Rationales for Giving

If you’re like most Irish people, you’ve probably been giving all your life. We Irish are famously generous with our time, with our hospitality and with our money. Some of us will remember the orange Trócaire boxes on the mantlepiece during Lent to collect for starving children in Africa. Or the St. Vincent de Paul collections outside mass every 4th Sunday. Younger people will have seen statistics showing that Irish donate more per head than anyone else in the world. 

But have you ever sat back and asked yourself why do we donate, why do you donate? Or why do you support this charity rather than that one?

Recently, the Australian charity, The Life You Can Save, asked some well-known people to write about why they donate, approaching the question from different angles. They got a wide range of answers, from some who just consider it a moral imperative to others who see donation as a way to support goals they strongly believe in - like supporting women and girls in education. One article reflected on the religious motivations, while another talks about the responsibility that comes with success. There is the argument that we’re all in this together, and that helping the weakest helps us all.

You can find all these articles here.

And of course there is the fact that giving makes us feel good. Here it is supported by compelling scientific evidence from “The Science of Generosity”.

Most of us probably subscribe to some or even most of these ideas. I found these articles compelling because they helped me express, in words, concepts that I had previously struggled with. If I choose to donate money to a good cause rather than spend it on myself or my family, I am now better able to explain my decision to myself, and to justify it to others. I do not struggle with the notion of asking my boss for a raise so that I can donate more.

If you’ve come to this website, we think you’ll enjoy and perhaps be inspired by these articles. They are beautifully written, and are not too long. 

This link below takes you to the page of The Life You Can Save, where you will find much more inspiring and interesting content. The Life You Can Save was founded by Peter Singer, a living legend in the field of philanthropy. You may have heard of his Drowning Child Thought Experiment (link) which asks you to imagine how you would react if you saw a child drowning in a shallow pool as you walked to work in your nice suit. Would you be willing to risk your suit to rescue the child? Of course you would! 

But we live in a world where 5 million children under the age of 5 die, mostly from things that a little money could have prevented or cured. So, in a very real sense, we are living this Drowning Child Thought Experiment every day. And too many of us are passing by rather than saving the child. 

Peter Singer decided to dedicate his entire life to helping. We don’t all have to do that. But charities like The Life You Can Save enable us to rescue drowning children from the safety of our own homes through effective donation. We are in the privileged position of being able to do this thanks to the work of others. But at the same time, they desperately need our donations. Let's help them save more children!