I took the Giving What We Can pledge last month. Prior to this I had an agreement with my wife that each of us could contribute 1⁄2 of 10% of our combined income to charities as we each see fit. This agreement has eliminated conflicts between us when trying to decide where to donate, but I realized it really wasn’t a firm commitment to actually donate. Also, I believe that signing the GWWC pledge will tend to have a positive effect on encouraging others to take the pledge.
pnlivingstone
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Thanks for posting this. I found this to be a helpful guide to collaborative truth-seeking and I especially appreciate the links for further information.
Thanks to Gleb_T for encouraging me to contribute to this thread. I am new to the forum and relatively new to the EA movement. I’d like to share an agreement I made with my wife regarding giving. It has enabled us to give more and has reduced some conflict in our marriage. I hope it might be useful for others as well. Since we view all of our finances as jointly owned, we always discuss spending, unless it is within some automated account. We would discuss charitable donations on a case-by-case basis, so when one of us wanted to make a donation we would bring it up and present our case. Since we don’t always agree with each other, this was an obstacle to our giving. To resolve this, we have agreed to give away 10% of our pre-tax income annually, with each of us having separate control over half of the total. That way we can each give to our favorite causes without having to seek agreement from the other. Also, we have a fixed budget for giving. Of course, if we both agree, we can give more than the total of 10%. So far it has worked well. We have donated to Action Against Hunger and Intentional Insights, and there will be more to come.
I shared my “Everyday Heroes” interview on my Facebook page last week, and I really wasn’t sure what kind of reaction I would get, since I don’t think many of my friends are even aware of the EA movement. All of the comments I received were positive and supportive, with a few even indicating this would increase their charitable giving. Here are a few comments:
“this has also made me add up what I’ve actually donated this year and I guess I need to step it up a bit”. “You’re spreading the word, so don’t feel uncomfortable, Pete. Good on you, man!” “I’m going to show this to our family, Pete. What a role model as a neighbor and a friend!”
This feedback has convinced me to keep being public about my giving, and I hope it will inspire others to be public about giving as well.