Centre for Effective Altruism
Centre for Effective Altruism
Oxford-based organization that coordinates the effective altruism movement, running EA Global conferences, supporting local groups, and maintaining the EA Forum.
Quick Assessment
| Dimension | Assessment | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Focus Area | EA movement building & coordination | Runs conferences, supports local groups, maintains EA Forum1 |
| Primary Funder | Coefficient Giving | $26M in 2022, $11M in 20232 |
| Founded | 2012 | Created as umbrella for Giving What We Can and 80,000 Hours3 |
| Current CEO | Zach Robinson (Feb 2024) | Former Chief of Staff at Coefficient Giving4 |
| Staff & Budget | ≈40 staff, ≈$30M budget | As of March 20245 |
Overview
The Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) is an Oxford-based organization that serves as a central coordinating body for the effective altruism movement. Founded in 2012 by philosophers William MacAskill and Toby Ord, CEA emerged from the need to create an umbrella organization for two earlier projects: Giving What We Can (founded 2009) and 80,000 Hours (founded 2011).3 The naming process for this new organization was historically significant—it marked the first time the term "effective altruism" was used in its current sense, replacing earlier terms like "optimal philanthropy" and "rational altruism."6
CEA's primary activities center on building and supporting the effective altruism community. The organization runs EA Global conferences that bring together people interested in effective altruism ideas, supports over 200 local EA groups across 50 countries,7 and builds and moderates the EA Forum—an online discussion platform for the community.1 CEA also operates effectivealtruism.org and publishes the Effective Altruism Newsletter.8 Through its Community Building Grants Program launched in 2018, CEA provides funding to individuals and groups doing local EA community building.9
The organization has received substantial funding from Coefficient Giving, including $26 million for general support in 2022 and $11 million in June 2023.2 CEA currently operates as a project within Effective Ventures, though it announced plans in January 2024 to spin out as an independent organization, with a target date of July 1, 2025.10 As part of this spinout, CEA and EA Funds have decided to merge into a single organization that will retain the CEA name.10
Leadership History
CEA has experienced significant leadership turnover, with five different Executive Directors or CEOs between 2016 and 2024.
| Period | Leader | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012–2015 | William MacAskill | Co-founder/President | Founding leadership alongside Toby Ord |
| 2015–2018 | Tara MacAulay | CEO | Joined to manage operations in 2015; promoted to CEO. Later co-founded Alameda Research with Sam Bankman-Fried11 |
| Early 2018 | Larissa Hesketh-Rowe | CEO | Promoted from COO; previously managed Community Team; left January 201912 |
| Jan 2019 | Max Dalton | Interim ED | Appointed after Larissa's departure; formerly Head of Content13 |
| Oct 2019–2023 | Max Dalton | Executive Director | Confirmed as permanent ED after extensive search; resigned early 2023 citing mental health challenges following FTX crisis14 |
| 2019–2022 | Joan Gass | Managing Director | First Managing Director; supported Max Dalton; left 2022 to co-found Horizon Institute for Public Service15 |
| May 2023 | Ben West | Interim Managing Director | Served during leadership transition16 |
| Feb 2024–present | Zach Robinson | CEO | Previously Chief of Staff at Open Philanthropy4 |
History
Founding Era (2009-2012)
The roots of CEA trace back to two earlier organizations. Toby Ord founded Giving What We Can in 2009, a community of people pledging to donate a significant portion of their income to effective charities. William MacAskill and others then founded 80,000 Hours in 2011, focused on providing career advice for those wanting to make a positive impact.3
In late 2011, members of these two organizations met to discuss creating a new umbrella entity and what it should be named.17 This discussion resulted in the adoption of "effective altruism" as the movement's defining term—the first use of the phrase in its current sense.6 CEA was formally founded in 2012 with both MacAskill and Ord, philosophers at the University of Oxford, as co-founders.18
