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Shrewd cardigan - the Oxford researcher who wants to change giving

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 16 Nov 2009

It sounds like a warm, fuzzy, cardigan-ed idea that could only be borne out of a cosy Oxbridge office, walled in by leather-bound books and the all-pervasive odour of hope.

But the Oxford University boffin who has pledged to give away £1m over his career, and has created a society to get people to do the same, is no generous dope. His pipe dream is much more substance than smoke, and only the best charities will see a penny.

Dr Toby Ord, a practical ethics researcher, last Saturday established a society called Giving What We Can. Like any good movement founder, he is leading by example: pledging to give away £1m over his career, £2.5m with his wife’s philanthropy. Having revelled in the austere, yet fulfilling, years of student life, Dr Ord has decided that he will shed off to charities anything he earns over £20,000 per year – inflation adjusted. Half of his salary is designated for the developing world.

Other members of the society, which include prominent philosophers and other such, must pledge to give away 10 per cent of their salaries a year. A kind of secular, humanitarian tithe, or a more romantic form of payroll giving.

He estimates that the society could raise at least £250m over the course of his and his wife’s careers. With 23 members now signed up, £9.5m has already been pledged – and the society is only three days old.

The idealism of the group borders on the hippy-esque. It encourages not only a re-evaluation of exactly what we in the west "can" give (as opposed to "want", "should" or "... once I've got a new autumn coat"), but a re-evaluation of how we should be giving.

This is not giving with closed eyes. Dr Ord has already conducted research into how his pound can achieve the greatest possible impact on global health, calculating that it costs £30,000 to save a year of healthy life in the UK, but that “the most efficient programmes in developing countries can achieve this for only £2”.

The group will not only get together to discuss philosophical questions of developing world poverty, but share information about the most effective charities and tax efficient ways to give. Critically, this is not a think tank encouraging more transparency and impact reporting. These are donors. Not wealthy, but passionate and very, very discerning.

"By standing together as a group, we hope to make others see giving this much as a real option and to encourage charities to be more efficient in their programmes so as to attract our giving," said Dr Ord.

This is not just a movement to give away money. This is a donor-led manifesto on effective charities. They are organised. They are generous. They are informed. They are sacrificing and they are going to make it worth their time.

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