My First Pledge Anniversary: Thoughts of an Average Joe
I donate money each month. The money is gone. The end.
While this is essentially what the 10% Pledge boils down to, itâs been a surprisingly intense and exciting journey psychologically. As I just had my first anniversary, it seemed appropriate to think back and re-evaluate. I always love reading about the experiences of other pledgers, so I thought I might as well share some of my thoughts.
The Pledgeâs Influence
Itâs hard to admit, but: I am not a generous person, especially not with my time. You would never see me volunteering at a soup kitchen. I donât offer help or proactively engage with people on the street that seem to be struggling. Altruism never had much relevance in my life, nor is it ever a topic in my interactions with people. A chain of independent events led me to donate some amount of my income several years ago, but itâs always been very inconsistent, was spent ineffectively, and had a decreasing tendency from almost 10% of my post-tax income to at some point 1-2%.
While many hesitate for a long time to commit to charity with a pledge, I pretty much immediately signed up when a random Reddit post led me to effective altruism. It was a chance to make me somewhat accountable, start automating the donations instead of actively deciding to donate every month, and at least get some kind of recognition for it, even if itâs just automated mails and online markers. Value drift has always been very real for me, so Iâm happy I forced myself into the tracks while the initial excitement was there. Iâm pretty sure I would have reduced the amount already at times if âno one was lookingâ, so to speak. Especially when reconnecting with the mindset I had when I signed the pledge, Iâm happy that I kept doing it even when my mind was elsewhere.
Spoilt for ChoiceâWhere to Donate?
This is honestly still a troublesome topic for me for so many reasons. Currently, my monthly donations are evenly spread among effektiv-spenden.orgâs funds for Global Health, Climate Change and Animal Suffering. I often times struggle especially with the Animal Suffering fund, as I eat quite a lot of meat for my fitness protein intake and failed to switch to veganism multiple times. With something like The Good Food Institute, this might be less of an issue, but it still feels hypocritical.
I also sometimes feel like doing more âguilty pleasureâ donations as Sam Harris coined it, where I can more directly feel and see what my donations do. This would of course be on top of the 10% if itâs not EA-related, but I could also just add that amount of money to my effective donations. To be fair, this can also be somewhat achieved by directly donating instead of using the funds, as many institutes give you very specific information what happened with your money and what it achieved. The extreme indirectness of the funds definitely makes it a bit tougher to stick with it, despite probably being the best choice. But, you know, sometimes it feels nice to get thank you mails and some reports about the good your donations supported. The individual stories on GiveDirectlyâs website, for example, are also very nice additions to make donations seem more real and meaningfulâitâs hard to get into it by statistics alone.
On top of that, recent developments also made me wonder if I should support more initiatives for democracy. Development aids have been cut tremendously following recent voting trends in democratic countries, with amounts that can hardly be matched by donations. Iâm not even sure if that would be covered by the pledge though, even though Effektiv Spenden offers a fund for it. Maybe something on top of it.
Never Doing Enough
Itâs very easy to get into downward spirals mentally.
To be fair, although 10% sounds like such a low amount when visualizing it, it is actually a hefty blow to the monthly budget. Most of the time it sounds like itâs just spending less on luxury, but for me itâs more about building my safety net. 50% of my post-tax income already goes away for basic needs. Currently, I try to invest 30% towards retirement as I have a lot of concerns to not find jobs anymore in my 50âČs. With just the 10% pledge we are then at about 96% spent (until the taxes come back), leaving 4% for having fun. Much less wiggle room than I expected.
I *could*, though. And thatâs where it starts. Why not double it to 20%? Itâs possible, I just need to invest less and take the risk. What if I buy less expensive soda drinks or just drink water altogether? Saved money again I could donate. I currently work 4 days per week, should I increase this to 5 again and donate it all? Or volunteer somewhere?
The questions keep stacking up, and rather than patting myself on the back for sticking to the 10% (when getting bonuses probably more like 15% or something), I get stressed about not doing enough. We are talking about lives here while I stress out about possible futures and losing the joy of a cold soda. What a moral monster I am. These kind of thoughts come up again and again.
The Ivory Tower
These negative thoughts also come up often when just browsing online content: Iâm in awe of the kind of people in the effective altruism movement. So many incredibly smart people, to the point I cannot even follow interviews of the 80,000 hours podcast. Not only smart, but also so unbelievably generous with their time and money. And then thereâs little me looking for a pat on the back for giving away some money while working less than most, living more comfortably than most, and not really missing anything. It feels alienating and humbling, but at the same time Iâm extremely happy that people in this ivory tower spend so much energy to make the world a better place. It gives me hope for a better world, even in times when it seems to move into the opposite direction.
Being Vocal
One last aspect that always concerns me is âbeing vocal about givingâ. I understand the rationale behind it, but at the same time it feels preachy and wrong at pretty much every opportunity. It probably doesnât help that reactions are typically in a spectrum between a neutral âYou should give it to me insteadâ or an outward aggressive âSo much? Are you insane?â like you just got lured into a Ponzi scheme. Thereâs rarely natural opportunities to bring this topic up, most of the time I just mention it in passing, e.g. when talking about a tax return or something along those lines. And when it comes up, thereâs basically zero interest and people just want to skip that topic quickly.
