Comments
Hi satelliteprocess! I'm Grace, the Head of Marketing at GWWC.
While you can take a pledge as a couple, and choose to give 10% of combined income, we have many people who are married or in long term relationships who have taken a 10% Pledge, and give 10% of their own income, and do not factor in their partner's income.
So two answer your two questions in short:
- no, you don't need to both take the 10% Pledge or give 10% of combined income
- yes, you can just pledge as an individual, and give 10% of your individual income
If you have any further questions, you can get in touch with us at [email protected]
I don't know if there is an official answer, but I would be very surprised if the 10% pledge required including your spouse's income as well.
I think the GWWC team generally (IMO correctly) cares more about people fulfilling the "spirit" of the pledge than splitting hairs over who has and hasn't fulfilled it in some technical sense. Including your spouse's income may make sense in some cases, but it probably depends on specifics that you should just make a call on.
Asked this question because in The Life You Can Save, there is a section dedicated to this question regarding the pledge :
"
I only earn $75,000, but my partner and I have a joint income of $150,000. Is it my own income or our joint income that I should enter when taking the pledge?
It depends on whether you both want to pledge, and on how you manage your finances. If you both want to pledge, then we suggest you take your combined income and enter that. Peter’s pledge calculations are based on “taxable units,” which refers to couples in the United States; in many countries, taxable units are individuals, whether married or not. If only one of you wants to pledge and you keep your finances separate, then enter your individual income."
So in general I was asking whether this was a similar part regarding the pledge as in if the married couple counts as a "taxable unit". So just clarifying then, whether finances are kept separate or put into a joint account, you only donate 10% of the income you bring to the table, not factor in total income and then take 10%?