During this early period, CEA also incubated projects that later spun off: The Life You Can Save (incubated by Giving What We Can) and Animal Charity Evaluators, originally called Effective Animal Activism (incubated by 80,000 Hours).19
Consolidation and Growth (2015-2017)
In 2015 and 2016, CEA incorporated several projects including Effective Altruism Global and Giving What We Can, transitioning from a loose umbrella structure to a more centralized organization.20 The organization began running its flagship EA Global conferences during this period. The first EA Global in 2015 featured speakers including Elon Musk, Stuart Russell, and Will MacAskill at Google's Mountain View campus, with additional conferences in Oxford and Melbourne.21 CEA has acknowledged that the 2015 and 2016 conferences made mistakes by not providing strong animal advocacy content, which made community members focused on animal welfare feel undervalued.22
In 2017, Coefficient Giving provided $2.5 million in general support, reflecting growing funder confidence in CEA's work.23 CEA also established a Berkeley, California office and launched EA Funds that year.24 Sam Bankman-Fried joined CEA as director of development in late 2017, though he worked there only from October to November before leaving to co-found Alameda Research with Tara MacAulay.11
Expansion and Restructuring (2018-2022)
The Community Building Grants Program launched in 2018, enabling CEA to fund local community builders around the world.9 Also in 2018, CEA launched a new version of the EA Forum based on the LessWrong codebase.25 The Community Health team, led by Julia Wise (CEA's longest-serving employee, who joined in 2015), was formalized to handle complaints and community concerns.26
In 2020, both Giving What We Can and EA Funds spun out to operate more independently, though they retained operational support from CEA.27
A significant organizational restructuring occurred in September 2022 when the umbrella organization (previously also called "Centre for Effective Altruism") renamed itself to "Effective Ventures Foundation" to reduce confusion. After this change, CEA operates as one project within Effective Ventures, alongside Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours, EA Funds, the Forethought Foundation, the Centre for the Governance of AI, Longview Philanthropy, and other initiatives.28
The FTX Crisis (2022-2024)
The collapse of FTX in November 2022 and Sam Bankman-Fried's subsequent arrest created significant challenges for CEA. The FTX Future Fund had donated $13.9 million to CEA in 2022—exceeding half of CEA's total historical funding.29 Multiple EA leaders, including Will MacAskill, had been warned about SBF's questionable behavior between 2018-2019, though CEA conducted an internal investigation in 2019 and SBF left the board that same year.3031
The UK Charity Commission opened a statutory inquiry in December 2022.32 Effective Ventures ultimately returned $26.8 million to the FTX bankruptcy estate—100% of funds received from FTX/FTX Foundation in 2022.33 In May 2024, the Charity Commission concluded its inquiry finding no evidence of mismanagement warranting intervention.34
Max Dalton resigned as Executive Director in early 2023 citing mental health challenges. Both Will MacAskill and Nick Beckstead (who had served as CEO of FTX Future Fund) stepped down from Effective Ventures boards.3536
Independence and Merger (2024-Present)
In December 2023, CEA announced that Zach Robinson would become its next CEO, starting in February 2024.4 Robinson was selected through a search process that considered hundreds of internal and external candidates. He previously served as Chief of Staff at Coefficient Giving.
In January 2024, CEA announced plans to spin out of Effective Ventures and become an independent organization.10 As part of this process, CEA and EA Funds decided to merge rather than spin out separately, with the combined organization targeting independence by July 1, 2025.10 Coefficient Giving provided $990,000 in May 2024 to support these spinout costs.37
CEA continues its core activities, including EA Global conferences—with EA Global: Boston 2024 held November 1-3 at the Hynes Convention Center38 and plans for EA Global: Bay Area (February 21-23, 2025) and EA Global: London (June 6-8, 2025).39
Programs and Activities
CEA operates several interconnected programs focused on community building and knowledge sharing.
