Pledger Philip Popien Shares A Unique Approach to Pledging
You’ve heard of progressive tax systems, but have you heard of a progressive pledge? While giving away 10% of income feels daunting for some, for others, it doesn’t feel like enough.
We spoke with Philip Popien, who took the 10% Pledge in 2016 after reading Doing Good Better. He’s been following an approach he’s termed the “progressive pledge,” whereby he gradually increases his pledged percentage upon any salary increase.
“The more you have, the more you can give away without even noticing it. Donating 10% feels like a large sacrifice for lower salaries, but is not even noticeable for large incomes,” explained Philip, “so for me, this approach follows naturally from the idea of decreasing marginal utility of money.”
When Philip read Doing Good Better in 2015, he noted down that his goal was to take the 10% Pledge immediately and then adjust that percentage upwards to 25% when his income rose. After following the “progressive pledge” approach for about 7 years, he’s exceeded that goal and in 2024, is up to 27.5%!
The progressive pledge approach doesn’t only have to be for those who want to give more than 10%! We’ve heard from people who have taken the Trial Pledge that gradually increasing their pledged percentage in conjunction with salary increases is a really helpful way to work up to giving more!
Here’s what Philip has to say about his “progressive pledge” approach to donating:
You start by donating 10%. Then, with any increase in salary, add 50% (or any other % above 10%) of the increase. The idea comes from Daniel Kahneman who wrote about doing the same thing with saving for retirement in Thinking Fast and Slow (if I remember correctly).
Sure! I started at 10% in 2016. My largest jump from 10% to 20% came from a job change, and then the incremental increases from 20% to 22% to 24% to 26% to 27.5% came from salary increases at the same job.
Yes! I think a lot of people would like to donate more, but it feels painful to give away more and more. By giving away only from what you earn extra, it is easier to give more!
Definitely, as I have other monetary goals in life which made it hard to give away more. By coupling my job changes and promotions with increasing my donations, I never felt I lost something which made it possible to increase my donations from 10% to over 25% in 7 years.