Philanthropy for All: Take The 1% Giving Pledge

By now, you likely have heard about The Giving Pledge, Bill Gates' and Warren Buffett's campaign to get billionaires to commit to give 50% of their net wealth to philanthropy. This morning, Stephanie Risa Stein authored an editorial on the Huffington Post about the Giving Pledge, arguing that the giving pledge shouldn't be limited to the very wealthy.

We at the One Percent Foundation couldn't agree more. That is why we started a movement to encourage people, particularly those in their 20s and 30s, to give 1% of their income to philanthropy. We are democratizing philanthropy. Now, we invite you - regardless of wealth or age - to join us. Take the 1% Giving Pledge to commit to give 1% of your income to charity. For those of you that can give more, please do! But the 1% Giving Pledge is a commitment that anyone can make, and we hope you will join us.

It's extraordinary that Mr. Gates and Mr. Buffet are using The Giving Pledge to motivate billionaires to give large amounts. It is critical, however, that we don't abdicate our philanthropic responsibility and leave giving solely to the very rich. We, ordinary donors, can make an enormous impact if we act in concert and make smart giving decisions. For instance, take the One Percent Foundation's target audience of individuals in their 20s and 30s. If every one of them donated 1% of their income, this would amount to about $16 billion for charity every year. To put this in perspective, the Gates Foundation gave about $3 billion last year. By acting and giving collectively, we can meaningfully fund the organizations, ideas, and innovation that we care about, and change the culture of philanthropy.

Stephanie Risa Stein suggested an Everyman Giving Pledge. This is a component of what the One Percent Foundation does already for individuals in their 20s and 30s. Spurred by her post, we invite others to join us in making a 1% Giving Pledge. If you don't know where to give and want to be part of a nationwide, online giving circle of Millennials, you are welcome to join the One Percent Foundation itself. But otherwise, just sign the 1% Giving Pledge to become part of a movement to democratize philanthropy.

We can change the culture of philanthropy so that everyone is empowered to be a philanthropist. If everyone participates, we can dramatically increase the amount of money available to fund good ideas that reflect the average donor's passions, interests, and perspectives. This pledge is a good first step.

Making the 1% Giving Pledge is as simple as it sounds: just commit to give at least 1% of your annual income to philanthropy. Take the 1% Giving Pledge now, and encourage your friends and colleagues to do the same. Philanthropy is for everyone. Let's prove it.

 

Comments

[prettyliars]

09:57 AM on 08/23/2010

before this sort of revolution happens, i think we need an overhaul in nonprofit transparen­cy so the 1% actually goes to good use instead of overhead costs and hires.

[Full O Ideas]

04:58 AM on 08/14/2010

Mr. Koufmann is right. When does the slippery slope end? If we expect our rich to give away 50% of their money, what does everyone else have to give to keep up? Jon/Joanna Schmo is going to feel like s/he has to give away more and more of his/her money because the Bill Gateses of the world have made it the "in" thing to do. Next thing you know, we have countless homeless people who have donated far beyond their means. It's a dangerous place for society to go - far more dangerous than the so-called "mortgage crisis". So rich people, keep your money, save the world the trouble of having all these new welfare cases. Mr. Kaufmunn, thank you for bringing up this valuable point - these billionair­es must be stopped from ruining our entire society.

[SamirSF]

11:31 PM on 08/11/2010

Sadly, we're all missing the big picture here: http://www­.spiegel.d­e/internat­ional/germ­any/0,1518­,710972,00­.html

[Alice R]

11:15 AM on 08/12/2010

great link! i was about to post about this philanthro­-feudalism­, but i think that article makes all the salient points.

i would suggest, in addition, that the best way for these billionair­es to "give back" would be to pay their workers living wages, take responsibi­lity for the damage they've done to the environmen­t, and PAY THEIR TAXES. and then we get preached to about "giving back" the crumbs, when we often don't get paid enough to live with dignity ourselves. not to mention, a lot of these people are just donating to THEIR OWN organizati­ons. the people in lower socio-econ­omic classes already donate a higher percentage of their earnings to charity as is. http://www­.npr.org/t­emplates/s­tory/story­.php?story­Id=1290682­41&ft=1&f=­1024

[Alice R]

11:19 AM on 08/12/2010

"The poorest households in the United States gave on average 4.3 percent of their income while the richest fifth gave just 2.1 percent of their income." http://www­.digitaljo­urnal.com/­article/27­3664

[apurkiss]

12:37 AM on 08/13/2010

Great link - thank you.

"It is all just a bad transfer of power from the state to billionair­es. So it's not the state that determines what is good for the people, but rather the rich want to decide. That's a developmen­t that I find really bad. What legitimacy do these people have to decide where massive sums of money will flow?"