Toby Ord is a university researcher earning not much more than the average salary. So why is he giving away £1m over his lifetime to help address global poverty?
When Facebook founder and billionaire Mark Zuckerberg pledged to give away most of his wealth during his lifetime, some British commentators bemoaned the lack of philanthropy on this side of the Atlantic.
But an academic at Oxford University is living off little more than £300 a month in an act of charity-giving that is arguably more impressive than those of Zuckerberg, Gates, Buffett and co.
Toby Ord, 31, has in the past year given more than a third of his earnings, £10,000, to charities working in the poorest countries. He also gave away £15,000 of savings, as the start of his pledge to give away £1m over his lifetime.
# Income: £25,300, rising to £33,000 in coming year
# Giving to charity: Everything above £18,000
# So far: he's given £25,000
# Outgoings: £5,000 rent, £4,000 living expenses, rest on savings for house and holidays
# Plus: Eating out twice a fortnight, coffee once a week
# Interests: reading, listening to music, photography, meeting friends
Comments
Wow, made me self reflect and think would i ever be able to do that and yes it's more impressive to see a person of average earning giving so much to charity, inspiring stuff.