Giving What We Can was founded in 2009 by Toby Ord (a philosopher at the University of Oxford), his wife Bernadette Young (a physician in training at the time), and William MacAskill (another philosopher at the University of Oxford).
At the time of its inception they were joined by other prominent members such as Rachel Glennerster (a development economist), Michael Kremer (a Nobel laurete and development economist), Peter Singer (a philosopher and author).