After I finish graduate school and enter my career, I pledge to donate a minimum of 5% of my income each year to causes that match my values for equity, empowerment, and sustainability. I will prioritize dedicating these funds to local organizations wherever I end up living. Specifically, I would like to support rape crisis centers who provide life-saving services for survivors of interpersonal and domestic violence and their families. I would also like to support organizations who provide opportunities for young people from underserved groups to explore higher education and excel in school, particularly low-income and first-generation students. Finally, I will financially support larger organizations such as Planned Parenthood who provide accessible, inclusive, and choice-affirming reproductive health care to women and pregnant people across the nation.As for my time, I pledge to dedicate 8-10 hours a month working to improve my local community, whether that be cleaning up neighborhood parks, tutoring high school students, volunteering on a crisis line, or working at a food pantry or shelter. These giving goals reflect my values and priorities which is important to me.
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
- 2022
Once I have graduated from UW, I pledge to give 3% of my income to charitable organizations, as well as volunteer for 10 hours per month. Once I am above an entry-level job salary, I pledge to give 10% of my income to charitable organizations and continue to volunteer at the same rate per month.
Anonymous
- Spring
- 2022
My Giving Goal that I plan to donate once I acquire a job with a salary of above $60,000, would be around 2 percent of my annual salary. This would be after I pay off my student loans and am financially stable. The donation would be given to a nonprofit organization that’s mission is to support and relieve countries in crises such as natural disasters or humanitarian war relief efforts. As well, I am planning to donate my time locally to support my home community struggles whenever needed such as volunteering at a food bank.
Anonymous
- Spring
- 2022
My giving goal is to give 1% of my income after graduation, then increase the giving to 5% of my income after I have paid off my student loans. This money will help organizations that deal with structural and systemic changes to pull people out of and prevent generational poverty and food insecurity. I will also donate my time to these organizations.
Anonymous
- Spring
- 2022
My giving goal is to donate at least 10% of my earnings to philanthropic organizations. I plan to do this once my student loans are paid off and I am debt-free. At this point, I will also be making a substantial income and will be able to afford to donate a good amount of money to make a difference. I also want the organizations I choose to donate to be internationally based, as I think these are the types of NGOs that have the biggest chance to make the most substantial difference. I also pledge to donate as much of my time as I can until I am in a financial place in which I can donate 10% of my earnings. I aim to volunteer at least 50 hours a year.
Anonymous
- Spring
- 2022
I would like to be able to donate a comfortable amount of money based on my salary at the time which can either increase or decrease and time to an organization or a cause that I find appealing and worthy.