Conclusion
In summary, while I often times feel more guilty than happy about my donations, Iâm still glad to have taken the pledge. No matter where I currently am emotionally or where my interests shifted to, I now have a âdoing good defaultâ I donât need to re-evaluate every month. I also noticed that value drift is a real issue for me, as the whole thought process of ânot doing enoughâ usually leads to a break from all the altruism topics for some time. With the pledge running in the background, this isnât much of a problem, and Iâm always glad I stuck with it whenever I re-engage with the topic more enthusiastically.
Wow! I appreciate the vulnerability in this post. It gives me a lot of perspective on what motivates people to give back /â do good. Ultimately is it the motivation that matters or the impact? Probably the latter. Recognizing that we canât do everything, but we can always something. This is why the pledge exists in part.
I can relate a lot to your story.
My first experiences talking about effective giving were so negative that they discouraged me from doing it for years. Maybe it had a negative impact because I communicated so poorly that people were put off and stopped being open to the idea in the first place.
Every time I read on the internet that I should encourage others to give, it felt like yet another moral obligation that I was failing to fulfill.
I got this one a few times, and I find it extremely dismissive and disrespectful. Even more so when I think about people in extreme poverty and animals in factory farms.
Another time, the other viewed donating as no better than giving in to beggars⊠a weakness that has nothing to do with doing good.
Surprisingly, the same people were very understanding or even positive about vegetarianism or veganism.
Nowadays, it has become a little easier to talk about effective giving since I can point to the website of the local effective giving organization. I still avoid being the first point of contact.
Thank you for sharing your story in this post, and congratulations on taking the pledge :)
I think it very natural to consider whether itâs possible to do even more, but I encourage you to celebrate what youâve achieved already. There is nothing wrong with giving yourself a pat on the back, and itâs important to remember that the people youâre listening to on 80,000 Hours are the top 0.01% - we donât all have to be as impressive as them!
Thanks for the incredible honesty and vulnerability. Iâm sad that your friends and colleagues have such negative responses to your giving. Most of my friends and colleagues have ranged from neutral to extremely positive about giving and charity work, not neutral to wildly negative like you! My friends are often from church, and I work in the medical field though, so that might explain some of the difference
This is probably overreach but my first reaction was to wonder if there was a way to find some friends or colleagues who are more encouraging and supportiveâwho at least are open to discussing and thinking about being altruistic. Obviously I donât know your context though!
It can also be framed the other way around: Itâs an even better opportunity to plant some seeds towards giving in people that would never have thought about it otherwise! I appreciate the kind words :).
Just to echo what Nick said: I loved the openness of this post, thanks for writing it!
Thank you! In a way I was also on the fence for quite some timeâI just didnât know about any official pledges, but 10% was the initial goal I slowly drifted away from. Afterwards it was not just finding out about EA and GWWC, but also several other events nudging me towards it. Most prominently a 10% increase of my salary that I was able to reflect on: Did it really improve my life in any meaningful way? The answer to that was a clear ânoâ and I felt that I might just as well give away what I gained, as I would not have missed it if it didnât happen.
If youâre not fully behind it, thereâs always the possibility to go with a Trial and see how it feels. Perhaps you can slowly work towards what you consider your target, year by year. e.g. starting with what the calculator of The Life You Can Save recommends and then use salary increases to gradually climb towards it. But itâs always a personal thing and so many factors behind itâit should be a moment of celebration and feeling good about the decision, not a pressured âI hope this works outâ moment :).
All the best for your giving journey, Iâm sure you will find a way that you feel comfortable and proud with.
Executive summary: In this personal reflection on their first anniversary of taking the Giving What We Can pledge, the authorâwho describes themselves as neither especially generous nor deeply embedded in altruistic communitiesâshares how the 10% commitment has served as a stable, automated anchor for doing good amidst ongoing doubts, guilt, and value drift.
Key points:
The pledge as a commitment device: The author signed the pledge quickly after discovering EA, appreciating how it automated their giving and made it harder to backslide due to inattention or value drift.
Ongoing struggles with donation choices: They feel conflicted about donating to causes like animal welfare while still consuming meat and sometimes crave more emotionally tangible giving opportunities despite knowing funds are likely more effective.
Mental spirals about ânot doing enoughâ: Although the 10% pledge is financially significant for them, they often feel inadequate compared to hypothetical higher standards (e.g. donating 20%, working more, volunteering).
Feelings of alienation and admiration within EA: They express awe at others in the movement who seem far more capable and committed, which can be both humbling and discouraging.
Reluctance to talk about giving publicly: The author finds it socially awkward to bring up charitable giving and often receives negative or dismissive reactions when they do.
Gratitude for the pledgeâs consistency: Despite ambivalence and emotional ups and downs, the author is ultimately thankful for the pledgeâs stability in keeping their altruistic efforts on track without requiring constant re-motivation.
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