There are a couple of constructive suggestions in my original posting.

Don't shoot the messenger

Read the first two lines of the calculator intro. It says it's not for people on the breadline (Alex) and, clearly aware of its shortcomings, it asks how it could be improved (Ginster's Dragon - anything constructive you could offer?).

Given your propensity for disecting the minutiae of other organisation's work, I simply felt compelled to point out the utter uselessness of this calculator. Perhaps you could add unavoidable expenses such as mortgage payments (a weakness which you've identified yourself) and travel to/from work. 

Obviously there's no perfect equation, but you could make a far better stab at it.  

Don't shoot the messenger

How much should a student give? Obviously this is a bit of a broad question as some may have to work a number of hours a week to pay their tuition fees and others simply have it all payed for them by their parents...
In my case, i would say i earn about £3500 per year and most of it is spent on accomodation and living expenses. What is a fair amount for me to give?

Presumably charities, like businesses, keep accounts for public scrutiny. Where can we locate some sort of league table of (at least the most notable) charities, based on average income & expenditure over (for eg.) the last five years? Admin. costs differentiated from good works, of course. I appreciate that admin. as a % of income will differ among organisations but it helps us who are of limited means, to place our '2 mites' where we hope they'll do most good.(You don't know what '2 mites' are?? - Bring back bible stories into schools - for Humanity's, sake, not religion's) Art.

What percentage of his wealth does Bill Gates give to charity ?

However wealthy someone is in monetary terms and however much they give to charity as a percentage of that wealth, or in actual numbers, we all only have 24 hours in a day. The extra hours I put in for the charity I work for - at a salary far less than I could get for a similar job in the City - make up for me spending a higher percentage of my salary than most on having a good time. (I waste the rest).

It's practically impossible to assign a £ value to volunteering (I know you guys at IG don't like that word, but until someone can find a sensible and not puke-making single word to describe giving your time, tough). "Volunteers are not paid - not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless" (Anon - one of my favourite quotes).

Having plugged the £ numbers in, I'm officially a stingy [insert choice of insult here]. Do I look bovvered? Calculating my hourly wage from my salary and adding in my time triples that amount, putting it well into "Committed giver" territory. Since I probably should be committed, I can live with that.

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... they nearly thought I am Vlad the Impaler (yep, I was totally honest)

Do your calculations include what people leave in their will? How about suggestions for that?

In response to Jo, it's the poorest 20% in the country. For more details on the calculations, click the "Click for our sums" link.

We have been asked to incorporate a minimum cut-off figure, below which you shouldn't have to give anything. But I think you'll find that the poorest 20% don't apply such a thing. Nor do the famously generous Bangladeshis/Indians/Egyptians etc. And anyway we're not forcing anyone to use their figure. We're just letting you know what other people do.

Dave Pitchford, Editor

Its because the website calculator works on percentages of net income, not actual £££. Poorer people on average give higher proportions of their lower incomes than the average wealthy person. The average American gives a higher proportion than the average Brition.

Ian Clark

HOw do you define the poorest givers?

I was under the impression that American's were considered the most generous in terms of charitable donations yet the avg. american gives only £4 more than the poorest givers