This month’s newsletter includes an update on how groups can apply for funding to get paid organisers.

Another important note: application deadlines are coming up for several community building roles at CEA. These roles might be a great fit for group organisers — we strongly encourage you to apply if they seem interesting. 

We also share some ways the EA Forum can be useful for groups and organisers, link to 80,000 Hours’ newest (and best?) career guide, and profile EA University of Melbourne.
 

All the best,

Joan, Harri, Catherine and Huw (Groups team, CEA)

Community Building Grants (CBG) is a project run by CEA which provides grants to part- and full-time organisers for city, national and university EA groups. Applications for new grants have been closed since August 2020, which we know has been a problem for some groups. 

To allow for time to run proactive hiring rounds in our highest-priority cities and countries, we’ve made the hard decision to select only a few groups to support with the CBG programme at this time. 

To ensure that other groups can also apply for funding, the Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) will start assessing applications for grants to full- and part-time organisers in cities and countries not covered by the CBG programme. EA Infrastructure Fund applications for the next round are due 13th June. 

There is a single expression of interest form for any group interested in funding for full- and part-time group organisers, including CBGs and EAIF funding. More information about this change can be found in this Forum post. Please reach out if you have any questions. 

CEA will continue to provide non-salary support to EA groups in all locations, including funding to pay for groups operating expenses such as event costs, books, and website hosting.

• CEA is hiring for several roles related to community building. These roles require skills that group organisers may have, so we encourage you to apply. Most people report spending less than 30 minutes on the application.
  • Community Building Grants Programme Manager (application due Sunday, June 6)

  • Groups Associate (Scalable University Support) (application due Sunday, June 6)

  • Community Events Manager (application due TBD)

  • Events Generalist (application due TBD) 

• Open Philanthropy is hiring for several roles, including a communications officer; this role also requires skills which many organisers develop.  

• There are many more jobs and internships on the 80,000 Hours job board and in the Effective Altruism Job Postings Facebook group. 

• The Effective Altruism Volunteering Facebook Group has occasional volunteering opportunities which may be of interest to your group members. 

• EA Picnic: San Francisco is an outdoor gathering for the Bay Area EA community on Sunday, July 11, from 10 am to 7 pm PDT. After a challenging year of social distancing, CEA is thrilled to host our first West Coast event since June 2019! Think of the event as an outdoor, one-day EA Global with no formal talks — just good conversations and relaxed fun. Applications are open until 11:59 pm PDT on Sunday, June 20 (apply by June 6 for mentoring).

• 80,000 Hours has created a new 8-week career planning course, which you can read on their website or through a series of weekly emails. They’ve also published a new summary and template page. Please consider sharing this new course with your members (sample text for sharing). Some university groups, like Brown and Oxford, have also already adapted the material to create their own 9 week in-person version. Reach out to Emma from Brown EA at emma2abele@gmail.com for more info.

• Marie, CEA’s coordinator for intro programs, will be running a Facilitator Training Session on Sunday, June 13 – sign up here by Sunday, June 6. The training will be open to anyone set to facilitate an EA-related discussion group over the next three months and especially focuses on introductory programs/fellowships. While the training will cover facilitation strategies, most of the time will be spent practising for specific scenarios that might arise during discussion. Get in touch with Marie at marie@centreforeffectivealtruism.org with any questions.

• There are many online events and courses for you and your members: 

  • EA Stanford is hosting introductory and in-depth EA programs, starting in early July.

  • EA Cambridge is hosting an 8-week Alternative Proteins Seminar, and an 8-week AGI Safety Seminar Series, both starting in July.

  • Giving What We Can and One for the World are hosting 'World Environment Day: How can we effectively mitigate the risks posed by climate change?', with Johannes Ackva (Founders Pledge) and John Halstead (Forethought Foundation), on June 5 at 4pm EST.  

  • Other one-off events can be found on international EA events Google calendar, the EA online events Facebook group, or the #events channel on the EA Groups Slack (join link). 

• 80,000 Hours has released a podcast episode featuring one of their staff talking about having a successful career with depression, anxiety and imposter syndrome. 

• Michael from EA Perth, with a new sequence on the EA Forum: Improving the EA-aligned research pipeline

• Arushi from EA NYC has started High Impact Policy Review, a newsletter covering US policy news of interest to people in the effective altruism movement.

• Greg Gianopoulos runs charity elections in schools (with help from Giving What We Can), and is seeking help from EA educators and high school students to promote the programme. 

• Feel some warm fuzzies by reading comments from new Giving What We Can members, and stories from 80,000 Hours’ advising applications.

• The question “What are things everyone here should (maybe) read?” has generated interesting recommendations, including many books and articles from outside of the EA community. 

• A collection of EA links and announcements from the last month. 

• Organisers can now access CEA’s professional Slido and Gatheround accounts. Just contact groups@centreforeffectivealtruism.org to be added.
  • Slido is a Q&A and polling app. It can be used to manage audience interaction in online events or large in-person events by embedding Zoom webinars or other live streams. 

  • Gatheround (previously Icebreaker) is an app that can gather participants into pairs or small groups (randomly or based on participant subgroups) for structured or casual discussions.

• You can probably get funding for other software your group might find useful, either through Group Support Funding (all groups), or through Emma from Brown EA and James from Oxford EA (university groups).

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

• Connect with other group organisers on the EA Groups Slack (join link).

• You are welcome to contact Catherine Low (catherine@centreforeffectivealtruism.org) with any questions about running your group. Catherine is also the first point of contact if you have community concerns, while Julia Wise is on parental leave during June and July. 

• Marie (marie@centreforeffectivealtruism.org) is available to advise groups running an Introductory Fellowship.

• Funding is available to cover a group’s running expenses, such as room rental, snacks, books, website hosting, and software.

• EA Israel recently held an in-person retreat, and published two posts related to community building:

  • 2021 Survey

  • Group progress and highlights 

• EA Helsinki recently had 36 fellows complete their first fellowship. Their career club is also thriving, with 25 participants.

• EA Toronto has launched a series of community strategy sessions to explore how community goals, events, and spaces can be co-created by its members. They’ve been using Miro’s online whiteboard feature to brainstorm during online events. 

• EA Hong Kong collaborated with Dream Impact for their first in-person event this year — a giving game.