Ready to pledge?
Here's your step-by-step guide
We understand that in the world of Financial Independence, income and employment can look different from the traditional 9-to-5 path. The spirit of The Pledge is to donate regularly and commit to that, but how you reach 10% can be adapted to your unique situation. If you're ready to take The Pledge, here are detailed directions to help you fill out the pledge form.
Step 1: Employment status
Select "Retired" if:
Select "Employed" if:
You’re still earning active income and consider yourself to be 'working', regardless of your employment type. This could include traditional employment (e.g. W2), freelance work, business income, side hustles, or any other form of active income. To calculate your 10% (or Trial amount), add up all active income sources—full-time work, part-time work, side hustles—and pledge 10% of that total.
You've scaled back from working either fully or significantly. In other words, you are mainly living off of passive income sources. This includes: interest from investments (e.g. savings accounts, bonds), dividends, rental income, gains from the sale of securities if you are actively selling them to fund your living expenses, or other recurring passive income from assets.
Note: If you have retirement or pension accounts you are not withdrawing from this year (e.g., traditional IRA, 401k), you do not need to count dividends, interest, or gains from those accounts.
If you’re in the U.S., an easy way to determine 10% (or your 🔹Trial Pledge amount) is to look at your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) from last year’s tax return or estimate your future AGI and calculate 10% from there.​
You are actively seeking work and are not yet financially independent. Perhaps you are financially insecure at this time. During this period, it’s common for people to give at least 1% of their spending money. See more here.
Select "Unemployed" if:
Select "Student" if:
Well, you are a student still. Many students have little or no income, and are largely supported by money from family members, the government, or loans. A giving pledge does not require you to donate any of this funding (although it does commit you to donate from any future income). However, we feel that it's within the spirit of the pledge to donate something regularly if you can, and it is therefore conventional for students to give at least 1% of their spending money.​​
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Step 2: Pledge type
Select pledge type:
Once you've selected your pledge type -- either the 🔸10% Pledge or the 🔹Trial Pledge -- you'll need to enter your pledge commitment.
You'll see two options: pledge a percent of your income and pledge a perecnt of your wealth.
Income Pledge (Mandatory):
The core commitment is to donate at least 10% of your income annually to effective charities (if you're taking the 🔹Trial Pledge, it's at least 1%). This is the standard and straightforward pledge that most members take. Of course, you are welcome to pledge more than 10% too!
Wealth Pledge (Optional):
​Recognizing that some individuals hold significant assets beyond their income, Giving What We Can introduced an optional component to pledge a percentage of wealth. If you choose to include this, you commit to donating the greater of 10% of your income or your specified percentage of wealth each year. This ensures that your giving reflects your overall financial capacity.
If you add an optional wealth percentage to your pledge, you're not required to give both income and wealth -- just whichever amount is greater that year. For example, if [10% of income] > [1% of wealth], you're only accountable for income that year, not both.
Further considerations for taking the income or wealth pledge: Deciding between the income or wealth pledge is a personal choice. For many, the income pledge is the simplest option—it’s easy to calculate and aligns with the familiar benchmark of donating 10% of your income, whether from active earnings or passive sources. However, for those in the FI community who base their financial plans on safe withdrawal rates (SWR), the wealth pledge may offer a more fitting framework. For example, if you're planning to follow the 4% withdrawal rate popularized by the Trinity Study, and you choose to allocate 0.5% of your total wealth annually to charitable giving, you can think of your plan as spending 3.5% on personal expenses and 0.5% on donations. This approach keeps your giving aligned with your long-term financial goals and total asset base.​​​
Remember: It’s not about getting the math perfect — it’s about giving consistently and with intention. Precision is great, but purpose matters more. Focus on giving generously, not perfectly.