What is a Giving Goal?

Often, the idealism of youth is lost as one achieves success and acquires material possessions later in life. What was originally considered to be “enough” or even “beyond my wildest dreams” can become just another milestone on one’s quest…

Capturing your current vision of how you wish to give of yourself and your resources in the future could help you plan to give more meaningfully. Revisiting this vision in ten or twenty years could provide a reminder of the ideals of your youth that may shape or re-shape your future actions.

If you have already posted your Giving Goal and would like to update your email for future reminders, please contact [email protected]

Step 1

Have a healthy and vigorous dialogue in your class on the general idea of having a personal Giving Goal as a college student.

Step 2

Set a Giving Goal concerning your future giving plans.

Step 3

Share a brief statement of your Giving Goals on The Philanthropy Lab’s portal as a way to inspire others to do the same. You may post anonymously to the public if you wish.

Step 4

Share your permanent email address and phone number with The Philanthropy Lab, for the sole purpose of the reminder mechanism, so we can remind you of your goal in 5 year increments for 20 years into the future.

Alumni Reflections

"What a sweet reminder of this pledge! I've definitely given and volunteered in the last 6yrs. It's been a joy to continue the journey of generosity since graduating from undergrad. I'm back in grad school and I am looking forward to finishing my MSW. There will be new ways I give back to the community!"

"Thank you so much for this valuable reminder of my Giving Pledge. I'm proud to say I've dedicated several hours of volunteer time & services to Arts Education non-profits and will continue to live out this pledge"

“Thanks for reaching out––I'm actively still volunteering at two non-profits now in NYC (one free food service called "Wellfare" and a neighborhood homeless shelter)”

"Thank you for your email! The Philanthropy Lab was a life changing experience for me. I ended up joining the board of Malawi Children's Village to run the women empowerment program, which is what the Philanthropy Lab grant was for. In August, I am going to Malawi to see the project in action!"

"I was so happy to see this email pop into my inbox, it feels like a lifetime ago I was in this course. I appreciate all that I learned in this class and have taken its messages with me through these past 5 years. I do plan on maintaining the promise I made in this class"

"Thanks for this reminder. I actually still have a handwritten version of that note on the magnet board in my home office."

Search for Giving Goals

Over 4,200+ course participants have written giving goals in a demonstration of leadership!

Shantanu Sonthalia

University of Texas - McCombs

Spring
2025

My goal is to at the very least either financially(~5-10%) or through volunteer time give back to a non-profit, whose goals are aligned with mine.

Sebastian Thiakos

University of Texas

Spring
2025

After graduating, I would like to wait no more than a year after working a full-time job to donate at least 5% of my anual income. I am personaly extreemly invested in education, not only for myself but arround the world. I would love to focus donating to lower income and lower educated areas around the world to give them the same acess to knowledge as everone else.

Sean Williams

University of Texas - McCombs

Spring
2025

I continue to remain engaged with my community and the schools that my family is involved with. I have always been passionate about hunger scarcity and the religious organizations that help alleviate that pain. Hopefully, I am in a position financially to have an outsized impact and can spread my involvement across many organizations both in Austin, Washington, D.C., and nationwide.

Savannah Rakowitz

University of Texas

Spring
2025

I hope to be able to give my time and energy to being an advocate for what it means to give a dollar to a charity. How far does a dollar go when slipping a bill into a St. Jude’s box at Goodwill? Who will it impact, and is it even worth it? Being in this class has offered me a chance to understand the layers of financial stability, programs, and effective logic models that make a non-profit/charity worthy of being donated to. My ultimate goal is to be able to have at least one conversation a year about the topics and themes of this class in evaluating effective charities to my friends, family, and colleagues. Additionally, I hope to volunteer if possible. If I don’t have time because of work or other things, as long as it’s in my mind and I’m communicating the ideas to other people, that’s okay!

Sarah M Crofford

University of Texas

Spring
2025

My goal is to donate 5-8% of my annual salary to a non-profit in my local immediate area, and to make volunteering a part of my weekly routine. I want to be giving money to restricted causes, most likely, and then with hands on work get specific causes done.

Sarah Jennifer Paulson

Stanford University

Spring
2025

To give to an organization that helps people, where the community being impacted is extremely involved in the distribution and use of the donation money. Preferably an organization that is working on improving human health in some capacity. I would also like it to be aimed for children if possible.