It's Giving What We Can's anniversary week! We're encouraging pledgers to share their stories, quotes, memories, and hopes for the Pledge and for Giving What We Can. Kicking things off over on our side, here's a story from our very own Effective Giving Global Coordinator and Incubator Luke Moore! We hope it hits home for you as much as it did for us :)
When I first encountered Peter Singer’s work back in 2017, it felt a bit like a moral earthquake. The ethical ground I knew shifted beneath my feet, and I suddenly found myself seeing the world through a radically different lens. For years, I had lived with a sense of general discomfort about inequality, but it was abstract, something I thought about in passing but didn’t feel compelled to act on. Singer’s ideas shook me out of that complacency. He didn’t just present a theoretical case for why we should care about the suffering of others; he made it personal. He showed that, if we’re honest, we all have an obligation to act — and that the moral cost of inaction is far higher than we typically acknowledge.
Singer’s central insight is deceptively simple. He uses the metaphor of a child drowning in a pond. Most of us would have no hesitation jumping in to save that child, even if it meant ruining our clothes or being late for an important meeting. The morality is crystal clear: the child’s life is worth more than our inconvenience, or the cost of replacing our laptop and clothes. But then Singer makes a more troubling point: every day, people around the world are drowning in poverty and preventable diseases, and we are ignoring it. Just like that child in the pond, they need help. Yet unlike the child, they aren’t right in front of us, and we don’t feel the same moral urgency to act.
For me, the shift happened when I realised the stark inequality that comes with being born in a high income country. I wasn’t wealthy by any stretch, but simply by the fact that I was born in the UK, I was among the richest people in the world. That realisation hit me with some force. Why wasn’t I, and everyone I knew, doing more? Here I was, with access to resources that could dramatically improve the lives of others, and yet I had been living as if this disparity just didn’t exist. The wealth and security I took for granted — the ability to go to the doctor, access to education, to live in a safe home — were luxuries that far too many people will never experience.
For many of us, the privilege of living in a high-income country can make global inequality seem abstract. It’s easy to feel that the problem is just too large, too distant to have any real bearing on our lives. But that’s exactly what Singer challenges us to reconsider: just because we don’t see the suffering up close doesn’t mean it’s not happening. And just because it’s far away doesn’t mean we don’t have a moral responsibility to do something about it.
Once you accept the idea that we should help, the next question becomes, how? The obvious answer might be to donate to charity, but not all charities are created equal. This is where Singer’s work connects to something deeply practical: the importance of effective giving. Not all donations are equally impactful. It’s not just about giving more; it’s about giving wisely.
Take malaria, for example. A bed net costs just a few pounds, and yet it can protect a child from a disease that kills around 600,000 people each year. It’s hard to think of a more cost-effective intervention, and yet most people have no idea that something as simple as a bed net could save a life. This is where Singer’s philosophy becomes more than an abstract moral principle: it becomes a call to action. It’s about recognizing that, when we give, we should give to organisations that have a proven track record of turning donations into life-saving interventions.
This idea of “effective altruism,” which is central to Singer’s work, changed how I thought about giving. It wasn’t enough to give a small amount here and there to whatever charity seemed worthy, or asked. I began to research where my money could have the most impact. I came across organisations like GiveWell, which evaluates charities based on their cost-effectiveness at improving lives, and I saw just how much more could be done with even a modest amount.
This was a moment of real personal reckoning. I couldn’t ignore the fact that, as someone with access to fantastical resources (by global standards), I had a responsibility to act. Singer had made the moral case — and the practical case — for why I should give more, but also why I should give smarter.
Singer’s work introduced me to Giving What We Can, an organisation that supports a global movement of people committed to giving effectively and significantly. Seeing so many others who had already taken the 10% Pledge — committing to donate 10% of their income to highly effective charities for the rest of their lives — inspired me to take that step myself. Taking the pledge didn’t just feel like a moral decision; it felt like a step toward consistency. I had been thinking about these issues for years, but the pledge was the moment I decided to stop just thinking and start doing. It was the moment I said: “I can make a difference, and I will”.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned through this process, it’s that the biggest obstacle to giving is often inaction, not a lack of resources. For most of us, the question isn’t whether we can afford to give; it’s whether we’re willing to prioritise the lives of others over fleeting luxuries that ultimately matter far less.
Singer’s work helped me see that we can — and should — be doing more to help others. It’s easy to feel like we’re too small, too distant, or too overwhelmed by the world’s problems to make a real difference. But the truth is, when we choose to act, the impact is larger than we realise.
That’s why I’m inviting you to take the pledge too. By doing so, you’ll commit to donating a portion of your income to the most effective charities out there. It’s not about making a grand gesture or feeling morally superior. It’s about making a consistent, thoughtful decision to join a global movement and together help solve some of the world's biggest problems.
Peter Singer’s ideas were a turning point for me, and I believe they can be for you too. Take the pledge. Start giving. Because we all have the power to make a difference, and now we know how to do it.