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Pledge Conversations 101

Here's everything you need to know about the OFTW pledge conversation.
Written by Emma Cameron
Updated 3 months ago

Inviting people to take the 1% Pledge is arguably the most exciting, challenging and important part of running a OFTW chapter. Convincing more people to donate a portion of their income to the poorest people in the world is the motivation underpinning this entire organization. Here you will find a written guide to the pledge conversation, but please note that we recommend you watch the corresponding videos as well.

Contents:

  1. Steps
  2. Advice:
  3. Key Resources

Step by step process to the pledge conversation

(Step 0: If tabling, get them to the table)

  • Bring lots of snacks - it’s worth the money

  • Invite prospective pledgers in advance: friends, acquaintances, classmates, hallmates, etc. 
    • ex: "Hey, my club is handing out free donuts outside the library today at noon. Come visit!"
  • Print out this poverty quiz and ask people to answer a trivia question as they are walking by 

Cold shouts:

  • Wanna help solve global poverty?
  • Wanna give to the most effective causes?
  • Want to make the most impact with your donations?
  • We can fix global poverty! 

It is worth noting that historically few people just learning about OFTW will take the pledge. Therefore, for all pledge asks that are not at the table, move to Step 1.

Step 1: Ask a question

Always start the conversation by asking a question:

  • What's your name and what do you study?
  • Have you ever heard of One for the World?
  • What's the last charity you donated to, and why

Step 2: Explain the scope of the problem

  • 15K children under the age of 5 die every day. Over half of those deaths are easily preventable with proven solutions  AND/OR 
  • 734 million people live on less than $2.15 a day
  • We all want to help, but sometimes it feels impossible to know how
    • There are millions of charities out there - how can we know which one to choose?

Step 3: Proven solution (effective giving)

  • That is terrible, BUT there are charities that know how to cheaply, scalably, and reliably solve these problems
  • All charity is good; not all charity is equal. Some charities are actually 100-1,000 more impactful than others. If we could identify which charities will do the most good with our donations, we can have an incredible impact without any huge cost to our own lives.
    • The Seeing Eye Dog example: 
      • In the U.S., it costs $40,000 to train one seeing-eye dog to assist a person with a visual impairment. In countries across Africa and Asia, trachoma is a leading cause of blindness. However, it costs $40 to treat someone for trachoma, so for the same amount of money ($40,000) you could prevent ~1,000 people from going blind, or provide one seeing-eye dog for one visually impaired person in the U.S.
    • As a positive example, the Against Malaria Foundation provides insecticide-treated bed nets to people at risk of contracting malaria. Each net costs ~$5 and can prevent someone from contracting malaria for 2-3 years.
  • So, by giving effectively, we are able to save more lives per dollar

Step 4: Frame OFTW as an opportunity

  • We work with GiveWell - the best-in-class charity evaluator, and we leverage their research to produce an effective charitable giving portfolio.
  • How GiveWell evaluates charities: evidence of effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, room for more funding, transparency
  • One for the World offers the opportunity to have an incredible impact by pledging to donate 1% of your (future) income to these effective nonprofits over the course of your career

Step 5: The pledge - your potential impact

Donational is a transparent and reliable platform that allows you to make an ongoing commitment to help end this unnecessary suffering.

Example: With 1% of the average Vanderbilt income after grad, $556, you could

  • Protect 500 people from malaria for 3-4 years (Against Malaria Foundation)
  • Provide 2,138 people with micronutrient fortification for one year (Project Healthy Children)
  • Provide a year’s worth of safe water to 434 people (Evidence Action)

You can calculate your school's average impact here

Step 6: Compare the benefit of 1% to us vs. to recipients

  • "What is something you spend money on every month that is unnecessary?"
    • use their answer as an example to illustrate what that money could do when given to one of our top pick charities
  • To us, $25 can buy only one meal or a few cups of coffee, but that same amount could prevent 28 people from going blind, protect 12 people from malaria, provide 83 deworming treatments, and more. 
  • "Would you take your dream job at 99% of its salary?"
    • Realistically, the difference in quality of life between raking in $60k and $59,400 is negligible to us

Step 7: Make the ask

  • Explain Donational - "It's a transparent and reliable platform for routinely donating your money."
  • Sign up today with your debit card 
  • Explain that set your donation to start at a future date when you expect to have an income
  • You can adjust the amount in accordance with your salary or cancel at any time

Always have a direct ask: Wanna do this? What do you say? Let’s do this.

Advice

  • Check out our Answering Tough Questions section for an extension of these conversation templates.
  • Practice! Practice! Practice! We can not emphasize this enough. Having the Pledge Conversation is a skill to be honed in.
  • Ways you can practice:
  1. Find someone who has already taken the pledge: take turns convincing the other to take the pledge.
  2. Practice how you would respond to the most common objections
  • Although we created a script, people may become turned off if it sounds too rehearsed. Try to be natural!
  • Make the conversation specifically about the person and why they should pledge
  • When in doubt, explain why you yourself pledged: You have your reasons, you had doubts at the beginning. Tell them what made you click the “Confirm my Pledge” button.
  • It’s a conversation, not a lecture!
  • Set expectations for how long they should delay (we usually say 3 months after graduation)
  • If they say no, ask why

Key Resources



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