Roxanne Heston

2014 has been the best year yet for Giving What We Can! To celebrate all of the collective progress we’ve made, here’s our year in review.

We have skyrocketed to over 800 members. That’s more than double the number we had at the end of last year, when we ended with 391! To put this in perspective, this is twice the already rapid speed of growth we experienced in 2013 when we grew over 50% in one year. Accordingly, the amount pledged has also risen from $147 million to $344 million. We have expanded from 15 chapters to 26, with additions appearing Europe, America, and worldwide. You can find the full list 

Our online presence has grown as well, with an ever-increasing number of likes on 

, and a similarly high newsletter subscribership. We published nearly 100 posts in 

a conversation with Alix Zwane of Evidence Action

, enabling members and non-members alike to give automatically to top-rated charities of their choice. Over its first year, over £300,000 was donated to it.

In April we launched our new website, complete with an updated 

 where anyone can keep track of donations. June took us to Wales for the third annual Weekend Away with the largest turnout yet, and July to All Souls College for the effective altruism-focussed 

, with a range of speakers from writer Larissa MacFarquhar from The New Yorker to researcher Jeremy Lauer of WHO-CHOICE.

We held our large September internship for two weeks, producing a range of new content and organization-building thanks to the efforts and new perspectives of the interns. After lots of discussion and input, we amended the wording of the pledge new members will be taking moving forward. In light of this change, members Ravi Patel and Luke Llott spearheaded 

 to encourage more members to join the community this December, resulting in unprecedented membership growth in the last month. We’re very grateful for their efforts, and those of the amazing team of students who worked with them!

We’ve had some personnel changes. We’ve been very lucky to be joined by Jonathan Courtney as Director of Community. As well as welcoming all our new members and reaching out to interested people, he’s been 

making videos about our recommended charities

 and travelling the country to visit Chapters and present on topics from the psychological effects of giving to charities combatting climate change. We’ve been sorry to lose Steph Crampin as our Director of Communications, who’s off to Bangalore to learn programming.

With events happening all around the world, local and remote 

, and loads of online content, there is a way for everyone to become more involved. If you haven’t already, we hope you join our community by 

 or contact us if you have questions or concerns. If you don’t yet feel ready to take the Pledge, 

 provides an opportunity to challenge yourself to give an amount of your choosing and see how it feels.

Thanks to all of you for your commitment to making a difference in the lives of others. Together we have already donated more than $5 million, helping hundreds of thousands worldwide. Here’s to another year of progress towards eradicating extreme poverty!

Giving What We Can 2014 Year in Review

__A couple of months ago, Typhoon Haiyan devastated thousands of lives in the Philippines, wrecking communities and tearing families apart. These people, unconnected to most of the world prior to the disaster, soon became the centre of our attention, as the rest of us shuddered to envision our own communities and families disappearing from around us.

It is a bittersweet trend that has arisen in recent years in which the suffering of others far away brings us closer to them. The outpouring of funds, volunteers, and goods proves that our compassion can extend beyond physical and social barriers to help those most in need. Schools, congregations, and the like band together to do what they can for the victims - people, we quickly realize, who are in many ways like ourselves. Media images of distraught parents and desperate children poignantly hit home, showing families beside the ruins of houses or amongst what were once their own schools and congregations. For the weeks in which the suffering in the Philippines dominated news headlines, we empathized not with their specific plight, but instead on a more fundamental level: with their need for health, safety, and wellbeing.

Now a couple of months later, other concerns and festivities take up our attention, and the plights inflicted by Typhoon Haiyan have trickled from newscasts and discussions. Thoughts of those in the Philippines have been stowed as a memory of a movement, no longer stirring the compassion and union that spurred a movement initially. Although waning empathy is unfortunate, it is only inevitable that others' struggles slip out-of-mind as they fall out-of-sight.

It is incredibly valuable to remain resolute, in part because it is so easy to assume that our help is no longer needed. It is in the lull between disasters, when popular attention diverts to other matters, that it is most important we stay attuned, to reach out to our global community even when its voice in the media has become quiet. In the far aftermath of devastations, we can still relate to the care we felt for those who suffered and lend a hand to those around the world when few recognize a hand needs lending. With those memorable events in our heads and our hearts, we can reach out to those who could always use our help in obtaining the same simple necessities of health, safety, and wellbeing we afford our own.

What Typhoon Haiyan can teach us about compassion

Roxanne studied Economics at Tulane University and has spoken about effective giving at Tulane's TEDx Conference.

Roxanne Heston

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Giving What We Can 2014 Year in Review

What Typhoon Haiyan can teach us about compassion