Should donors be told how much to give?

Following the publication of the Philanthropy UK Quarterly last week that, in examining how philanthropy might be promoted, carried opinion on acceptable levels of giving, and the launch of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge initiative that encourages fellow billionaires to give away 50% of their wealth, Jane Thomas, of charity think tank and consultancy New Philanthropy Capital, moots in her blog that philanthropists might welcome being told what percentage of their wealth to give away.

“I think, whatever their wages, people are still curious to know what they ‘should’ be giving, and what an acceptable level is. It’s so rarely, if ever talked about that, that most people probably couldn’t even pull a figure out of the air,” says Thomas.

“When asked, people usually fall back on religious examples, such as the 10% Christian tithe, the 10% commanded by Jewish law (except for those without the means to give it),  or the 2.5% minimum that Zakat requires Muslims to give. And while Nick Hurd obviously had good intentions with his 1% quote, I hope that people don’t start to think that 1% should be the norm,” she adds.

Thomas introduces a fun little tool on the Intelligent Giving website, (that NPC adopted following funding issues) – it  works out what proportion of your income you’d have to give to equal a host of other donors, from the average British or American donor right up to Elton John and Bill Gates.

Read more at the NPC blog.