EA Global Conferences are CEA's flagship activity, bringing together people interested in effective altruism to share ideas, network, and collaborate.1 These multi-day events take place in major cities including Boston, London, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The 2025 schedule includes EA Global: Bay Area in February at the Oakland Marriott and EA Global: London in June at the Intercontinental London.39
Community Building Grants, started in 2018, provide full- and part-time grants to individuals and groups doing local effective altruism community building.9 The program has supported groups at universities and in cities around the world, helping grow the network to over 200 groups across 50 countries.7
The EA Forum serves as an online discussion platform for the effective altruism community.1 Built as a fork of the LessWrong codebase in 2018, most code development is done by the LessWrong team and then ported to the EA Forum.25
Virtual Programs, launched in Q1 2021 by CEA contractor Emma Abele, attracted over 600 participants and 100 facilitators in their first iteration.40 The EA Introduction Fellowship is an 8-week program with weekly readings and discussion groups of 4-8 people, moderated by experienced community members.41
Funding
CEA receives substantial support from Coefficient Giving, which has provided tens of millions of dollars in grants over the years. As of March 2024, the organization has a budget of approximately $30 million.5
| Year | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | $2,500,000 | General support23 |
| 2021 | $7,500,000 | General support42 |
| 2022 | $26,000,000 | General support2 |
| June 2023 | $11,000,000 | Support CEA2 |
| November 2023 | $3,406,887 | General support43 |
| May 2024 | $990,000 | Spinout costs37 |
Coefficient Giving has also provided targeted grants including $7,783,000 over two years for EA Funds regranting support, $5,318,000 over three years for a biosecurity coworking space in Boston, and $500,000 for EA Infrastructure Fund support.44
Organizational Structure
CEA operates through the Effective Ventures legal structure, which consists of two separate entities: Effective Ventures Foundation (UK), a registered charity in England and Wales (charity number 1149828) and a Netherlands registered tax-deductible entity (ANBI 825776867); and Effective Ventures Foundation USA, a section 501(c)(3) organization (EIN: 47-1988398).4546
As of March 2024, CEA has approximately 40 staff members.5 Following the planned merger with EA Funds and spinout from Effective Ventures, the organization was targeting independent operation by July 2025.10
Leadership
Criticisms and Controversies
The FTX Connection
CEA's most significant controversy stems from its connections to Sam Bankman-Fried. He met co-founder William MacAskill in 2013,47 joined CEA as director of development in late 2017 (serving from October to November), and then left to co-found Alameda Research with CEA staff member Tara Hedley (née Mac Aulay).11 Bankman-Fried served on CEA's board until 2019.30
William MacAskill was personally cautioned about Bankman-Fried by at least three different people in 2018 and 2019.31 Issues reported to EA leaders about Alameda beginning in 2018 included "pervasive dishonesty, sloppy accounting, and rejection of corporate controls"—problems that presaged the FTX scandal four years later.48 CEA conducted an internal investigation relating to CEA and Alameda sometime in 2019, and Bankman-Fried left the board that same year.30
Following FTX's collapse and Bankman-Fried's arrest in November 2022,49 questions arose about whether CEA and the broader EA movement exercised adequate oversight and judgment regarding someone who became one of the movement's most prominent figures and funders.
Philosophical Critiques
As a central institution of effective altruism, CEA faces criticism of the movement's approach more broadly. Critics argue that EA's data-centric approach marginalizes principles that don't lend themselves to quantification—justice, fairness, and equality.50 Some have argued that EA excludes perspectives from feminist theory, critical disability studies, critical race theory, and anti-colonial theory.50 Environmental ethicists have noted tensions with EA's focus on entities that can suffer, which conflicts with frameworks that value ecosystems and non-sentient nature.51
Organizational Focus Concerns
Some in the EA community have raised concerns about whether CEA remains aligned with core effective altruism principles. An EA Forum post titled "Centre for Effective Altruism Is No Longer 'Effective Altruism'-Related" represents these internal community concerns about organizational direction.52
Key Uncertainties
Key Questions
- ?How will the CEA-EA Funds merger and spinout from Effective Ventures affect organizational strategy and priorities?
- ?What governance changes will accompany the transition to an independent organization?
- ?How effective are Community Building Grants at producing lasting engagement versus temporary interest?
- ?What is the organization's funding diversity beyond Coefficient Giving?
