Why I’m giving 10% of my income to charity (forever)
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the speaker introduces the 10% pledge, a commitment to donate 10% of income to effective charities, which they've adopted for both personal and business profits. They discuss the concept of effective giving, emphasizing the significant impact that can be achieved by donating to highly effective charities versus less impactful ones. The speaker shares their personal journey, the ethical considerations behind their decision, and the practical implications of giving, including the potential to save lives. They also encourage viewers to consider the pledge and provide resources for further information.
Takeaways
- 🤝 The speaker has committed to the 10% Pledge, donating 10% of their income to effective charities, and has extended this commitment to their business as well.
- 💼 The 10% Pledge is associated with the nonprofit 'Giving What We Can', which encourages donating to charities that are proven to be effective in their efforts.
- 🔍 Effective charities are defined as those that can produce the greatest benefit with each dollar donated, with a potential 100-fold difference in impact compared to less effective charities.
- 🌐 The importance of giving effectively is underscored by the many pressing global issues and the vast number of charities available, which makes it crucial to choose where to donate wisely.
- 💡 The concept of effective giving is illustrated through an example comparing the cost-effectiveness of curing blindness through cataract surgery versus providing sightseeing dogs.
- 🤔 The speaker reflects on personal ethical considerations, questioning the value of material possessions versus the opportunity to save lives with charitable donations.
- 🌟 The impact of donating can be profound, with the potential to save more lives through charity than through certain professions, such as being a doctor in a developed country.
- 💰 The speaker emphasizes that donating 10% of income can be a significant yet manageable commitment that aligns with both personal financial stability and global ethical responsibility.
- 🏆 The business is projected to donate a substantial amount to charity, which, based on the cost of saving a life through certain charities, could result in saving dozens of lives.
- 🔑 The decision to involve the business in the pledge brings a new sense of purpose to the company's operations and provides motivation beyond just financial success.
- 🌍 The script concludes with an invitation for others to consider the 10% Pledge, highlighting the potential for collective impact and the importance of spreading awareness about effective giving.
Q & A
What is the 10% pledge?
-The 10% pledge is a commitment to donate 10% of one's income to effective charities for the rest of one's life. It is run by a nonprofit called Giving What We Can.
Why is the speaker taking the 10% pledge for their business?
-The speaker is taking the 10% pledge for their business to ensure that a portion of their business profits are consistently donated to effective charities, aligning their business success with making a positive impact.
What is an effective charity?
-An effective charity is one that achieves significant positive impact with the resources it receives. There can be a substantial difference in effectiveness between charities, with some being able to do much more good per dollar donated.
Why is it important to give effectively?
-Giving effectively is important because it maximizes the positive impact of one's charitable donations. By choosing charities that are highly effective, one can do more good with the same amount of money, potentially saving or improving more lives.
How does the speaker use the example of corrective surgery for blindness to illustrate the difference in charity effectiveness?
-The speaker uses the example to show that donating to a charity that provides corrective surgery for blindness (Charity A) is more cost-effective than donating to one that provides sightseeing dogs (Charity B), as it costs significantly less to restore sight than to provide a sightseeing dog.
What is the thought experiment presented in the script about?
-The thought experiment is about the moral obligation to save a child's life, regardless of the cost to oneself or the location of the child. It is used to highlight the ethical imperative to take action when one can save a life, even if it's not immediately visible or convenient.
How does the speaker's personal income compare to the global median?
-When the speaker was working as a junior doctor, their post-tax income was 13.5 times the global median, placing them in the richest 2.3% of the global population.
What is the significance of donating 10% of one's income according to the speaker's experience?
-Donating 10% of one's income is significant because it allows the speaker to maintain a comfortable lifestyle while still making a substantial positive impact. The speaker believes that the 10% is a balance between personal quality of life and global ethical responsibility.
What is the projected donation amount from the speaker's business and what impact could it have?
-The projected donation amount from the speaker's business is $260,000, which, based on the cost of saving a life through the Against Malaria Foundation, could potentially save 47 lives.
What is the role of GiveWell in the speaker's charity selection process?
-GiveWell is a charity evaluator that provides research and recommendations on the most effective charities. The speaker plans to use GiveWell's recommendations to decide which charities to donate to, ensuring that the donations have the maximum impact.
Outlines
🤝 Embracing the 10% Pledge for Philanthropy
The speaker introduces the 10% pledge, a commitment to donate 10% of income to effective charities, which they adopted personally in 2019 and are now extending to their business. They explain the concept, emphasizing the importance of donating to charities that maximize impact, and share the game-changing realization that not all charities are equally effective. The speaker illustrates the power of effective giving with examples comparing the cost-effectiveness of different charitable interventions, highlighting the potential to do more good by choosing where to donate wisely.
