Giving and Notariety

April 4th, 2010
money
Yesterday, two friends came to dye eggs with us. One of them we had never met before, but through various people she had apparently heard of Julia and I as examples of people who had an extreme view of giving and money. Giving a little more than half of our pre-tax income to oxfam is extreme, but I was kind of surprised that we were being examples.

Really, though, acting as examples, and ideally convincing others to view money and obligation similarly to us, is about the most effective thing we can do. If we work hard to reduce our food spending from $200/month to $150/month, that has roughly 12% of the effect of someone who earns $50K going from donating roughly nothing to ten percent. So, if you don't currently donate a substantial fraction of your income, I'd be happy to talk to you about why I think it's the right thing to do.

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