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Giving What We Can Review

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Should I use Giving What We Can?

100x your impact by finding and donating to the best charities. Learn about high-impact philanthropy, join an effective giving community, take a giving pledge. - givingwhatwecan.org

· 1 day ago

Take it if you're financially stable and want a curated path to effective giving plus an accountable community. Skip it if you can't commit 10% of pre-tax income long-term or want a no-strings giving option.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~20 public sources; many snippets truncated, so some details are thin.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo evidence in sources reviewed
  • Security posture

Pricing

Free

Pledge

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Donation platform & fundraisersFree

Best for

  • Committed effective-giving donors
  • High earners wanting vetted charities
  • People wanting a giving community

Not for

  • Anyone who can't comfortably spare 10% of pre-tax income
  • People allergic to public, lifelong commitments
  • Companies or teams — this is for individuals
  • Casual donors wanting one-off, no-commitment giving

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Pledge terms debated publicly; conflicting funding-bar interpretations caused friction with dedicated donors.

low

The 11,000+ figure counts lifetime pledges, not necessarily currently active annual donors.

low

2024 leadership transition announced publicly; direction may shift.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free to join; costs nothing beyond your donations
  • Publishes its own 2020–2022 impact evaluation
  • Donation platform covers vetted charities and EA Funds
  • Community of 11,000+ lifetime pledgers
  • Audits its own charity evaluations publicly

Cons

  • Pledge is a public, career-long commitment, not a trial
  • GWWC vets charity evaluators, not every charity directly
  • Deeply tied to the effective altruism movement
  • Members question pledge feasibility on tight finances

Sources & method

- 13 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x4review x5security x1news x3

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 13

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free; your money goes to charities
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Self-serve pledge dashboard and donation flow
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Vetted charity lists, funds, fundraisers
  • Support quality. No evidence in sources reviewed
  • Security posture: 4/5. Public security page; no known issues
  • 10% Pledge of pre-tax income
  • 11,000+ Members lifetime giving pledges
  • 2009 Founded Oxford
  • Free Cost to join pledge and donation platform

Pricing

Pledge

Free

  • Commit 10% of pre-tax income
  • Pledge dashboard
  • Community access

Donation platform & fundraisers

Free

  • Donate to vetted charities
  • EA Funds
  • Create fundraisers

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Pledgers describe the 10% commitment as sustainable and meaningful, including on modest incomes.

“I donate 10% of my pre-tax income to effective charities AMA!”
Reddit, r/AMA
“Why I Took the Giving What We Can Pledge”
EA Forum
Full analysis

Based on ~20 public sources; many snippets truncated, so some details are thin.

Free to join with real impact research, but the 10% pledge is a lifelong public commitment, not a casual giving app.

Methodology

Based on ~20 public sources; many snippets truncated, so some details are thin.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. Giving What We Cangivingwhatwecan.org
    official
  2. Our impactgivingwhatwecan.org
    official
  3. Donation Platformgivingwhatwecan.org
    official
  4. Fundraisersgivingwhatwecan.org
    official
  5. Product security pagegivingwhatwecan.org
    security
  6. GWWC's 2020–2022 Impact evaluation (executive summary)forum.effectivealtruism.org
    review
  7. GWWC's evaluations of evaluatorsforum.effectivealtruism.org
    review
  8. I donate 10% of my pre-tax income to effective charities AMA!reddit.com
    review
  9. Dedicated Donors May Not Want to Sign the Giving What We Can Pledgeforum.effectivealtruism.org
    review
  10. GWWC's Handling of Conflicting Funding Barsforum.effectivealtruism.org
    review
  11. Leadership Transition at Giving What We Canreddit.com
    news
  12. What is an Effective Giving Initiative?mieuxdonner.org
    news
  13. Giving What We Can - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    news

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