🌍 The Moral Imperative of Effective Global Giving
The speaker delves into the philosophy behind giving, discussing the ethical obligation to donate to causes that save lives, particularly in developing countries. They reflect on personal struggles with the extent of giving, from the initial agreement with the concept to the realization that donating a significant portion of their income could still maintain a comfortable lifestyle. The speaker uses thought experiments and statistics to argue that donating to effective charities can have a greater impact on global health than certain professions, like being a doctor in a developed country.
💼 Integrating the 10% Pledge into Business Practices
The speaker shares their decision to apply the 10% pledge to their business's profits, calculating the potential life-saving impact this could have based on projected earnings. They discuss the personal satisfaction of knowing that their business success translates into tangible benefits for others and the motivational boost this gives to their entrepreneurial endeavors. The speaker also mentions the role of charity evaluators like GiveWell in identifying the most effective charities to support.
🔗 The Ripple Effect of Shared Commitments
In the final paragraph, the speaker contemplates the broader impact of their pledge, considering the potential for their actions to inspire others to donate and thus magnify the effect of their philanthropy. They invite viewers to share their pledge stories and consider the long-term implications of consistent, effective giving. The speaker concludes by encouraging viewers to learn more about the 10% pledge and effective giving, offering resources and personal contact for further engagement.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡10% pledge
💡effective charities
💡giving what we can
💡effective giving
💡global inequality
💡against malaria foundation
💡thought experiment
💡quality of life
💡life-saving impact
💡philanthropy
💡givewell
Highlights
Introduction to the 10% pledge, a commitment to donate 10% of income to effective charities for life.
The 10% pledge is managed by the nonprofit 'Giving What We Can', emphasizing effective charity donations.
Differentiating between effective and less effective charities, with a potential 100-fold difference in impact.
The concept of effective giving, focusing on where donations can do the most good.
The importance of researching charities to maximize the positive impact of donations.
A real-life example comparing the cost-effectiveness of curing blindness versus providing sightseeing dogs.
A thought experiment illustrating moral obligation to save a drowning child, regardless of location or visibility.
The ethical dilemma of valuing all lives equally and the impact of donating to save lives in developing countries.
Personal reflections on the struggle with the extent of personal financial commitment to charity.
The decision to take the 10% pledge for both personal income and business profits.
The surprising statistic that earning $60,000 a year places one in the top 1% globally.
The potential of donating 10% of income to save more lives than a career as a doctor in a developed country.
The business projection to donate $260,000 to charity, potentially saving 47 lives.
The shift in perspective from personal to business charity commitment and the renewed sense of purpose it brings.
The role of charity evaluators like GiveWell in identifying the most effective charities to maximize donation impact.
The potential collective impact of the pledge, encouraging viewers to consider their own financial commitments to charity.
Invitation to subscribe to the 'Life Notes' newsletter for further insights and updates.
Encouragement to visit 'Giving What We Can' and consider the 10% pledge for personal and global impact.
Transcripts
hey friends welcome back to the channel
so I have recently decided to take
something called the 10% pledge which is
where you donate 10% of your income to
effective Charities for the rest of your
life now I actually took this pledge
back in 2019 for my personal income but
this year I've decided to take the
pledge for my business as well so we as
a business from now on forever more are
going to be donating 10% of our business
profits to effective Charities every
year and so in this video I wanted to
share a little bit more about what is
the 10% pledge why I am taking it and
why you might want to consider it as
well what is the 10% pledge okay so the
10% pledge is run by a nonprofit called
giving what we can they are not
partnering with us or sponsoring this
video in any way just for the record um
and there's two aspects to the 10%
pledge there is the 10% bit and then
there is the fact that you are donating
it to effective Charities now the first
thing to say is let's talk about this
effective bit of effective Charities
what is an effective charity now the key
thing here is that just like there are
some businesses that are better or more
effective than others there are also
some Charities that are more effective
than others this was a real gamechanging
insight for me when I first heard about
it like 5 years ago which is that not
all Charities are created equal like
people who specialize in researching the
effectiveness of Charities have found
that sometimes there is a 100 times
difference in Effectiveness between a
less effective charity and a more
effective charity like what these guys
say on the website is many people lump
Charities into one doing good bucket
others are skeptical that donating works
at all the reality is that not all
Charities are created equal most do good
work but the difference between good and
great can be substantial some Charities
are significantly more impactful than
others and they've got a really good
post on their website about effective
giving 101 so what does it mean to give
effectively well give means using our
resources to benefit other people when