Sources
Footnotes
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Centre For Effective Altruism | Official Website — Centre For Effective Altruism | Official Website - Description of main activities ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (2022) | Coefficient Giving — Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (2022) | Coefficient Giving - 2022 and 2023 grant amounts ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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Centre for Effective Altruism - Wikipedia — Centre for Effective Altruism - Wikipedia - Founding history and umbrella structure ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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CEA is making a recruiting hire | EA Forum — CEA is making a recruiting hire | EA Forum - Staff size and budget ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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Exclusive: Effective Altruist Leaders Were Warned About Sam Bankman-Fried Years Before FTX Collapsed | TIME — Exclusive: Effective Altruist Leaders Were Warned About Sam Bankman-Fried Years Before FTX Collapsed | TIME - SBF's role at CEA and founding of Alameda ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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CEA History | Centre For Effective Altruism — CEA History | Centre For Effective Altruism - Larissa Hesketh-Rowe tenure ↩
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CEA History | Centre For Effective Altruism — CEA History | Centre For Effective Altruism - Max Dalton interim appointment ↩
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Max Dalton transitioning to an advisory role | CEA — Max Dalton transitioning to an advisory role | CEA - Max Dalton resignation ↩
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Joan Gass appointed as CEA's Managing Director | CEA — Joan Gass appointed as CEA's Managing Director | CEA - Joan Gass role and departure ↩
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CEA History | Centre For Effective Altruism — CEA History | Centre For Effective Altruism - Ben West interim role ↩
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Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (2022) | Coefficient Giving — Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (2022) | Coefficient Giving - 2021 grant ↩
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Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (2022) | Coefficient Giving — Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (2022) | Coefficient Giving - November 2023 grant ↩
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Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (2022) | Coefficient Giving — Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (2022) | Coefficient Giving - Targeted grants ↩
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References
This is an announcement from the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) introducing Joan Gass as the organization's new Managing Director. The post likely outlines her background, qualifications, and vision for leading CEA's operations and mission-driven work.
“CEA has hired Joan Gass as our first Managing Director. In this role, Joan will support Max Dalton, our Executive Director.”
2Update on EA Global costs and 2024 CEA Events Team activitiesEA Forum·OllieRodriguez & Amy Labenz·2024▸
This EA Forum post provides a transparency update from the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) regarding the costs associated with EA Global conferences and the activities of the CEA Events Team in 2024. It likely covers budget details, attendance figures, and strategic decisions about the scale and focus of EA community-building events.
“In 2025, the EA Global team will run four events: EA Global: Bay Area 2025 will take place 21–23 February 2025 at the Oakland Marriott, the venue we’ve used for the past two Bay Area events. EA Global: London 2025 will take place 6–8 June 2025 for the second time at the Intercontinental O2 London.”
The wiki claim mentions EA Global: Boston 2024, but the source only mentions it in the context of cost-cutting measures and does not provide the dates or location. The wiki claim states the location of EA Global: Bay Area 2025 is at the Hynes Convention Center, but the source states it will be held at the Oakland Marriott.
This page describes Effective Altruism's virtual educational programs, which offer structured online courses and fellowship opportunities for individuals to learn about EA principles and cause areas including AI safety and existential risk. These programs provide accessible entry points for people interested in doing the most good through evidence-based reasoning.
The Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) announced in January 2024 that it is separating from Effective Ventures Foundation to become an independent organization, as part of EV's broader decentralization following the FTX crisis. The 12-24 month transition involves establishing new legal entities, hiring an operations team, and onboarding a new CEO, while keeping external programs like EA Global and the EA Forum running normally.
“The Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) is spinning out as a project of Effective Ventures Foundation UK and Effective Ventures US (known collectively as Effective Ventures or EV) to become an independent organisation.”
The source does not mention the specific funding amounts from Coefficient Giving. The target date for the spinout is a range of 12-24 months, not a specific date of July 1, 2025. The source does not explicitly state that CEA and EA Funds have decided to merge into a single organization.
A chronological history of the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) from its founding in 2011 through its major milestones, including the incubation and spin-off of key EA organizations, the coining of the term 'effective altruism,' and the development of community infrastructure like EA Global conferences and EA Funds. The page documents how CEA evolved from an umbrella organization for Giving What We Can and 80,000 Hours into a broader community-building institution.
Announcement that Zach Robinson has been selected as the new CEO of the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA), following a thorough search process that reviewed hundreds of candidates. The EV US and UK boards unanimously supported the hiring committee's recommendation, citing Robinson's leadership and judgment demonstrated at Effective Ventures US.
