Thanks for sharing, Lizka! and thanks to everyone else for sharing their voices in the comments too!
I liked this post from Samie which talks about some factors for financial planning and security that are helping when thinking about donating—I liked the ideas about income protection insurance and thinking about financial goals.
I personally took a trial pledge for 3% of my income for a year before deciding I could really commit to the full GWWC Pledge. I’ve had ongoing health issues throughout my adulthood which at times meant I wasn’t able to work full time and was concerned about my ability to potentially earn an income in the future—so it was a really big deal to me to sign a lifetime pledge.
There were a couple of things that pushed me over the edge to take the full pledge:
Feeling like I did have enough saved that if I had to reduce my work hours that I could still afford to donate. I’ve been fortunate to be working from the age of 20 and lived with my parents for many years so I could save money.
Knowing if that if I couldn’t work anymore that I wouldn’t be liable for donations under the pledge (just a suggested 1% of spending money) or that I could always resign if I needed to. On this point, I didn’t want to let the fear of my health potentially declining be a reason not to make an important commitment to do good—I like the marriage analogy with the pledge, as mentioned by others here.
Knowing that even on a modest income in Australia (or even on government benefits), I would still be really well off in comparison to the majority of people alive right now. My own health issues and suffering have been a big part of understanding how positively my donations could impact the lives of others, and I find that really personally motivating.
I think it’s really up to each individual to figure out how much runway to save up, because our circumstances are all quite different (i.e. family, health, government policies, likelihood of changes to income level etc). I do think it was easier for me to sign a lifetime pledge because I have a family who are likely to be able to support me if things were really dire.
Taking the GWWC Pledge is a big commitment and I would recommend that people think carefully about it before doing so. I think a Trial Pledge is a great step and I’m really excited about the value of having people show that they’re donating on a public register, even without the lifetime commitment, because this helps normalise effective giving and giving more broadly as a positive social norm!
(I work for GWWC but this was written in my personal capacity)
“Knowing that even on a modest income in Australia (or even on government benefits), I would still be really well off in comparison to the majority of people alive right now. My own health issues and suffering have been a big part of understanding how positively my donations could impact the lives of others, and I find that really personally motivating. ”
This for me captures some of the important reasons for me why most people should take the pledge, nice one!
Thanks for sharing Grace. I think it’s interesting you mention “that I could always resign if needed to”. I’m also still on the fence of pledging, but I wonder if I should look at it similar as going vegan. Like, right now my goal is to be vegan for the rest of my life. So in a way I’ve pledged to that. But something could always happen later in life, perhaps health reasons, that would result in me ‘resigning’ from veganism.
Thanks for sharing, Lizka! and thanks to everyone else for sharing their voices in the comments too!
I liked this post from Samie which talks about some factors for financial planning and security that are helping when thinking about donating—I liked the ideas about income protection insurance and thinking about financial goals.
I personally took a trial pledge for 3% of my income for a year before deciding I could really commit to the full GWWC Pledge. I’ve had ongoing health issues throughout my adulthood which at times meant I wasn’t able to work full time and was concerned about my ability to potentially earn an income in the future—so it was a really big deal to me to sign a lifetime pledge.
There were a couple of things that pushed me over the edge to take the full pledge:
Feeling like I did have enough saved that if I had to reduce my work hours that I could still afford to donate. I’ve been fortunate to be working from the age of 20 and lived with my parents for many years so I could save money.
Knowing if that if I couldn’t work anymore that I wouldn’t be liable for donations under the pledge (just a suggested 1% of spending money) or that I could always resign if I needed to. On this point, I didn’t want to let the fear of my health potentially declining be a reason not to make an important commitment to do good—I like the marriage analogy with the pledge, as mentioned by others here.
Knowing that even on a modest income in Australia (or even on government benefits), I would still be really well off in comparison to the majority of people alive right now. My own health issues and suffering have been a big part of understanding how positively my donations could impact the lives of others, and I find that really personally motivating.
I think it’s really up to each individual to figure out how much runway to save up, because our circumstances are all quite different (i.e. family, health, government policies, likelihood of changes to income level etc). I do think it was easier for me to sign a lifetime pledge because I have a family who are likely to be able to support me if things were really dire.
Taking the GWWC Pledge is a big commitment and I would recommend that people think carefully about it before doing so. I think a Trial Pledge is a great step and I’m really excited about the value of having people show that they’re donating on a public register, even without the lifetime commitment, because this helps normalise effective giving and giving more broadly as a positive social norm!
(I work for GWWC but this was written in my personal capacity)
“Knowing that even on a modest income in Australia (or even on government benefits), I would still be really well off in comparison to the majority of people alive right now. My own health issues and suffering have been a big part of understanding how positively my donations could impact the lives of others, and I find that really personally motivating. ”
This for me captures some of the important reasons for me why most people should take the pledge, nice one!
Thanks for sharing Grace. I think it’s interesting you mention “that I could always resign if needed to”. I’m also still on the fence of pledging, but I wonder if I should look at it similar as going vegan. Like, right now my goal is to be vegan for the rest of my life. So in a way I’ve pledged to that. But something could always happen later in life, perhaps health reasons, that would result in me ‘resigning’ from veganism.
I think of my veganism in the same way!