Share our ideas: Help inspire others

Help us spread the word about giving more and giving more effectively — become an advocate for effective giving!

a screenshot of an article called "the people who give some of their salary away' - and why they do it

One of our members Seren Kell was featured in Positive News Magazine!

It turns out that by far the most common way people first hear about effective giving and Giving What We Can is through someone they trust.

By simply talking with friends and family about effective giving, you can massively increase your impact (all it takes is roughly one person to follow your lead for you to roughly double your impact).

The more donors prioritise effective charities, the more quickly we can collectively make a dent in the world's problems, improving the lives of many more people.

But talking about where to give (or why to give) can feel strange, or even scary. This is because it's not (yet) commonplace in our society for people to talk publicly about charitable giving.

We think this is a taboo worth fighting against. In fact, overcoming it is part of the reasoning behind our public giving pledge.

The reality is that people take their cues from others. Giving silently enforces misconceptions and misses an opportunity to share resources and knowledge that others may not have. In fact, according to a 2015 TIME article, research suggests that 72% of people give less than average, but 75% of people think they give more than average.

And as our executive director Luke Freeman writes in his article about how social change happens,

“The reality is we're all active agents in the world. We can all nudge the world towards the world that we want, or sit back and be nudged.”

So if you’re passionate about the power of effective giving in helping alleviate preventable suffering and secure a sustainable, resilient future — and you wish more donors prioritised impact when deciding where to donate — we hope you’ll feel comfortable sharing these ideas with others. Or maybe you’ll still feel a little uncomfortable (after all, social norms are hard to change) but you’ll think the benefits are worth it.

Remember that if people were really as resistant to hearing about charity as we may believe, “word of mouth” probably wouldn’t be the number one way people hear about Giving What We Can. (And it is!)

Tips for talking about effective giving

To help you get started, we've collected some resources for how to talk about effective giving:

Other ways to raise awareness about giving effectively

Use our shareable images

Share your personal experience

Display your pledge certificate/pledge pin in your home and/or office

  • Frame your physical pledge certificate and put it on your wall, desk, or shelf.
  • Hang your pledge pin with the accompanying explanation on your fridge, or prop it up on a bookshelf, desk, mantle, etc.

This is a great (and subtle) way of inviting questions/sparking conversation!

Share effective giving content

Host/share events and fundraisers

  • Fundraise for effective charities (raise awareness by mentioning Giving What We Can, effective giving, or effective altruism).
  • Run an event or give a talk about effective giving (e.g., at work or school, religious or community group, book or social club).
  • Invite people to our events.

Get creative with gifts

  • Give donations to friends and family as gifts or ask for them as gifts. Choose effective charities and mention why that matters. Use our printable gift card templates or make your own!

Wear it to share it

  • Check out our collection of Giving What We Can swag, including branded t-shirts, tote bags, hoodies, hats, and more!
  • Wear your pledge pin (or pin it to a personal item!)

Please contact us if you would like to discuss other ways to get involved or would like any further resources.