“We, on behalf of the EV US and EV UK boards, are very glad to share that Zach Robinson has been selected as the new CEO of the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA).”
The claim states Zach Robinson's start date as Feb 2024, but the source only mentions mid-February. The claim states that Zach Robinson was 'Former Chief of Staff at Coefficient Giving', but the source states that he was 'Former CEO of EV US'.
CEA announced in December 2020 that Giving What We Can and EA Funds transitioned to independent operations under new leadership (Luke and Jonas respectively), modeled after 80,000 Hours' relationship with CEA. Both organizations showed significant growth: GWWC tripled new pledges and reached 5,000 members, while EA Funds improved grantmaking capacity and donor satisfaction.
“As planned, both EA Funds and GWWC now operate independently of my supervision as Executive Director of CEA, while continuing to receive operational support from CEA and oversight from our board.”
The Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) is an organization focused on building and supporting the global effective altruism community through conferences, local group support, online forums, communications, and grant-making. CEA addresses key community bottlenecks in communication, education, and connection to help people understand and act on EA principles. It operates programs like EA Global conferences, EA Funds, and the EA Forum.
“CEA is an Effective Ventures project. Effective Ventures Foundation (UK) (EV UK) is a charity in England and Wales (and is also a Netherlands registered tax-deductible entity). Effective Ventures Foundation USA Inc. (EV US) is a section 501(c)(3) organization in the USA.”
The charity number and EIN are not present in the source document.
This is the archived GitHub repository for the old EA Forum codebase, forked from ForumMagnum. It represents the legacy implementation of the Effective Altruism Forum platform before development was consolidated into the main ForumMagnum repository.
“This used to be the development repository for the EA Forum.”
“This used to be the development repository for the EA Forum.”
This page describes Open Philanthropy (now rebranded as Coefficient Giving) funding provided to the Centre for Effective Altruism to cover spinout costs related to EVF USA in May 2024. It is hosted under the Global Catastrophic Risks Opportunities fund, which supports cross-cutting work including effective altruism field-building, academic research, and career development aimed at reducing global catastrophic risks.
The UK Charity Commission's formal inquiry into Effective Ventures Foundation UK examines governance failures following the November 2022 FTX collapse, during which the charity held £3.3 million and $300,000 from FTX-affiliated entities. The inquiry focuses on conflicts of interest, inadequate due diligence, and reputational risk management, as two trustees had direct FTX connections. This case has significant implications for the effective altruism funding ecosystem and its intersection with AI safety philanthropy.
“The Commission concluded that whilst the inquiry highlighted weaknesses within the charity and its governance the trustees sought to put these things right at the earliest opportunity.”
The inquiry was opened on December 19, 2022, not in December 2022 as stated in the claim. The source does not explicitly state that Effective Ventures returned 100% of funds received from FTX/FTX Foundation in 2022. It only mentions the return of $4,246,503.16 USD. The inquiry concluded on January 3, 2024, when the inquiry used section15(2) of the Act to give advice or guidance with respect to the administration of the charity. The report was published in May 2024.
A commemorative post marking the 10th anniversary of EA Global conferences, featuring statistics on impact (18,000+ attendees, 155,000+ meaningful connections, 8.6/10 satisfaction) and personal reflections from CEA staff on how the conference series has shaped careers, facilitated collaborations, and amplified cause areas like aquatic animal welfare.
Will MacAskill has resigned from the board of Effective Ventures UK after serving as a trustee since the organization's founding. His departure was accelerated by conflicts of interest stemming from the FTX collapse, which had required him to recuse himself from significant board decisions. MacAskill co-founded major EA organizations including Giving What We Can and 80,000 Hours.
“I am happy to see that Nick and Will have resigned from the EV Board.”
This EA Forum post discusses the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) undergoing a significant organizational rebranding or restructuring, signaling a departure from its explicit 'Effective Altruism' identity. The post likely addresses the implications of this change for the broader EA community and its associated organizations, including those focused on AI safety and existential risk reduction.
“Centre for Effective Altruism Is No Longer "Effective Altruism"-Related — EA Forum This website requires javascript to properly function.”
