The Nonlinear Library EA - We've renamed the Giving What We Can Pledge by Alana HF
Jul 1, 2024
06:03
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: We've renamed the Giving What We Can Pledge, published by Alana HF on July 1, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
The Giving What We Can Pledge is now the 10% Pledge! We cover the why (along with our near-term plans and how you can help!) below.
TL;DR:
The name change will help us grow awareness of the pledge by reducing brand confusion and facilitating partnerships.
We see it as an important part of reaching our goal of 10,000 pledgers by the end of 2024.
You can help by adding the orange diamond emoji to your social profiles if you've taken the 10% Pledge! (or a small blue diamond emoji if you've taken the Trial Pledge) as described below.
Full post:
For the better part of a year, Giving What We Can has been thinking more deliberately about how our brand choices could accelerate or hinder progress towards our mission of making giving effectively and significantly a cultural norm. One topic that has consistently surfaced is the name of our primary pledge.
While we think the "Giving What We Can Pledge" accurately captures the spirit we want to cultivate and the message we want to portray - that many people can afford to give more significantly - we've also identified some issues.
We've noticed people referring to the Giving What We Can Pledge by all sorts of names (the income pledge, the lifetime pledge, the pledge, the giving all we can pledge, and the give what you can pledge, to name just a few) which leads to confusion and reduces "stickiness." On that note, we've noticed people confusing the Giving What We Can Pledge with other similarly named pledges (like the Giving Pledge for billionaires, for example).
We've also realised that having our organisation name in the title of the pledge can make it difficult for other organisations to easily promote it.
Above: An internal slide from our name-change deliberations
We considered several alternate names, had many healthy debates within our team, and surveyed over 30 key stakeholders from across the world and the effective giving ecosystem. The result?
We are delighted to announce that the Giving What We Can Pledge is now the 10% Pledge!
What will this help us achieve?
As we announced at EAG London, we're aiming to reach 10,000 active 10% pledgers in 2024 and we have ambitions to grow to 100,000 and eventually, to 1 million pledgers and beyond.
To achieve these ambitious goals, we need a name and a brand that can achieve saturation. We think the 10% Pledge could get us there because:
It's short
It's easy to say, remember, and understand
It can be hosted by partner organisations (more on this below!)
It has the potential for "stickiness" and increasing awareness, especially with the addition of the orange diamond symbol!
Above: 1. Benefits of renaming to the 10% Pledge 2. Our vision of the diamond logo at work
How can you help?
If you've taken the 10% Pledge (formerly known as the Giving What We Can Pledge), we'd be grateful if you could add the "small orange diamond" emoji to your name on your social media accounts. (If you've taken the Trial Pledge, you can instead add a small blue diamond emoji.)
We're hoping that seeing several 's across social media will cause people to be curious about what this signifies and lead them to learn more. It would be ideal to also add a statement like "10% Pledge #XXXX with @GivingWhatWeCan" or "I've taken The @10percentpledge) to give to effective charities" to your bio so those who do want to learn more can easily find out about it!
(Note: You can look up your pledge number on
our updated members page)
And if you want to help the diamond emoji be even more visible for launch week, consider posting with the phrase "I've taken the #10PercentPledge because..." It would be exciting to see social media light up with these types of posts!
More broadly, whether or not you've taken a pled...
The Giving What We Can Pledge is now the 10% Pledge! We cover the why (along with our near-term plans and how you can help!) below.
TL;DR:
The name change will help us grow awareness of the pledge by reducing brand confusion and facilitating partnerships.
We see it as an important part of reaching our goal of 10,000 pledgers by the end of 2024.
You can help by adding the orange diamond emoji to your social profiles if you've taken the 10% Pledge! (or a small blue diamond emoji if you've taken the Trial Pledge) as described below.
Full post:
For the better part of a year, Giving What We Can has been thinking more deliberately about how our brand choices could accelerate or hinder progress towards our mission of making giving effectively and significantly a cultural norm. One topic that has consistently surfaced is the name of our primary pledge.
While we think the "Giving What We Can Pledge" accurately captures the spirit we want to cultivate and the message we want to portray - that many people can afford to give more significantly - we've also identified some issues.
We've noticed people referring to the Giving What We Can Pledge by all sorts of names (the income pledge, the lifetime pledge, the pledge, the giving all we can pledge, and the give what you can pledge, to name just a few) which leads to confusion and reduces "stickiness." On that note, we've noticed people confusing the Giving What We Can Pledge with other similarly named pledges (like the Giving Pledge for billionaires, for example).
We've also realised that having our organisation name in the title of the pledge can make it difficult for other organisations to easily promote it.
Above: An internal slide from our name-change deliberations
We considered several alternate names, had many healthy debates within our team, and surveyed over 30 key stakeholders from across the world and the effective giving ecosystem. The result?
We are delighted to announce that the Giving What We Can Pledge is now the 10% Pledge!
What will this help us achieve?
As we announced at EAG London, we're aiming to reach 10,000 active 10% pledgers in 2024 and we have ambitions to grow to 100,000 and eventually, to 1 million pledgers and beyond.
To achieve these ambitious goals, we need a name and a brand that can achieve saturation. We think the 10% Pledge could get us there because:
It's short
It's easy to say, remember, and understand
It can be hosted by partner organisations (more on this below!)
It has the potential for "stickiness" and increasing awareness, especially with the addition of the orange diamond symbol!
Above: 1. Benefits of renaming to the 10% Pledge 2. Our vision of the diamond logo at work
How can you help?
If you've taken the 10% Pledge (formerly known as the Giving What We Can Pledge), we'd be grateful if you could add the "small orange diamond" emoji to your name on your social media accounts. (If you've taken the Trial Pledge, you can instead add a small blue diamond emoji.)
We're hoping that seeing several 's across social media will cause people to be curious about what this signifies and lead them to learn more. It would be ideal to also add a statement like "10% Pledge #XXXX with @GivingWhatWeCan" or "I've taken The @10percentpledge) to give to effective charities" to your bio so those who do want to learn more can easily find out about it!
(Note: You can look up your pledge number on
our updated members page)
And if you want to help the diamond emoji be even more visible for launch week, consider posting with the phrase "I've taken the #10PercentPledge because..." It would be exciting to see social media light up with these types of posts!
More broadly, whether or not you've taken a pled...