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5 things you’ve got wrong about the Giving What We Can Pledge
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Alana HF·Giving What We Can🔸
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This post is primarily relevant to effective altruism philanthropy practices rather than AI safety research; it has limited direct relevance to technical AI safety but may interest those exploring EA community norms around resource allocation.
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Building effective altruismEffective givingDonation pledgeGiving Pledge10% PledgeAnnouncements and updatesGiving What We CanOrganization updates
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Summary
This article from Giving What We Can corrects five common misconceptions about their 10% giving pledge, clarifying that it is a lifetime (not annual) commitment, accepts donations to any effective organization, is legally non-binding, remains valuable even for those already giving 10%+, and comes in multiple forms for different circumstances.
Key Points
- •The pledge is a lifetime income commitment, not a strict annual requirement—donors can skip years, bunch donations, or adjust timing for tax or financial reasons.
- •Donations can go to any organization the pledger deems effective, not just those listed on the Giving What We Can platform.
- •The pledge is a moral, public commitment—not a legal contract—making it flexible and low-risk to sign.
- •Signing still adds value for those already giving 10%+ by providing public accountability, community, and a formal commitment signal.
- •Multiple pledge variants exist for students, lower-income individuals, and others with non-standard financial circumstances.
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5 things you’ve got wrong about the Giving What We Can Pledge — EA Forum
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by Alana HF , Giving What We Can🔸 May 15 2024 9 min read 31 138
Building effective altruism Effective giving Donation pledge Giving Pledge 10% Pledge Announcements and updates Giving What We Can Organization updates Frontpage 5 things you’ve got wrong about the Giving What We Can Pledge Misconception #1: If you sign the pledge, you have to donate at least 10% of your income each year. Misconception #2: Only the charities on the Giving What We Can Platform count towards your pledge Misconception #3: The pledge is a legal document Misconception #4: There’s no plausibly good reason to sign the pledge if you’re already donating 10% or more Misconception #5: There’s only one pledge 31 comments This is a linkpost for https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/en/blog/5-things-you-ve-got-wrong-about-the-giving-what-we-can-pledge How well do you know the details of the Giving What We Can Pledge? A surprising number of people we’ve spoken to — including many who know a lot about effective giving — shared some or all of these pledge misconceptions.
Note: This post was edited on 17 May to correct imprecise and potentially misleading language in Misconception #4 and respond to some of the feedback received on this point. Thank you to the commenters for pointing this out. Misconception #5 was edited on 29 May to clarify that there are also provisions for students and others not earning an income.
Misconception #1: If you sign the pledge, you have to donate at least 10% of your income each year.
The Giving What We Can Pledge is a public commitment to donate at least 10% of your lifetime income to the organisations that can most effectively use it to improve the lives of others. Giving 10% of your income each year is a good rule of thumb for most people, as it helps them stay on track with their lifetime pledge. However, there are certainly cases where it doesn’t make sense to give annually. Provided you continue reporting your income [1] on your personal pledge dashboard, the “Overall Progress” bar will show you where you are with respect to fulfilling your lifetime pledge. This way, you can continue to progress towards your lifetime pledge even if you need to skip a year.
While we recommend giving annually for most people , here are two examples of cases where it might make sense to skip, bunch, or otherwise donate on a non-annual basis:
Tax benefits: In some cases, donating every few years instead of every year is better from a tax benefit perspective. For example, if you live in the U.S., you often have to donate quite a lot in order to receive tax benefits for a particular year. Thus, some U.S. pledgers “bunch” their donations by saving the amount they would have
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