The Centre for Effective Altruism's Community Health page outlines their efforts to maintain a healthy, inclusive, and well-functioning EA community. It covers support resources, conflict resolution, and maintaining community norms to ensure the movement can effectively pursue its mission.
“Our team aims to strengthen the effective altruism community’s ability to fulfill its potential for impact, and to address problems that could prevent that.”
The source does not mention the Community Building Grants Program, the launch of a new version of the EA Forum, Julia Wise, or her start date with CEA.
The Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) publicly documents significant mistakes and missteps the organization has made, offering transparency about errors in strategy, communication, and operations. This page serves as an accountability resource demonstrating a culture of honest self-assessment within the EA community.
“EA Global content (2015 - 2016) How we fell short: EA Global is meant to cover a broad range of topics of interest to the effective altruism community, but in 2015 and 2016 we did not provide strong content at EA Global from the area of animal advocacy. This stemmed from having organizers who were not themselves active in animal advocacy and who did not seek out adequate advice about speakers and topics in this area. This made some community members who focus on animal advocacy feel unvalued.”
The source only mentions EA Global content from 2015-2016, not the speakers at the 2015 conference. The source only mentions that the lack of animal advocacy content made some community members who focus on animal advocacy feel unvalued, not that CEA acknowledged this.
Wikipedia article providing an overview of the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA), a nonprofit organization that promotes the effective altruism movement and supports related organizations. CEA plays a significant role in the broader EA ecosystem, which includes major AI safety funders and organizations.
An announcement from the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) regarding Max Dalton stepping down from his executive role and moving into an advisory capacity. The post likely outlines the leadership transition, Dalton's contributions, and future plans for CEA's direction.
“Max Dalton has resigned from his role as CEA’s Executive Director, and will be transitioning to an advisory role. Max writes: Basically, my mental health has been bad for the last 3 months.”
The source does not mention when Max Dalton was appointed as Executive Director, nor does it mention that he was 'confirmed as permanent ED after extensive search'. The source states that Max Dalton's mental health has been bad for the last 3 months, starting in November. It does not explicitly state that this was 'following FTX crisis', although it does mention FTX and subsequent events.
A TIME investigation revealing that prominent figures in the Effective Altruism (EA) community received warnings about Sam Bankman-Fried's ethical conduct and risky behavior years before the collapse of FTX, yet failed to act. The piece examines how EA's close relationship with SBF and FTX funding created conflicts of interest and governance failures. It raises broader questions about EA's oversight mechanisms and the dangers of prioritizing financial ends over ethical means.
“Launched in the fall of 2017 by Bankman-Fried, who had most recently worked at a quantitative trading firm called Jane Street Capital, and Tara Mac Aulay, who had been the CEO of the Centre for Effective Altruism, it was explicitly an EA project from the start, linked to the relatively new idea that more money could lead to more impact for effective altruist causes.”
The source does not mention Tara MacAulay being promoted to CEO. It only states that she was the CEO of the Centre for Effective Altruism before joining Alameda Research. The source does not explicitly state that Tara MacAulay co-founded Alameda Research with Sam Bankman-Fried. It says she and Bankman-Fried launched Alameda Research.
“Launched in the fall of 2017 by Bankman-Fried, who had most recently worked at a quantitative trading firm called Jane Street Capital, and Tara Mac Aulay, who had been the CEO of the Centre for Effective Altruism, it was explicitly an EA project from the start, linked to the relatively new idea that more money could lead to more impact for effective altruist causes.”
The source does not specify the exact months Bankman-Fried served as director of development at CEA. The source does not explicitly state that Tara Hedley (née Mac Aulay) was a CEA staff member when she co-founded Alameda Research with Bankman-Fried. It only mentions she had been the CEO of the Centre for Effective Altruism. The source does not explicitly state that Bankman-Fried served on CEA's board 'until' 2019, only that he left the board in 2019.
“In 2022, Bankman-Fried started a charitable arm of FTX to fund EA causes, led by Beckstead, one of the philosopher leaders of EA who had been warned in 2018 by Bankman-Fried’s colleagues. In its brief existence, the Fund gave more than $30 million to organizations connected to MacAskill, including $13.9 million to CEA and $17.9 million to Longview Philanthropy, where he sits on the advisory board.”
