How much you spend is obviously so personal, but I think "figuring out" how much to spend swings along a pendulum. If you spend time cutting out unnecessary costs, the pendulum swings left. If you spend time leaning into spending more on things you love, the pendulum swings right. It may take time to figure out what's useless and what's useful. Like you, I was bred into a family with a scarcity mindset (Holocaust Survivors). It was easier for me to keep costs low than to spend on myself. This ultimately helped me in my finances.  But I find it can be just as hard to release oneself from the grip's of a scarcity mindset into an abundance mindset, as much as it can be for someone who has scaled up their lifestyle and needs to scale back. I find for the most part, people in the EA community seem to share the low-cost mindset more-so than those that overspend (perhaps that's self selecting though based on the work I do!). 

Thanks for flagging my EA forum post “Scared to Pledge? 5 financial steps for confident giving”. Since you've touched on tax relief here, I'll also mention this post for those in the US who might find this helpful:  "Charitable tax deductions: why most advice is a miss (and what actually matters)" 

Else, as a personal finance nerd I love hearing the many different ways people create a baseline framework to cement their giving. Personal finance is well...very personal and so what speaks to someone might not speak to someone everyone, so the more stories we share the better. 

I've also seen https://donatestock.com/ and was curious about the user experience, but when i loosely explored it, I didn't see it as particularly helpful for donors. First, not all the charities I wanted to donate to were readily listed (e.g. The Life You Can Save). Second, it didn't seem much easier than just filling out the e-form on my banks' website. DonateStock seems to only facilitate one-time stock donations, rather than offering a monthly recurring option (as I'd like to see) which I see as the real problem solver here. 

Would be curious to hear from others on this

I donate stock that has appreciated the most in my portfolio. I’ll do this by selecting the asset (eg the share of the fund), identifying the tax lots, then sorting by cost basis. If you’re gonna avoid gains, avoid the largest ones! 

Would be very nice if there was a “donate” button next to the “sell” button for each tax lot. Unfortunately no one makes this part easy. 

Good reminder to promote giving multiplier

Mom here - 2 year old and one on the way. My husband regularly takes on more parenting responsibilities so I can work on my EA aligned non-profit. He came to EAGx Austin and took full responsibility for our 3 month old so I could present and connect with others. I just came back from a weekend a EAG NYC, where he did the same. His support single-handedly allows me run Yield & Spread. Without him, I couldn't do it. Let's celebrate the dads. 

Done!

Very interesting and timely post for me as I have been exploring the idea of hiring a fractional CMO for my EA-adjacent org to address these very concepts. 

You talk about conversions and growing a marketing list, but I find it difficult to define a framework for applying standard conversion metrics to what ultimately amounts to impact. For example, I run a coaching program that helps people align their financial plans with their giving goals. My aim isn’t to coach as many people as possible, but rather to coach the most impactful people. E.g. those who will donate regularly or make career changes that lead to greater impact.

It’s challenging to design a marketing strategy that optimizes for that kind of outcome, since traditional metrics like leads, clicks, or sign-ups don’t necessarily reflect meaningful impact. I’d be curious if you (or others here) have thoughts on adapting marketing frameworks to measure or predict impact-oriented conversions rather than purely volume-based ones?

P.S. I also made a huge attempt to run ads and found it to be a total failure for same reasons you listed above. 

A vulnerable post like this was well worth sharing. I'm sure it wasn't easy to open up about this, but I bet many others can relate. I like the idea of re-committing vs. trying to make up for years of backfall - which may likely lead to more stress and an "all-or-nothing" mindset that may cause you to circle the drain. 

I think your point about donating monthly and making your giving more of a consistent habit is important. When it comes to planning, have you considered any other resources to keep up the habit? Some simple ideas that could help:

1. Set up your recurring donations in parallel with the timing of your paycheck. This way you can ensure you meet your donation goals before you spend all your income.
2. Put a reminder on your calendar once a month to make the donation, or to check the donation has been made. You could pair this alongside anything else you already do once a month e.g. when review your monthly spend, when you pay your rent, when you change your bedsheets, or whatever it is that you do consistently. That way the habit is tied to a habit you already have.
3. Take a deeper look at your finances to determine whether the 10% pledge is truly feasible for you. If it’s not, that’s perfectly fine, just adjust to a level that feels more reasonable. You may also find that simply getting a better handle on your finances makes donating feel easier and more natural. To help with this, I recommend tracking your spending regularly using a tool like Monarch Money or Lunch Money. This will not only give you a clear view of your overall spending but also help you see your donations each month.