We began One Day's Wages with this “cashier's check” for $68,000 – the equivalent of our one year's salary.
One Day's Wages began with a simple vision that while we may not be famous, billionaires, or rock stars, we could still make a difference.
In 2009, my wife and I – after couple years of saving, simplifying, and selling off somestuff – finally honored our pledge that we made in 2007 to donate our year's wages to the fight against extreme poverty and start ODW.
While we've received our share of criticism for going 'public' with our donation, our motivation is not draw attention to ourselves. We've made this public for three reasons:
1 | Transparency
We needed to let people know that we honored our pledge.
2 | Action
We will not ask you to do something that we're not willing to do. In donating our one year's wages, we are simply asking people to donate their one day's wages – monthly, quarterly, or at least, once every year.
Remember, a person's one day's wages is equivalent to about 0.4% of one annual salary but for those living in extreme poverty, it will have a dramatic impact.
3 | Generosity
We want to remind the world that you don't have to be a billionaire, famous, or be a rock star to be generous. We're an average family hoping to inspire every day people to partner and collaborate together to inspire a movement of generosity in the fight against extreme poverty.
What is One Day's Wages?
One Day’s Wages (ODW) is a grassroots movement of people, stories, and actions to alleviate extreme global poverty. ODW promotes awareness, invites simple giving, and supports sustainable relief through partnerships, especially with smaller organizations in developing regions.
Our vision is to inspire people around the world to simply donate one day's wages and to renew that pledge monthly, quarterly or yearly – or to start campaigns with a cause by donating their birthday, one day of work, or numerous other ideas – to the cause of alleviating extreme global poverty.
As we begin a new year, please partner with us:
- Donate your one day's wages – monthly, quarterly, or at least, yearly.
- Create a birthday campaign.
- Look through website for other ideas.
One Day's Wages is you, me, us, and them – all working together to create a more compassionate and just world.
– Eugene & Minhee