Failed to parse LLM response
Rethink Priorities conducted a comprehensive survey of Effective Altruism groups in 2020, gathering data on group activities, membership, funding, and effectiveness. The survey provides empirical insights into how EA community groups operate and their impact on member engagement and cause prioritization. This serves as a key reference for understanding the structure and health of the EA movement's grassroots organizing.
“The EA Group Organizers Survey is run as a collaboration between Rethink Priorities and the Centre for Effective Altruism.”
The source mentions that the EA Group Organizers Survey is run in collaboration with the Centre for Effective Altruism, but it does not explicitly state that CEA runs EA Global conferences, supports over 200 local EA groups across 50 countries, builds and moderates the EA Forum, operates effectivealtruism.org, publishes the Effective Altruism Newsletter, or runs the Community Building Grants Program launched in 2018. The source states that 222 unique groups completed the survey from 50 different countries, not that CEA supports over 200 local EA groups across 50 countries.
This is an Open Philanthropy grant page documenting funding provided to the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) in 2022. CEA manages key EA infrastructure including the EA Forum, EA Global conferences, and community-building efforts. The grant reflects Open Philanthropy's continued support for the broader effective altruism ecosystem, which intersects significantly with AI safety community development.
The Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) announced a hiring initiative to recruit a dedicated recruiter to help grow its team. This post likely outlines the role, its importance for CEA's organizational capacity, and how interested candidates can apply.
“We have a budget of about $30 million but a relatively lean team of around 40 staff; CEA team members have high levels of responsibility, and finding high performing talent is essential to our continued success.”
Nick Beckstead resigned from the boards of Effective Ventures UK and US on August 23, 2023, following over nine months of recusal from board matters related to the FTX collapse. His inability to contribute meaningfully due to the recusal made resignation the appropriate course. Beckstead had been a founding board member instrumental in establishing Effective Ventures and its constituent projects over 14 years.
“On 23rd August, Nick Beckstead stepped down from the boards of Effective Ventures UK and Effective Ventures US.”
The source only mentions Nick Beckstead stepping down from the Effective Ventures boards, but it does mention Will MacAskill being recused from board work. The claim implies that Will MacAskill stepped down from the boards, which is not explicitly stated in the source.
The Centre for Effective Altruism's Community Building Grants program provides funding and support to individuals and groups working to grow effective altruism communities, particularly at universities and in local areas. The program aims to cultivate talent pipelines and organizational capacity within the EA ecosystem, including for AI safety and existential risk work.
“The Community Building Grants Program is one of CEA's most impactful programs, supporting community leaders across the globe to build strong local effective altruism communities.”
unsupported: The source does not mention EA Global conferences, the number of local EA groups, the EA Forum, or the Effective Altruism Newsletter. unsupported: The source does not mention the Community Building Grants Program was launched in 2018.
A Sierra Club critique of Effective Altruism and its influence on AI ethics discourse, arguing that EA's utilitarian, quantitative approach to moral reasoning is reductive and potentially dangerous. The piece challenges the framing of AI risk through an EA lens, questioning whether 'algorithmic ethics' adequately addresses systemic social and environmental harms. It raises concerns about the concentration of power and ideology within tech philanthropy shaping AI governance.
“Effective altruism doesn’t play well with most environmental ethics theories, in part because in the universe of effective altruism, only entities that can suffer matter. Trees, rivers, species—none of these are intrinsically valuable.”
This page provides information about Effective Ventures (EV), a nonprofit organization that fiscally sponsors and supports projects aligned with the effective altruism movement, including several AI safety and existential risk organizations. EV serves as an organizational umbrella enabling various projects to operate under its charitable status.
“Effective Ventures is an umbrella term for Effective Ventures Foundation (UK) and Effective Ventures Foundation USA, Inc., two separate legal entities which work together to provide sponsorship and operational support for projects working to have a large positive impact in the world. Effective Ventures Foundation (UK) is a registered charity in England and Wales (registered charity number 1149828 and registered company number 07962181), and is also a Netherlands registered tax-deductible entity (ANBI 825776867). Effective Ventures Foundation USA, Inc. is a section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization in the USA (EIN 47-1988398).”