As of today, Giving What We Can has been going for three years. In that time, we've seen some amazing changes. As well as wishing the organisation a happy birthday, I wanted to very briefly use this opportunity to take stock of just how far we've come in three years.
What started off as a small group of friends banding together to put their ideas of helping others into practice is now a major international organisation. Our members have dramatically grown in number - we now have more than 250, who have together pledged nearly $100 million to the most cost-effective charities! Our community has also spread throughout the world, with chapters on three continents, and versions of the site in German, Spanish, French and Portuguese.
This past year has been one of big changes. Having been entirely volunteer-run for our first two years, we got to the point where that was no longer viable, and over the summer took on staff for the first time (of which I'm very excited to be one!). That increase in person-power allowed us to launch a new website, including this blog, which aims to keep everyone up-to-date with Giving What We Can's research and progress in a way that we weren't previously able to. It also allowed for an increase in our research, with our research into health being updated, and an expansion into other areas, such as climate change and political change. The website aims to be a comprehensive resource for anyone who would like to help people in poverty as effectively as possible. By working together, we can encourage each other and others to continue to fight against poverty, as well as discover the best ways of doing so.
If you're member who has been with us since the beginning, I hope you're proud of everything your organisation has accomplished. If you've recently joined, I hope you're excited about the commitment you've just made, and about joining this thriving community. If you're one our volunteers, I'd like to express my heartfelt gratitude to you for all your hard work, without which the achievements of the last few years wouldn't have been possible. If you're using the website as a resource to learn more about poverty and how to alleviate it, I hope you find everything you need, and let us know if you don't. And if you're new to the website - welcome!
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