Giving What We Can

Giving What We Can is an organisation 'dedicated to eliminating poverty in the developing word.' It was established in 2010 by Toby Ord, a post-doctoral research fellow in the department of philosophy at Oxford University. 

THE PROBLEM 

Members of Giving What We Can commit themselves to giving 10% of their earnings to charities they believe have the greatest impact in the world. Dr Ord's organisation was founded as an attempt to answer the great moral question of our lives. How can we continue to accept that a small minority of us live with plenty and abundance, when daily reality for millions around the world is no more than a struggle for the basic necessities of existence? 

Instead of the sort of 'oh, dear' response described by Adam Curtis, Giving What We Can proposes an active financial involvement in the most effective NGOs as the very least that those of us can afford it should do. 

At the time of writing Giving What We Can has 64 members. Facebook has over 500 hundred million. If every Facebook member also joined Giving What We Can then ... well, you do the maths. 

18 January 2011