My Giving Goal is to spend a meaningful amount of money / put in a meaningful amount of effort to help reduce animal cruelty. One of my goals is to rescue a dog from a kill shelter, another one of my goals is simply to volunteer with animal shelters and take the animals on walks and help them get adopted. I will also (hopefully) contribute some form of monetary donations, but, still, I will most likely only be donating to animal shelters.
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
Search for Giving Goals
Over 4,200+ course participants have written giving goals in a demonstration of leadership!
Anonymous
- Spring
- 2026
In my future, my goal is to give at least 5% of my annual income, post-tax to local charities. I believe that with this goal it can help improve small local communities and create change. Not only do I want to donate part of my income, but i also want to give my time. I want to stay connected and be involved for my community, because thats what community is. You show up and help make a change and do the work. Whether my donation goes towards health or education I want to be able to make a difference.
Anonymous
- Spring
- 2026
My giving goal in the future will be to volunteer more of my time and donate monthly to charities I care about. I would like to volunteer at least once every other month, as volunteering supports local communities. Donation wise, I would like to make small donations every month to different charitable organizations for different causes, like clean water, healthcare, and education. I could alternatively donate to something like a GoFundMe to help an individual or family who needs support.
Anonymous
- Spring
- 2026
After being able to allocate some of the class funds to a charity that I helped to champion, I wanted to pledge my time and a percentage of my salary in the future to non-profit organizations. Once I graduate with my bachelor’s, my goal is to donate at least 5 hours of my time to volunteer work every two weeks, and once I get out of graduate school, I want to be able to donate at least 5% of my annual income to well-run, deserving charities that will be sustainable in the long run and give with dignity.
Anonymous
- Spring
- 2026
In the future, I plan to donate a certain percentage of my income to various nonprofit organizations that prioritize issues necessary to the lives of humans and animals. As my income increases, the percentage I donate will also increase.