we see suffering in the world it's
natural to feel an emotional pull to do
something about it giving to charity is
one way to turn this emotional response
into direct positive action but then you
have the effectively bit which is where
you're achieving the best results with
the resources that we choose to give in
essence giving effectively involves
taking action on the basis of where our
charitable giving can do the most good
rather than doing some or a little bit
of good there's reason to believe that
choosing where to give can be more
important than choosing how much to give
since Charities often differ
considerably and how effective they are
it's worthwhile to take the time to
research which ones can produce the
greatest benefit with each dollar okay
so why is it important to give
effectively there are many pressing
problems facing the world from extreme
poverty to the mistreatment of animals
to existential risks that threaten
Humanity's very survival moreover there
are millions of Charities to choose from
1.5 million charities in the us alone
and it isn't always clear which ones we
should support and by giving effectively
you can significantly increase your
positive impact in the world let's see
how this is true with an example suppose
a donor is considering making a $1,000
donation to one of two Charities charity
a which offers corrective surgery for
blindness inducing cataracts and Charity
B which provides sightseeing dogs to
individuals with limited Vision on the
conservative end it costs about $11,000
to reverse a severe case of visual
impairment I.E about $1,000 to literally
cure someone's blindness if they're
affected by this disease conversely it
typically costs $30,000 to
$50,000 to provide one sightseeing dog
so I think this example is pretty
interesting um there is another thought
experiment imagine you're walking in a
park and you see that there's a pond and
you see that there is a child drowning
in the pond would you jump into the pond
to save the dying child of course you
would any like yeah it's it's not even a
question anyone anyone would do that
what if you're wearing a really
expensive pair of shoes or your
expensive suit would you jump into the
pond ruining your suit to save the child
of course you would you'd have to be a
real psychopath and a sociopath to not
do that who cares about the few thousand
that your suit costs if you can
literally jump in and save the child and
you're like okay cool well what if you
were walking on the border of France and
Germany and you see the pond and you see
the drowning child but they're over the
Border would you still walk over the
Border assuming you're not going to get
shot by the border force and go and and
save the child yeah of course you would
right like just because they're
technically in a different country
doesn't mean their life is worth any
less and of course you would still give
up your fancy expensive suit in order to
save the
child then the thought experiment
continues what if there was a wall a
wall separating you you know you French
and German borders there's a wall you
can't see the child on the other side of
the wall but you know the child is there
because you can hear the child you can
hear the child drowning and you have to
you know get up and scale the wall jump
on the other side and then save the
child would you save the child again of
course you would you would have to be
dumb not to save the child just because
you cannot see the person who's drowning
does not mean the person is not drowning
and and you know that if you were to
take action you could save that child
and then the question becomes what if
you knew with certainty that there is a
child dying right now let's say in a
random country in Africa or something
like that and you knew that there's a
child drowning and you can't see the
child you can't hear the child but you
know that that child is drowning that
child is dying and what if you knew that
if if you were to donate $5,000 to an
effective charity like the against
malaria foundation for example you could
literally save this child's life would
you do
it is the life of a child in a
developing country worth any less than
the life of someone in America or
someone in the US or someone in Germany
or Canada or the person that you can see
the whole idea behind you know Peter
singer's philosophy here um which I
broadly agree with is
that all lives are created equal and so
if there is stuff that we can do to save
those lives then you know living an
ethical and moral life means choosing to
do that stuff now when I first heard
this I was like yep I agree I agree I
agree I agree and then I felt really
Shifty when the question came to would I
donate $5,000 to save the life of a
child cuz I'm like well yeah in theory
but like you know I don't have that much
money this was back when I was working
as a doctor and it's like it's kind of
expensive and like oh it feels weird
because I really really want to buy the
Apple Vision Pro and
like it starts to feel like a weird sort
of like I'm I'm being told I'm a bad
person for not donating 100% of all of
my money to save the lives of people
because then I can't live and stuff and
so like for for years I was like uh yes
I agree in theory but like there's
nothing I can do about this because I
don't want to give up my entire I don't
I don't want to like I don't know give
up my life in the UK and go and work for
a charity that sounds boring maybe I'm a
bad person for not wanting to to work
for a charity I don't want to give up my
quality of life just so I can save the
life of kids in developing countries
like you know that kind of thing you can
imagine the you know the confronting
nature of that of that situation but
then I came across the 10% pledge and I
and there's this thing that very like
many thousands of people tens of
thousand of people around the world do
where they just give 10% of their income
to Charities effective Charities every
year and that 10% feels like a good
