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I generally agree with the whole "wait till you get rich then donate to charity" sentiment. But it's hard to tell when you're rich enough. It would be a risky b

I generally agree with the whole "wait till you get rich then donate to charity" sentiment. But it's hard to tell when you're rich enough. It would be a risky bet either way. You can't be sure how much more you'll be able to make your earnings grow in the future, just as you can't be sure if your charities will pay out. And the longer you wait, the longer those charities you could have been investing on, are not seeing any benefits. So you have two balance these two: Wait too long and charities of today don't see much benefit. Wait too little and you might be unable to grow your money and do less overall charity in the future. How do you know what's the right point in your career? Ideally, you wanna start donation when you're at the top of your career. And don't wanna risk falling from where you are. After the recent investments maybe Andreessen Horowitz think they got to that point. They've got more money than ever and it's getting riskier to wait longer. So they considered that balance and judged it was the right time to donate to charity. You might disagree with their timing. But hey, remember they're pretty good at this stuff, so maybe they're right :)

tobtoh 14y ago
There has been research done (by Alumni organisations) that show that the people who 'wait till they get rich' never donate. The 'wait till I get rich', despite the best of intentions, is just an excuse. The other related excuse is that 'I'll wait until I can make a sizeable and therefore meaningful donation'. The research (and I don't have a link sorry) showed that if an Alumni made a donation, even $1, within 3 years of leaving, there was an 80% chance of them donating again. If they didn't make a donation within three years, the chance of them donating again in the future was very very small. ie donators donate now. Everyone just makes excuses. The fact is, you're always 'rich' enough to donate. Give up that coffee or muffin you were about to buy and donate a couple of bucks a week, or a month, every six months or whatever. If you can't do that, donate some time/your expertise to help out at a charity. If people are serious about donating money to charity, there is zero reason they can't start right now.
- rdl 14y ago
  That seems like you might be measuring something other than total donation -- just donation to one specific charity. Sure, if I pass on donating to MIT today (IMO they have enough money already), I might not get around to it ever. But, given that I am unlikely to have kids, if I die, my money will all be going to some charity or set of charities eventually. (I do donate now, mainly to groups like MAPS and EFF, but my income and liquid net worth are pretty insignificant compared to my goal.)
  - tobtoh 14y ago
    No - the research is about people's attitude and actions around donations. It doesn't matter who or what you donate to - the act of donating right now is the indicator of whether you will donate in your lifetime. If you have committed to donating your estate to charity by putting it into your will, good for you! But if you haven't already committed to this by putting it into your will, then you (at this point in time) reinforce the research - which is people always promise/intend to donate, but they have excuses to delay donating till some point in the distant future which result in them never donating in the end (so in this case, I'll donate my estate when I die).

tobtoh 14y ago

There has been research done (by Alumni organisations) that show that the people who 'wait till they get rich' never donate. The 'wait till I get rich', despite the best of intentions, is just an excuse. The other related excuse is that 'I'll wait until I can make a sizeable and therefore meaningful donation'. The research (and I don't have a link sorry) showed that if an Alumni made a donation, even $1, within 3 years of leaving, there was an 80% chance of them donating again. If they didn't make a donation within three years, the chance of them donating again in the future was very very small. ie donators donate now. Everyone just makes excuses. The fact is, you're always 'rich' enough to donate. Give up that coffee or muffin you were about to buy and donate a couple of bucks a week, or a month, every six months or whatever. If you can't do that, donate some time/your expertise to help out at a charity. If people are serious about donating money to charity, there is zero reason they can't start right now.

rdl 14y ago
That seems like you might be measuring something other than total donation -- just donation to one specific charity. Sure, if I pass on donating to MIT today (IMO they have enough money already), I might not get around to it ever. But, given that I am unlikely to have kids, if I die, my money will all be going to some charity or set of charities eventually. (I do donate now, mainly to groups like MAPS and EFF, but my income and liquid net worth are pretty insignificant compared to my goal.)
- tobtoh 14y ago
  No - the research is about people's attitude and actions around donations. It doesn't matter who or what you donate to - the act of donating right now is the indicator of whether you will donate in your lifetime. If you have committed to donating your estate to charity by putting it into your will, good for you! But if you haven't already committed to this by putting it into your will, then you (at this point in time) reinforce the research - which is people always promise/intend to donate, but they have excuses to delay donating till some point in the distant future which result in them never donating in the end (so in this case, I'll donate my estate when I die).