This is a loaded and very personal question that we are going to address today. The question is: how much should we give to charity? This is a question that everyone must determine for themselves. However, once could argue that as high income earners, doctors have a greater obligation.
This is something that me and Selenid talk about not infrequently. However, the impetus for this post is actually a recent book that I read called Infectious Generosity by Chris Anderson, who is the head of TED Talks.
The overall message of the book is that, in today’s society, we can harness our connectivity to spread generosity in an infectious, viral manner. The book is very good, if not a bit overly saccharine and optimistic. But I still recommend it.
In any regard, one of the final chapters addresses the question of how much people should give to charity, or give away in general.
Principles to determine how much we should give to charity
The idea of the book is that everyone should give.
And for the sake of this discussion, we are going to focus on giving financially. Although there are obviously many ways to give non-financially, including giving your time. This is something that doctors do to an exceptional level throughout our careers.
Anderson lays out 4 main principles to guide all world citizens in giving to charity:
- It should be a norm for everyone. This not only encourages everyone to do it but eliminates that guilt felt by some for not “doing more.”
- The giving should be enough to reasonably address main societal problems
- The giving should not be so demanding that the average person in the world could not do it
- It should be “accepted as fair.” Meaning that those who can give more should give more to charity.
I think most of these principles are very reasonable. I know there are some who may scoff that those with more should give more. And this take comes especially hot from doctors who took on incredible debt in time and money for their increased compensation later in life. I get that as well.
I don’t have the answers but in general am in favor of this principle in theory.
Historical guidelines for our giving
In history, there have really been two very good examples of universal systems of giving that adhere to the principles above.
Tithing
This one is more commonly known.
Rooted in Judaism and Christianity, tithing is the practice of giving 10% of your income to the church or synagogue. In the secular world, this 10% may be given directly to charities or causes.
And, in general, this practice is for anyone who has the means to do so and is not “poor.”
Zakat
Zakat is an Islam tradition that I was not aware of previously.
It is similar to tithing in that it recommends universal giving based off of your means to give. Except in this case, the standard determining the amount given is not income but net worth.
Zakat asks that everyone above a certain wealth level give 1/40th or 2.5% of their net worth annually to charity.
Which is better?
Neither is better. If you are following the principles of tithing or zakat, you are being very generous. And neither is easy to do.
The question may be better phrased than as asking, which tradition gives more to charity?
And that answer is, it depends.
It depends on your income/net worth ratio. If your income/net worth ratio is high, then giving 10% of your income via tithing is likely the greater donation. Meanwhile, if your income/net worth ratio is low, practicing zakat will result in you giving more to charity.
And back we come to our original question…
How much should doctors give to charity?
Anderson asks his readers to make a pledge. A pledge to make it a life goal to annually give whichever is higher: 10% of your income or 2.5% of your net worth.
This is a huge ask. But the results could be equally huge. In his book, Anderson dives into the math showing that if 1/3 of everyone in the world committed to this pledge, it would generate $3.5 trillion in charitable givings and could solve the majority of the world’s biggest issues including world hunger.
Astounding. But difficult. I can’t pretend like it’s not a big ask. More on this later.
In terms of doctors, in generalities, giving via a pledge like this would divide us generally into two groups:
- Younger career physicians whose income is greater than their net worth who would practice tithing
- Later career physicians whose net worth is greater than their income and would practice zakat
And I would argue that only attending physicians should be asked to take this pledge.
As an aside, you can learn to calculate your actual versus expected net worth here.
Is this reasonable to ask of physicians? I think it is. But I have to admit something…
What do I do?
Selenid and I do not practice tithing or zakat.
In fact, you can look at our written financial plan and see that giving to charity is one it, but is low on the priority list.
But why?
In thinking about this, it’s hard not to sound like I’m making excuses. But after reflecting, there are really 3 reasons why subconsciously Selenid and I have not given more to this point:
- I feel like we need to take care of ourselves first to get a stable footing to be able to give more from a comfortable foundation (kind of like how I encourage everyone to save for themselves before their kids, and speaking of kids…),
- It feels like we are giving a lot at this point, it’s just we are giving it to our 3 kids, and
- I feel like we will be able to give more generally once we establish our own financial freedom (I don’t have the math to support this)
To me, I do feel like these are valid points. But there are holes in my arguments for sure. The first and foremost being that some money now for those in need is often better than more money later.
What we do now and what we plan to do
We do give to charity now. But it is haphazard and usually one-offs. We see a cause and donate an amount to it. We don’t think of it within the context of a giving plan. It is unintentional giving, an ugly cousin of unintentional spending.
What we need to do is to give to charity intentionally. We need to have a giving plan. And I think it is reasonable to start now. So this is something we need to work on. And it’s something I think just about all physicians can reasonably do.
In terms of whether we should practice tithing of zakat, tithing wins. We would donate about 50% more using our income as a standard compared to our net worth.
But to be honest, I know this won’t happen in one swoop. Just like when we started creating our savings rate, we will likely start making it a goal to give 2% first, and then build up. This makes the whole process more durable and long-lasting, creating a habit rather than more one-off giving.
Infectious generosity is possible. And we can play a big part in it. To me, that is exciting!
What do you think? How much should doctors give to charity? How much do you give? And how did you come up with your plan? Let me know in the comments below!
Very interesting discussion. Thanks for bringing this up. We practice tithing for religious reasons and in addition give 2% to other causes that are important to us. We’ve done this ever since residency and because of that it’s easy to continue. I can see how this would be more difficult to start when you haven’t done it before because with an attending salary the amounts to start to add up. My opinion is that whatever you intend to do you need to stick with it and be purposeful. I also think that making this part of your financial plan early on will make it more palatable as your income and/or net worth growth.