Our main request this month is to fill in the annual EA Groups Survey if you haven’t already! Your responses will help us better understand how to assist you and are vital to ensure that we have up-to-date information about groups.

Also included this month are applications for two upcoming conferences: This month’s EA Student Summit, and next month’s EAGxAsiaPacific, which is targeting EAs in the Asia/Pacific region but open to everyone. 

Many groups are busy recruiting new members through introductory events and fellowships, so we have compiled some advice from organisers about how to keep enthusiastic newcomers engaged over the longer term. 

All the best,

Katie, Harri, and Catherine (Groups team, CEA)

The annual EA Groups Survey is run by the Centre for Effective Altruism and Rethink Priorities. The due date for filling in the annual EA Groups Survey has been extended to October 10. 

Please fill in this survey before the end of October 10 (UK time) if you 

• Currently help organise an EA group
• Will start helping to organise an EA group in the next 2 months
• Have played a role in organising an EA group in the last 3 months.

We are keen to hear your perspective, whether your group is a university group, city group, national group, or a group for a subset of EAs (such as a cause-area specific group).

If you do not fill in this survey, we will assume you are no longer involved in running an EA Group. Most of the questions are optional, so you can skip questions if you are short on time.

• Applications for EAGxAsia-Pacific 2020 are now open!
  This event, on November 21-22, will showcase some of the excellent projects and people in the Asia-Pacific community and help to strengthen relationships between EAs living in the region. If you are an organiser in the Asia-Pacific region, please encourage your members to apply by October 11 to be eligible for mentoring.  For those of us living elsewhere, it’s also a great opportunity to make new connections with people who you wouldn’t normally meet at EA conferences in Europe and the United States. 

• Reminder: Applications are open for the online EA Student Summit 2020 (October 24-25). This event will be an opportunity for students to connect with like-minded people around the world, deepen their understanding of EA principles and cause areas, develop future career plans, and identify actions they can take right now to improve the world. You may wish to share this advice on making the most of an EA conference with group members going to the conference.  

• EA Oxford is starting their online Intro Fellowship in two weeks and they’ve opened applications to people outside of Oxford. This is a perfect opportunity for organisers of smaller/newer groups who are considering whether to start their own fellowship. Applications close October 14.

• There are several speaker series coming up that are open to members of all groups. Advertise the events to your group members, or encourage them to join the Effective Altruism Online Events Facebook group to see all the events on offer as they are advertised. Upcoming series include:

  • EA Aachen’s speaker series (part of their University course on EA), including talks from Animal Charity Evaluators, GiveWell, Charity Entrepreneurship, Future of Humanity Institute and more. To access the Zoom links, subscribe to the “University Course Information” section in their newsletter.

  • One for the World’s Speaker Series includes talks by Julia Wise (CEA), Toby Ord (Future of Humanity Institute), and Chloe Cockburn (Open Philanthropy Project).

• The organisers that ran the online international EA icebreaker social events earlier this year would like to know what social events you and your group would be most interested in joining.  

• Animal Advocacy Careers are launching a 9-week online course for people interested in working to help animals. Applications close October 25.  

• It is not too late for student groups to sign up for the EA Forecasting Tournament, run by University of Chicago EA. They have chosen to split their forecasting tournament into two rounds, and are accepting entries to the second round starting early November. More details. Register your interest. 

• Effective Thesis is a project dedicated to helping students have a higher social impact with their research. Consider sharing this with group members who are looking for their final thesis topic.

• The EA Forum team are keen to know whether the Forum has inspired you to take action or otherwise become more engaged in EA. Take the survey to share your experience. 

• Facebook’s Giving Tuesday donation matching opportunity is happening on December 1. This chance for EAs to get their donations doubled is most relevant for groups in the US, as groups in other countries may face low donation limits and additional problems. To help your members stay informed about the event, ask them to sign up at eagivingtuesday.org for updates and instructions on how to maximize their chances of getting matched.

• Finally, please help us improve this newsletter by filling in our feedback form! 

• Open Philanthropy is looking for a Recruiter to help them attract new talent. The role would involve conducting outreach, organizing events, and introducing Open Phil's work and priorities to people relatively unfamiliar with EA in one-on-one calls and meetings. If you've enjoyed similar aspects of your work as an EA group organiser, we'd encourage you to apply.

• 80,000 Hours has released a podcast on the core of effective altruism and how to argue for it, and a summary in this Forum post. 

• New Forum posts on asking for advice, and giving and receiving advice.

• EA Israel has published its strategy for 2020-2021.

• Yale EA has published a retrospective of their very successful Summer Intro Fellowship, which served as a regular Intro fellowship and also trained newer group organisers from other universities. 

• Vaidehi Agarwalla from EA Singapore has compiled suggestions for online discussion norms.  

• A round-up of EA links and announcements from September 2020.

• For resources related to running an EA group, check out the Effective Altruism Resource Hub. 

• As usual, you are welcome to contact Catherine at catherine@centreforeffectivealtruism.org with questions about running your group, and Julia or Sky for help with community concerns. You can also talk to Julia during her office hours.