Guest post: "We donate up to half our income - it's not just billionaires who can be philanthropists"

[MumsnetGuestPosts]

When my husband and I work out our household budget each year, one of our numbers looks different to most people's. That's because we've pledged to give at least 10% of our income to the best charities we can find. Most years we give more like half.

As a child, I was struck by how unfair it was that some people didn't have their basic needs met, and I wanted to do my part to change this. When Jeff and I met at university, we knew we wanted giving to be an important part of our lives together. We've intentionally kept our spending low, even as our income has grown, so we're able to give. We don't think money is the only way to help, but it seemed like a good starting point to us.

Of course, things were simpler before we had two children in two years. But even after the arrival of our daughters, we've found that we've been able to stick to our giving plan. We knew childcare would be our biggest expense, so we saved in advance for these first few years when care is most expensive. And we've tried to keep our tastes simple, buying clothes at charity shops and visiting family rather than hotels for holidays.

It helps that we don't feel alone. In the early days, we didn't know anyone else who made giving a major part of their budget. Then we discovered Giving What We Can, a community of those who choose to give at least 10%. We've been happy to find friends there (including other parents) who also want to use their money to leave the world better than they found it. We're glad it's not just billionaires who can be philanthropists, but nurses, teachers, engineers, and civil servants.

People sometimes ask what our children will think of our lifestyle as they get older, and whether we'll encourage them to adopt it too. We don't want to push them too hard and make them tight-fisted as a way of rebelling. We want them to see sharing as a normal part of life. Giving has brought us great satisfaction, and we hope they'll see that and be shaped by it.

The research on what makes people happy points to personality, health, and social relationships as the biggest factors. Beyond a certain point, money doesn't do much to give you more satisfaction. So we try to prioritise relationships with family and friends rather than acquiring more stuff. We hope that by keeping our family's needs small, we'll help our children learn what's actually important.

Over the years, we've put more attention into where we give, and not just how much. We don't want to give to just anywhere that sounds like a good cause - we want to get the most for our money. So we try to find the most effective charities we can.

We've found the recommendations of the charity evaluator GiveWell incredibly helpful (we've been fans of theirs for years, and since last year I've been volunteering as a board member.) They're very picky about what they recommend, combing through different interventions and organisations to find the ones that have the best evidence behind their work. Much better than the days when I chose charities more or less at random, hoping they were good!

GiveWell's top recommendation is the Against Malaria Foundation, which provides mosquito nets in places where the disease is common, and we've been happy to donate there. Malaria primarily affects young children, and it's one of the world's top killers of children and pregnant women.

I can barely think about what it would be like for our family to lose one of our daughters, or to have lost me while I was pregnant. It horrifies me to know that this happens to families every day, and that it could be prevented by something as simple as mosquito nets.

I love knowing that my family can help other parents keep their children healthy. There's nothing else I'd rather do with the money. There's nothing we could buy ourselves that would mean as much as this.

[BombadierFritz]

thanks for coming back to the post julia. a lot of guest posters dont.

I wonder what you think about increased taxes instead of relying on voluntary donations? the idea being that money is distributed more fairly by group decided need, rather than by individual whims.

[sianihedgehog]

Oh my god, imagine if you only spent 7.7% of your income on housing!! That would be life changing. I live in a 3 bed terrace on a council estate with severe damp and no shower and we still pay around 25% of our gross income on it, before counting utilities. And we're in a relatively high income band.

[Gini99]

It is 7.7% of £242K though so about £18.5K. After tax, pension, housing costs (on 5 bed home) and childcare they spend roughly £1K a month. They are essentially a very high income family who are living as if they were a comfortably off family. I do think that's admirable (though there are interesting questions about whether it is the best thing to do above) but it isn't really achievable for the 99.5% of people who don't have such a high income.

[BoxofSnails]

icanteven I totally get the rationale - however, you can't measure most altruism in terms of lives saved - lives improved and made "worth living" are pretty huge too.

[Mumfortoddler]

I manage a charity and we don't have money to give charities but we do have time as a family. Obviously managing a charity is demanding and although I get paid I do alot more than I am paid to do. I am pretty poor as a result and just wanted to say you don't need to be rich to give. Your time is valuable to charities too. And finally every bit helps. Its not about giving a percentage, just what you can afford when you can afford it!

[Adarajames]

I don't have much income, so I donate time where I can, and I do feel like it's useful. The shelter couldn't open without the right number of volunteers, and the people we find and return to families may not be found / be found too late if we as volunteer search and rescue teams didn't go out there looking. The impact of our time donation is pretty obvious pretty quickly!