My company offers something called Community Care Grants (CCGs) — essentially, they’re willing to donate up to $2,000 per year to eligible charities based on either employee donations or volunteer hours.
The structure looks like this:
1 hour of volunteering → $50 grant
16 hours → $150 grant
50 hours → $300 grant
100 hours → $500 grant
250 hours → $500 grant
500 hours → $500 grant
(Yes, it caps out at $2,000 total.)
I started my career in February 2025. I make about $60.80 per hour and pay roughly $1,000/month in “rent” to my parents since I still live at home in the Bay Area. Earlier this year, before learning about the CCG program, I had already donated $1,547 to effective altruism-aligned charities. Unfortunately, that donation doesn’t qualify for the grant match.
My parents have since encouraged me to stop donating large amounts, mainly because they’re skeptical of charities in general — even effective altruistic ones — and they think 10% is too much for someone just starting out. They suggested I limit myself to something like $40/month, so I’ve paused regular donations for now. I plan to make larger contributions later in life, perhaps through my will, and instead of save the money to perhaps make more money like investments or something.
Given that, I see volunteering for CCGs as a meaningful way to continue contributing without impacting my financial stability. So far, I’ve done about 16 hours (split between 8 during work hours and 8 outside) and plan to direct the resulting $200 to something like the Against Malaria Foundation.
However, I’m struggling with whether I have a moral obligation to aim higher — say, 50, 100, 250 or even 500 hours. On one hand, I didn’t give a full 10% of my income this year. On the other, the additional hours would cut a lot of my own personal time, and I’m unsure where to draw the line between moral responsibility and personal comfort.
I also find myself confused by ideas like Schelling points and what constitutes a reasonable personal threshold. How do you all think about balancing moral “shoulds” with practical limits in cases like this?
Thanks for reading — I’d love to hear your perspectives
[Question] Balancing Moral Obligation and Personal Comfort with Corporate Community Care Grants
Hi everyone,
My company offers something called Community Care Grants (CCGs) — essentially, they’re willing to donate up to $2,000 per year to eligible charities based on either employee donations or volunteer hours.
The structure looks like this:
1 hour of volunteering → $50 grant
16 hours → $150 grant
50 hours → $300 grant
100 hours → $500 grant
250 hours → $500 grant
500 hours → $500 grant
(Yes, it caps out at $2,000 total.)
I started my career in February 2025. I make about $60.80 per hour and pay roughly $1,000/month in “rent” to my parents since I still live at home in the Bay Area. Earlier this year, before learning about the CCG program, I had already donated $1,547 to effective altruism-aligned charities. Unfortunately, that donation doesn’t qualify for the grant match.
My parents have since encouraged me to stop donating large amounts, mainly because they’re skeptical of charities in general — even effective altruistic ones — and they think 10% is too much for someone just starting out. They suggested I limit myself to something like $40/month, so I’ve paused regular donations for now. I plan to make larger contributions later in life, perhaps through my will, and instead of save the money to perhaps make more money like investments or something.
Given that, I see volunteering for CCGs as a meaningful way to continue contributing without impacting my financial stability. So far, I’ve done about 16 hours (split between 8 during work hours and 8 outside) and plan to direct the resulting $200 to something like the Against Malaria Foundation.
However, I’m struggling with whether I have a moral obligation to aim higher — say, 50, 100, 250 or even 500 hours. On one hand, I didn’t give a full 10% of my income this year. On the other, the additional hours would cut a lot of my own personal time, and I’m unsure where to draw the line between moral responsibility and personal comfort.
I also find myself confused by ideas like Schelling points and what constitutes a reasonable personal threshold. How do you all think about balancing moral “shoulds” with practical limits in cases like this?
Thanks for reading — I’d love to hear your perspectives