropriate start to use it!”

Along with its new wealth pledge component and standard 10% income pledge, Giving What We Can also has a trial pledge option (pledge a custom amount of income for a custom amount of time). We invite individuals from all walks of life to explore all of our pledge options and join us in making the world a better place, one donation at a time.

To learn more about Giving What We Can, donate to highly-impactful charities, find resources and research on effective giving, or take one of our giving pledges, please visit 

 is a global community of effective givers and a resource hub for people who want to help solve the world’s problems. In addition to hosting and promoting the 

, the organisation provides charity recommendations, resources, and guides to help donors maximise their charitable impact.



Grace Adams
Head of Marketing
Giving What We Can
media@givingwhatwecan.org

In conjunction with the release of his new book 

Where are the GWWC team donating in 2023?

In this post several Giving What We Can team members have volunteered to share their personal giving decisions for 2023.

Wondering why it's beneficial to talk about your donations? Check out our blog post,

 "Should we be private or public about giving to charity?"

, where we explore the advantages of being open about our philanthropy. We also recommend reading Claire Zabel's insightful piece, 

, which underscores the importance of discussing charitable giving more frequently and openly.

If you enjoy this post, we also encourage you to check out similar posts from teams at other organisations who’ve shared their personal giving this year too, such as 

Finally, we want to hear from you too! We encourage you to join the conversation by sharing your own donation choices in the comments on 

“Where are you donating this year and why?”

. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn from each other and to inspire more thoughtful and impactful giving.

Now, let's meet some of our team and learn about their giving decisions in 2023!

 in early 2021 and have consistently contributed slightly above 10% of my income to effective charities since then.

Similarly as last year, in 2023, the majority of my donations have been directed towards 

I continue to be profoundly unsettled by our treatment of other sentient species. Additionally, I am concerned about the potential long-term risk of moral value lock-in resulting from training AI with our current perspectives on animals. This could lead to a substantial increase in animal suffering unless we promptly address this matter. Considering my view on the gravity of the issue and the apparent lack of sufficient funding in the field, I am positive that contributing to this cause is one of the most impactful options for my donations.

The majority of my donations are processed through 

, allowing for tax-deductible donations in Switzerland.

Additionally, I made other noteworthy donations this year:

 fund, which is based on the GiveWell "All Grants Fund".

5% to Effektiv Spenden itself, supporting the maintenance and development of the donation platform.

, as an attempt of moral offsetting for my carbon footprint.

 in 2022 for at least 10% of my income over my lifetime.

My donations since learning about effective giving have primarily benefitted global health and wellbeing charities so far but have also supported ACE and some climate-focused charities as part of additional offsetting.

 I ran and sponsored in Melbourne. With the remaining donations, I’m likely to split my support between Giving What We Can’s operations (as I now think that my donation to GWWC is likely to be a multiplier and create even more donations for highly effective charities - thanks to 

 so I can receive a tax benefit (and therefore donate more).

Effective Giving Global Coordinator and Incubator

, but over time, I started giving to a wider variety of charities and causes as I learnt more about effective giving.

, and so far in 2023, my donations have been spread across a mix of charities and causes, including 

Johns Hopkins Pandemic Prevention Program

" project, I've decided to give my remaining donations for 2023 to GiveWell’s All Grants Fund and Longview’s Emerging Challenges Fund, likely in a 3/1 ratio. I think I’ll probably take a similar approach in 2024.

 that while I was healthy and well-fed, many children were starving and suffering from easily preventable diseases. This felt profoundly unfair and tragic (and later, when I heard about the veil of ignorance, it resonated with me), so I did what little I could throughout my younger years until I had a meaningful income. When looking to make my first large donation around 2011, I discovered the early work of Giving What We Can and GiveWell. After several years of using their advice, I finally took 

 during the 2016 pledge drive because by then it was pretty clear to me that I wanted to be the kind of person who stuck at giving effectively and significantly throughout my life and the pledge was an excellent way to formalise that (although, I’ve structured my finances in a way that is more inspired by the 

 partly because I cannot shake the feeling I get every time I use 

Since 2016, my donations have skewed significantly towards supporting operational costs or sponsorships for projects promoting 

effective giving and/or effective altruism

 events and soon led to funding the operations of 

. I've taken this approach primarily because:

I'm pretty happy to fund things that are less attractive to other donors (most people aren't excited to support something like accounting, credit card fees, or fundraising);

I have a lot of personal uncertainty when it comes to the allocation between worldviews and like that giving multipliers can simultaneously promote each of the various worldviews that I find to be most plausible.

