Byrne writes:
I read an intriguing story last month about Toby Ord, a lecturer at Oxford University, who has pledged to donate £1,000,000 to charitable causes over his lifetime. Dr Ord is no millionaire – he currently earns £25,300 per year. He and his wife have pledged to give annually 10% of their income to charitable causes, and they’ve convinced others to do the same through his internet-based organization, Giving What We Can….
[Ord’s] organization and its members are proof that human nature and social responsibility are not mutually exclusive, and that people are certainly able—though perhaps not predisposed—to engage in meaningful voluntary altruistic activity. Second, we should note that Giving What We Can states openly that its members commit “to give 10% of their income to the most effective charities they can find,” as measured by the number of “Disability-Adjusted Life Years” preserved by their donations. One wonders what our society might look like if all social welfare provision were as rational, efficient, and accountable as this.
A community of those who traditionally tithe as an expression of faith would achieve similar results. Efforts such as these can reliance on the state.