Giving What We Can
Encyclopedia
Giving What We Can is an international society for the promotion of poverty relief, in particular in the developing world.
Founded by moral philosopher Dr Toby Ord in November 2009, Giving What We Can is not a charity itself: the aims of the organisation are instead to encourage people to commit to long-term donation to those charities that provide the most cost-effective poverty relief. Giving What We Can conducts extensive research into the relative effectiveness
of charities, and provides a list of those it most highly recommends. Currently this includes charities that work to treat neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)
, tuberculosis
, and malaria
.
Ord founded Giving What We Can as a society of like-minded donors who share his commitment to fighting poverty through life-long giving. All members of Giving What We Can thus make a public pledge to give at least 10% of their income each year until retirement. The Pledge to Give can be made at the standard 10% rate, or a higher rate.
The purposes of the pledge are to:
as its metric for evaluating the effectiveness of charities: rather than being concerned with intermediary factors such as the proportion of a donation spent on administration, using DALYs allows the actual life-extending effects of charities to be compared. Giving What We Can cites that health interventions can vary in cost-effectiveness by as much as 10,000 times, making it an essential consideration when donating to charity.
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3
spoke at the launch event to a crowd of about 600 attendees (video link).
On March 2nd, 2011, Toby Ord spoke at Rutgers University (video link).
On April 11th, 2011, the second US chapter was officially started at Princeton University. Jeffrey Sachs
recorded a public message applauding Giving What We Can activities (video link).
has critiqued the use of DALYs to compare charities and, more specifically, the high regard these estimates give to NTDs; following each article is a discussion between Givewell's Holden and Giving What We Can's Will Crouch.
Founded by moral philosopher Dr Toby Ord in November 2009, Giving What We Can is not a charity itself: the aims of the organisation are instead to encourage people to commit to long-term donation to those charities that provide the most cost-effective poverty relief. Giving What We Can conducts extensive research into the relative effectiveness
Effective giving
- Principles behind the effective giving movement :* Be confident that your donation will be used effectively. By relying on recommendations of where to give that are based on high-quality evidence about what works, you can be confident your donation will be well-used.* Change incentives for...
of charities, and provides a list of those it most highly recommends. Currently this includes charities that work to treat neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)
Neglected Diseases
The neglected diseases are a group of tropical infections which are especially endemic in low-income populations in developing regions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Different organizations define the set of diseases differently...
, tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, and malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
.
Pledge to Give
In November 2009, Giving What We Can founder Dr Toby Ord received significant media attention when he made a personal pledge to donate at least 10% of his income for the rest of his working life to combat poverty.Ord founded Giving What We Can as a society of like-minded donors who share his commitment to fighting poverty through life-long giving. All members of Giving What We Can thus make a public pledge to give at least 10% of their income each year until retirement. The Pledge to Give can be made at the standard 10% rate, or a higher rate.
The purposes of the pledge are to:
- Establish a lifestyle that accommodates a high level of charitable giving, rather than getting used to luxuries and then having to cut back in order to donate
- Make a personal and public commitment to maintain this level of donation
- Publicly demonstrate support for combating poverty
The Further Pledge
Citing that he could live perfectly comfortably and happily within the means of a £20,000 yearly income, Ord additionally chose to pledge any money he earns in a year above this figure. This is what Giving What We Can calls a 'Further Pledge': the member defines a baseline yearly income they intend to live within, and above which they will donate all earnings.Focus on effectiveness
The Pledge to Give also stipulates that members give their pledged money to cost-effective charities to maximise the benefit of their donations. Giving What We Can uses the disability-adjusted life year (DALY)Daly
Daly or DALY may refer to:* Daly * Daly City, California* Daly College, India* Daly detector, atype of mass spectrometry detector* Daly languages, group of Australian aborigine languages...
as its metric for evaluating the effectiveness of charities: rather than being concerned with intermediary factors such as the proportion of a donation spent on administration, using DALYs allows the actual life-extending effects of charities to be compared. Giving What We Can cites that health interventions can vary in cost-effectiveness by as much as 10,000 times, making it an essential consideration when donating to charity.
Activities
Giving What We Can does not itself conduct charity work: rather, it provides a framework for donors to adhere to, researches and evaluates the cost-effectiveness of charities and offers advice and resources regarding the best organizations to give to.Recommended charities
Currently, these charities are most highly rated by Giving What We Can:Tier 1
- Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI)
- Deworm the World
Tier 2
- Stop TB PartnershipStop TB PartnershipThe Stop TB Partnership was established in 2000 to eliminate tuberculosis as a public health problem. Its 1000 partner organizations include international, nongovernmental and governmental organizations and patient groups...
Tier 3
- Against Malaria Foundation (AMF)
Notable members
- Toby OrdToby OrdToby Ord is an Australian philosopher. He is the founder of Giving What We Can, an international society dedicated to the elimination of poverty in the developing world.- Career :...
- Peter SingerPeter SingerPeter Albert David Singer is an Australian philosopher who is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne...
- Thomas PoggeThomas PoggeThomas Winfried Menko Pogge is a German philosopher and is currently the Director of the Global Justice Program and Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs at Yale University...
- Adam SwiftAdam SwiftAdam Swift is a British political philosopher and sociologist who specialises in debates surrounding liberal egalitarianism. He has published books on communitarianism, on the philosophical aspects of school choice, and on social justice, as well as an extremely successful introduction to...
- Michael KremerMichael KremerMichael Robert Kremer is a development economist and is currently the Gates Professor of Developing Societies at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Presidential Faculty Fellowship, and was named a Young Global...
- Rachel Glennester
- Jonathan BlowJonathan BlowJonathan Blow is an independent video game developer. His game Braid won the "Game Design" award at the Independent Games Festival in 2006. He is currently developing The Witness, to be released in 2012....
- Dr Bernadette Young
US Chapters
On December 2nd, 2010, the first US chapter was officially started at Rutgers University. Peter SingerPeter Singer
Peter Albert David Singer is an Australian philosopher who is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne...
spoke at the launch event to a crowd of about 600 attendees (video link).
On March 2nd, 2011, Toby Ord spoke at Rutgers University (video link).
On April 11th, 2011, the second US chapter was officially started at Princeton University. Jeffrey Sachs
Jeffrey Sachs
Jeffrey David Sachs is an American economist and Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. One of the youngest economics professors in the history of Harvard University, Sachs became known for his role as an adviser to Eastern European and developing country governments in the...
recorded a public message applauding Giving What We Can activities (video link).
Criticism
The charity comparison organisation GivewellGivewell
GiveWell is an American non-profit charity evaluator created in 2006 by two former finance industry workers, Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld. GiveWell's goal is to use an evidence based approach by examining results empirically and avoiding anecdotes and appeals to stories. They investigate...
has critiqued the use of DALYs to compare charities and, more specifically, the high regard these estimates give to NTDs; following each article is a discussion between Givewell's Holden and Giving What We Can's Will Crouch.