(Unsurprisingly, these reasons also drew me to work at Giving What We Can!)

 have continued to go predominantly towards the operations of 

 to also help promote effective giving. In addition to funding these effective giving projects, in 2023, I've also supported the following:

Charity Entrepreneurship (Incubated Charities Fund)

The Humane League (Corporate Animal Welfare Campaigns)

Animal Charity Evaluators (Recommended Charities Fund)

Helen Keller International (Vitamin A Supplementation)

With a baby due in March it’s time that me and my wife update our wills over the Christmas break. While doing so we’re going to be reviewing our 

the new Giving What We Can cause area funds

 because they are much more likely to remain an effective option over the years than any more specific charity could.

I consider myself incredibly lucky to be in a position where I can improve the lives of others at a relatively low financial cost to myself (and a net happiness improvement!). I am deeply thankful to all the Giving What We Can members and donors who motivate me every single day by standing alongside me (and by 

I’ve been giving what I can since I started working full time 

. Since taxation in Italy is relatively progressive (marginal tax rate of 43% above €50k/y, 35% above €28k/y), this year I mostly donated to 

 by capping my salary to €25k/y. I surprisingly received ~€6k in tax returns from the Netherlands (for my deductible donations in 2022, and because I was unemployed for a while last year while trying out community building in Italy). In addition, my grandfather passed away this year leaving me €3k in inheritance. So I was still able to make 

€1.5k will go to a trusted grantmaker to reallocate as he sees fit, as part of a donation swap.

If I wasn’t helping run it, I would personally still donate to the 

I pledged in 2018, and have been giving 10–20% of my income since, and aim to give away around 20% of my income in the long-run. Right now, I’m holding off on donations for the most part as I want to be able to save up some funds that I can use to support more ad-hoc opportunities that might otherwise be neglected by the funding ecosystem. If after another year or so, I don’t find any opportunities, I’ll likely give to a selection of GWWC’s new cause area funds (primarily giving to the Risks and Resilience Fund). With the help of ChatGPT I compiled a list of my donations 

, though it’s missing some donations I’ve made to GiveWell Top Charities.

 being the opportunity I’ve supported the most was that I made one larger donation to it in after 

 sharing that they had a large funding gap at the time (though they noted that Open Philanthropy may cover this shortfall, which I think may have happened — but I was happy for my donations to funge in this way).

 in 2019, and have been giving slightly over 10% since. I plan to continue giving ~10% on a yearly basis, but to ultimately give away any and all “surplus” wealth I accumulate over my lifetime (i.e. money I don’t really need for myself or the people around me to live happy lives).

I try to be risk-neutral in my donation decisions (i.e. only consider expected value), and generally look for funding opportunities that (1) have a particularly strong case for leverage, notwithstanding how speculative they may be (e.g. early-stage 

) and/or (2) that I may have some private/unique access to information about through my work and volunteering (e.g. 

). My personal philanthropic cause prioritisation can be summarised as “principles-first EA, with a longtermist leaning”, and I think some of the best opportunities on the margin can be found in EA meta, so direct a lot of my donations there.

I also consider the advocacy value of my donations: in my role, I’m often asked for where I’m personally giving, and I think it’s valuable for me to be able to represent various perspectives and types of reasoning when answering (only when I actually think they are plausible, of course). Relatedly, I try to “practice what I preach” / “put my money where my mouth is”, by often donating to projects I promote or otherwise spend time on in my work and volunteering (also only if I think the money is spent well on the margin). Lastly, I sometimes give to projects I can provide some value advising on, because I’ve noticed an (I think net positive) psychological effect of having “skin in the game” when doing so.

All of these considerations brought me to the following donation choices in 2022 and 2023 (including only donations that amount to >10% of my yearly budget):

In 2024, I’m additionally considering taking a salary sacrifice because 

, and I think it’ll be well spent. (/will try to make sure it is!)

Giving What We Can is spinning out of the Effective Ventures Foundations

Giving What We Can (GWWC) is embarking on an exciting new chapter: after years of support, we will be spinning out of the Effective Ventures Foundation UK and US (collectively referred to as “

”), our parent charities in the US and UK respectively, to become an independent organisation.

