Hacker News Reader

I don't donate 10% of my income to effective charities, but I do donate about 2.5% to charities I am told are very lean and productive. I've always wondered where the 10% number comes from: is it just because that's the traditional tithing amount in Christianity? Is it because it's a round number? In the spirit of this article: why not 11%?

View on HN

Yes, it’s just because it’s a traditional amount. They picked a number at which people who are inclined to feel guilty about not doing enough should stop feeling guilty.

10% might be arbitrary but it seems to be a number that people have found to be reasonable for over 2000 years, so it is well tested. If you go too low then less money goes to charity. Too high and people brush it off as unreasonable.

On a side note, Judaism has a 10% min but also a 20% max (but which doesn’t necessarily apply to the very wealthy).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com