The Pledge doesn’t require you to donate 10% of your income as it was at its highest point, or what it was at the time you took it. If someone goes from making, say, $100k (USD) per year to $50k per year, nobody would fault you for donating $5k instead of $10k (or, in your case, $10k instead of $20k, if you indeed wanted to stick to the 20% number). Of course, you might think to yourself now that you have a higher-paying job and you’ve come to expect you will donate lots every year, you may indeed be reluctant to take a lower-paying job.
However, I think most of us in the EA community understand if someone went from a higher-paying to lower-paying job, they’re likely to have a good reason. Starting a family, needing to move for personal reasons, taking a less stressful job, or looking after your health or that of a loved one are all perfectly legitimate reasons to take a lower salary. As long as income stays at a level where 10% is feasible to donate at all, I don’t perceive a problem. If anyone chided one person in particular for it, the rest of us would come to their defense, as we collectively recognize these are necessary normsfor making an effective altruist lifestyle robust, sustainable and marketable.
More of us could be encouraged to save more when we’re making more money so it’s easier to donate 10% of our annual income when it decreases. One could save money in the present as a cushion to donate later in the anticipation income may decrease in the future. Of course, this would require even more frugality than what might be considered usual for a GWWC member.
The Pledge doesn’t require you to donate 10% of your income as it was at its highest point, or what it was at the time you took it. If someone goes from making, say, $100k (USD) per year to $50k per year, nobody would fault you for donating $5k instead of $10k (or, in your case, $10k instead of $20k, if you indeed wanted to stick to the 20% number). Of course, you might think to yourself now that you have a higher-paying job and you’ve come to expect you will donate lots every year, you may indeed be reluctant to take a lower-paying job.
However, I think most of us in the EA community understand if someone went from a higher-paying to lower-paying job, they’re likely to have a good reason. Starting a family, needing to move for personal reasons, taking a less stressful job, or looking after your health or that of a loved one are all perfectly legitimate reasons to take a lower salary. As long as income stays at a level where 10% is feasible to donate at all, I don’t perceive a problem. If anyone chided one person in particular for it, the rest of us would come to their defense, as we collectively recognize these are necessary norms for making an effective altruist lifestyle robust, sustainable and marketable.
That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that donating 10% of $50K is a lot harder than donating 10% of $100K.
More of us could be encouraged to save more when we’re making more money so it’s easier to donate 10% of our annual income when it decreases. One could save money in the present as a cushion to donate later in the anticipation income may decrease in the future. Of course, this would require even more frugality than what might be considered usual for a GWWC member.