Rest assured that our core mission, commitments, and focus on effective giving remain unchanged. We believe this transition will allow us to better serve our community and to achieve our mission more effectively. Below, you'll find all the details you need, including what is changing, what isn't, and how you can get involved.

First and foremost, we owe a very big thank you to the team at EV. Their support over the years has helped us to grow and have a meaningful impact in the world. We could not be more grateful for their support.

A big thank you also to our members and donors who have supported us along the way. In particular I’d like to thank the many of you who we’ve consulted throughout the process of arriving at this decision and working on a plan.

, it was among the first in a small constellation of initiatives aimed at fostering 

what would soon be called “effective altruism.”

 In 2011, following the establishment of 

, both organisations came together to form the Centre for Effective Altruism (which is now EV 

 from the project called Centre for Effective Altruism, which is also housed within EV).

A lot has changed in the intervening years, both within GWWC and within EV. Today, EV is home to 

 and is focused on a broad range of issues. As for GWWC, we have developed 

 and are committed to focusing more than ever on our core mission: to make effective and significant giving a cultural norm.

We’ve been considering this option for quite some time and have come to the conclusion that the best way to achieve our mission is to be an independent organisation. Being independent will allow us to:

Align our organisational structure and governance more closely with our mission.

Better manage our own legal and reputational risks.

Have greater clarity and transparency of our inner workings and governance to the outside world.

Have greater control over our operational costs.

We believe that these changes will enable us to serve our community better and to contribute more effectively to growing effective giving.

For most of you, very little will change. There will be a multi-stage transition period (most of which we estimate will be completed over the next 12 months) and any relevant changes will be communicated in a timely and transparent manner. Here’s what to expect:

We have registered Giving What We Can USA Inc. as a 501(c)(3) charity in the US, and have started the process of registering charities in the UK and Canada. There will be a transfer of GWWC-specific intellectual property, contracts, services, and data (e.g. brand, databases, website, files) to the new entities (exact structure to be determined) and a transition of the donation platform across to the new entities. Our supported programs (e.g. charitable projects and grantmaking funds) will need to be onboarded as programs with our new entities before any switch over dates (TBC) in each country.

We are recruiting new governance and advisory boards for the new entities.

We're also pursuing affiliate arrangements to continue to expand effective-giving support into new countries (e.g. our collaboration with EA Australia to launch GWWC Australia). This will include adapting our approach to local tax situations, cultural contexts, languages, and currencies.

Our dedication to fostering a culture of effective and meaningful giving continues unabated, guided by our long-standing mission.

Our community of members who have taken our pledge will continue to grow and be supported throughout the transition period and beyond.

Our trusted donation platform will continue being maintained and improved, serving as a gateway to impactful philanthropy.

 will continue iterating and improving, as we strive to be a robust and compelling resource for giving effectively.

We will continue to support fundraising for and grantmaking to our range of supported programs (both within and outside of EV).

This is an exceptionally important time for us and your support is greatly appreciated.

Luke Freeman

Grace Adams

Alex Savard

GWWC Operational Funding Match 2023

We are excited to announce a match for donations made towards our operations at Giving What We Can!

Starting December 1st, every dollar donated towards GWWC’s operations will be matched 1:1 up to US$200,000 until the match has been exhausted, or until January 31st 2024, whichever comes first*.

We believe that GWWC is a great funding opportunity for those who believe in effective giving. Our most recent 

, meaning that for each $1 spent on our operations, we generated $30 of value to highly-effective charities on average. 

Please note that this isn’t a claim that your additional dollar will have a 30x multiplier, even though we think it will still add a lot of value. Read more on 

 for highly-effective charities that would not have happened without GWWC.

Blog

Head of TED Chris Anderson signs new “Wealth Pledge” to give 2.5% of wealth to high-impact charities each year

Where are the GWWC team donating in 2023?

Giving What We Can is spinning out of the Effective Ventures Foundations

GWWC Operational Funding Match 2023

GWWC Newsletter: November 2024

How I feel about my GWWC Pledge

GWWC's new recommendations and cause area funds

The 2023 Giving What We Can Donor Lottery is now open

Giving What We Can has a new pledge option!

GWWC's new community strategy