number for me it's like 10% for most
people in most parts of the world is not
really going to change your quality of
life in fact what giving away can tells
us based on the research is that if you
earn $60,000 a year post tax you are in
the top 1% globally you might not think
that if you earn $60,000 a year and
you're living in like New York or
California or some place that you're in
the top 1% but you are you are the top
1% globally in fact if you earn more
than $199,000 a year you are in the top
10% globally the scale of global
inequality is so insane that by Leading
a normal life in a developed country
like the US the UK Canada Germany
Australia that kind of thing you're
probably in the top 1% globally and so
when I realized that I was like okay you
know at the time I was earning like 40K
a year as a doctor it's like if I were
to donate
$4,000 £4,000 it's not really going to
change my life in any meaningful way but
that £4,000 or $5,000 can literally save
the life of a child holy that's
pretty cool there's also this guy called
Greg Lewis who did an analysis of how
many lives a doctor saves in their
career on average and this was actually
updated in 2023 I'll link all three
parts of his analysis down below but
essentially being a doctor in the UK If
you were to model statistically how many
lives does that save you land on over
the course of your entire career working
as a doctor you on average save
somewhere around seven or fewer
lives people get all up in arms about
this like if you want to read all the
stats and all the analysis there'll be a
link down below yes of course doctors
are good for things other than just
saving lives and of course it's
important that that doctor that you saw
when you were struggling held your hand
and was nice to you and stuff like that
but if you take a kind of math
mathematical approach to how much like
trying to quantify the impact of a
doctor for example working in a country
like the UK for example you land on the
number of a few lives saved in the
course of a career so if I were to work
40 years as a doctor I can save maybe
Seven Lives on average if I were to
donate 10% of my income as a doctor
every year to CH to effective Charities
I could save more lives than that in the
developing world crucially yeah those
lives would be in the developing World
they wouldn't be in the UK because it's
actually fairly cheap to save the life
of someone in the developing World about
$5,000 in the against malaria Foundation
it is very expensive to save the life of
someone in a developed country because
all of the lwh hanging fruit like
vaccines and sanitation and food and
poverty like broadly that stuff has been
taken care of but basically a country
like the UK is willing to spend an
enormous amount of money to extend
someone's life by even just one year
whereas that amount of money could save
10 lives in a subsaharan African country
for example and that was pretty
mind-blowing to me when I when I when I
realized this I was like oh hang on if I
agree that all lives are created
equal and I agree that the life of
someone who happens to live in London is
not is worth no more than the life of
someone who happens to live in Nigeria
or Ghana or something thing then huh
interesting by giving away by donating
money to certain Charities I can
actually save more lives than literally
working full-time as a doctor working 60
hours a week in the UK's National Health
Service mindblowing and So eventually
that's why in 2019 I decided to take the
10% pledge for my personal income yes of
course in an Ideal World I would be a
full-on philanthropist and donate
millions and millions and millions to
charity but there's something
around not letting perfect be the enemy
of good I I think for a few years I also
felt like well 10% is not enough then I
should be donating 90% of my income to
charity because I can just live on the
poverty line in the UK and stuff and 90%
of my income should should should go to
charity and because that because I
thought I should do that I ended up not
taking any action at all and then I
spoke to some people about it and they I
realized I was being dumb about it
like yeah honestly I don't want to give
all my money to charity at least not yet
while I'm young uh I like having a nice
quality of life I like growing my
business I like being rich but I'm very
happy to give 10% of my money to charity
and I've been doing for the last 5 years
and now that's going to be the case for
our business profits as well so this
year our business is projected to do
about2 million in profit if these
projections work out we will be donating
$260,000 to charity and if for example
you look at the stats on the against
marara Foundation it costs $55,500 to
Save a Life that means this year we as a
business will be saving 47 lives if we
were to do if we were to donate that
money to against Mana Foundation that's
pretty cool that means that like me
sitting here and filming these freaking
YouTube videos which may or may not be
sponsored by random sponsors and selling
courses and
stuff I can be a multi-millionaire I can
live the life that I want and on top of
that I can donate
$260,000 to charity this year and do
that 10% thing for the rest of my life
and just this year Alone by doing that
donation we as a business will have
saved 47 lives
that is freaking mindblowing you know
how hard it is to save 47 lives like
imagine there's a burning building and
there are 47 lives in that building and
you're able to go in and like save each
of those lives like saving one life is a
heroic thing right being able to save
more than one of those by simply writing
a check by simply donating money that
doesn't make a difference to my life
anyway that's just freaking mind blowing
um and that's why that's why I took the
pledge in 2019 um but for the last few
years I I i' i' I have felt a bit weird
about this pledge because I took the
pledge in terms of personal income like
the business is making millions in
