How to Keep Your Pledge (6)
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How to Keep Your Pledge (6)


You’ve taken the pledge. You’re going to give a percentage of your income to effective charities working to save and improve the lives of those living in extreme poverty. Nicely done! 

But now what?

Three and a half years ago, I took the same public pledge. Keeping it has been easier than I thought it would be, thanks to some tips and tricks I picked up along the way. Every week, I’ll be sharing a strategy that worked for me or another fellow pledger.  

If you have a giving strategy that you’d like to share on this blog, email it to info@thelifeyoucansave.org.

 

Strategy 6:  Bring your friends

 

Call it what you will – peer pressure, herd mentality, in-group conformity – we humans tend to behave like our friends. Use it to your advantage! Get a friend, family member, or co-worker to take the pledge with you. Share your goals with each other, congratulate each other when you’ve hit a major milestone, and support each other if you start to flounder. If you have someone to hold you accountable, you’re much less likely to backslide on your pledge. And by getting someone else to take the pledge, you’ve directed even more money toward ending extreme poverty.

 

Can’t find anyone to take the pledge with you? Join others who have already taken the pledge. Meet up with a group in your area, or reach out to fellow pledgers online. However you connect, your commitment will be strengthened just by knowing you are surrounded by peers who are making good on their pledge too.

 

We all handle money differently, and our relationship with money changes overtime. You know best what strategy will work for you. Mix and match the strategies on this blog, or come up with your own. Just keep giving!

Have you found a great way to keep your pledge? Share it with us!

  Claire Knowlton is President of the Board for The Life You Can Save. She lives in Los Angeles and works as an accountant and auditor of nonprofit organizations.


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Claire Knowlton

Claire Knowlton, President of the Board for The Life You Can Save, is an independent auditor of not-for-profit organizations in the United States. She shares her Los Angeles apartment with a physicist, a fluffy cat, and a window garden.

The views expressed in blog posts are those of the author, and not necessarily those of Peter Singer or The Life You Can Save.