revenue and profit but my personal
income is actually like I don't know
100K or something like that because if
for for tax reasons it's useful to just
not take income out and of the business
and it's all in the business and it's
invested in the business and so for a
while now I've been thinking that as a
founder of a business that's doing very
well it's a bit if it feels wrong to be
taking the 10% pledge and only doing it
like for my personal income and so I've
decided that from now on um my business
my holding company like whatever
businesses I do in the future will will
be donating 10% of our profits to
effective Charities every
year and since making that decision you
know we signed I signed the Pledge on
our team off site in Portugal a couple
weeks
ago and it's really brought a new sense
of purpose to what I'm doing with this
business I have at various points felt
like oh I've got enough money why do I
want to make another course what's the
point yeah we could make some apps but
like just to make money who cares oh
another sponsored video who
cares but weirdly now that I know that
every time the we like the business
makes money a I get richer which is kind
of fun cuz it's like points in a video
game that I can then cash in for for
stuff in real life but also for every
$5,000 for every $50,000 in profit the
business makes we're literally saving a
life that's really cool and that gives
me a reason to get out of bed in the
morning a reason to like more of a
reason to try and grow the business and
do fun stuff with the business because
there's this we're not just trying to
make YouTube videos for the sake of it
and yeah it's nice getting comments and
emails from people saying that oh your
videos have help help help help me get
through med school and stuff but knowing
that me talking to a camera and doing
that
consistently can make enough money to
save lives it's just like really really
really cool there is a charity evaluator
called givewell they're also nonprofit
they do loads of research into what are
the most effective Charities they like
really make sure that the maths works
for the charity they like try quantify
the impact they make sure that you know
a lot of Charities have admin budgets
and so they make recommendations every
year of this year we have decided that
these are the top Charities to donate to
if you want to maximize the impact of
your donation um I suspect those
Charities that we were we would we would
donate to as a business would probably
be either in the health sector or in the
education sector um but you know that's
a TBD and I think it would be cool if my
team and I get together once a year and
we like celebrate how much money we're
going to be giving to charity and then
we decide collectively based on what
givewell has recommended which charity
we want to donate the money to and we'll
be sharing details of that in my email
newsletter if you feel like subscribing
it's called Life notes and each week I
send like summaries of what I'm thinking
about what I'm reading what I'm
listening to conversations I'm having
there just sort of notes from my life
that I share with you completely for
free you can subscribe down below
there'll be a link and you can
unsubscribe whenever you feel like it
and also if you've got to this point in
the video then and you might Vibe with
some of this stuff then I would really
recommend you check out giving what we
can.org I think if you go to giving what
we can.org Ali that is a tracked link
cuz they're big on statistical tracking
and stuff and if you use that link in
particular and if you do decide to to
take the pledge and it's they say how
did you hear about us and you mentioned
my name if that's kind of interesting
because um you know there's the 47 lives
or whatever that we're saving through
donating money to charity but then
there's also the additional impact that
we as a company can have by me making
these videos that if for example 10
people even just 10 people watching this
video were to also then take the pledge
and also then start donating that money
that actually magnifies my impact which
is kind of nice and kind of cool and you
can kind of see the stats of this and so
I'll put a link down below if you want
to check it out but on the giving what
we can website you can see for example
how rich am I when I was working as a
doctor it would have been maybe post tax
income maybe like 35,000 something like
that yeah so back when I was working as
a junior doctor I was in the richest
2.3% of the global population and my
income was 13.5 times the global median
and then they take how cost of living
into account and they tell you like if
you were to donate 10% you would still
be in the richest 2.9% of the global
population your income would still be
12.2 time the global median and each
year your donation could treat 610
children who are suffering with from
malaria you could give 2,134 vitamin A
supplements and you could save almost
one life for a longer and healthier
future oh and if you do decide to take
the 10% pledge and this video has
influenced you in any way I would love
it if you would please drop me an email
Ali al.com and do mention that you've
taken the pledge um we love to hear some
more details about you and stuff
whatever you feel comfortable sharing uh
if there's enough people I I I've been
toying with the idea of making like a
little telegram group doing like an
annual Meetup of other people have taken
the pledge you know that something like
that but it just depends on what the
numbers are so please do email me if you
decide to take the pledge based on this
video or based on anything else that
I've shared anyway that's it uh if
you're interested in watching the video
that I did 5 years ago when I took the
pledge as an individual that'll be
linked over there thank you so much for
watching and I'll see you hopefully in
the next video bye-bye
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