| Effective Altruism Funds Project Updates (GW, IR) | 2019-12-20 | Sam Deere | Effective Altruism Funds | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Broad donor strategy | Animal welfare|Global health and development|AI safety|Global catastrophic risks|Effective altruism | The blog post is by Sam Deere of the Centre for Effective Altruism, who is the project lead for Effective Altruism Funds (EA Funds). The blog post goes over the purpose of EA Funds, structure of fund management teams, the use of the EA Funds platform to directly donate to charities, and the project status and relationship with CEA. Regarding the last point: "Currently EA Funds is a project wholly within the central part of the Centre for Effective Altruism (as opposed to a satellite project housed within the same legal organization, like 80,000 Hours or the Forethought Foundation). However, we’re currently investigating whether this should change. This is largely driven by a divergence in organizational priorities – specifically, that CEA is focusing on building communities and spaces for discussing EA ideas (e.g. local groups, EA Global and related events, and the EA Forum), whereas EA Funds is primarily fundraising-oriented." The post also announces recent updates to the EA Funds website and the launch of a publicly-accessible dashboard for fund statistics https://app.effectivealtruism.org/funds/about/stats |
| Staff members’ personal donations for giving season 2019 | 2019-12-10 | Catherine Hollander | GiveWell | Elie Hassenfeld Natalie Crispin Josh Rosenberg Catherine Hollander Andrew Martin Isabel Arjmand Nicole Zok Dan Brown Olivia Larsen Steph Stojanovic James Snowden Michael Eddy Kimberly Huynh Teryn Mattox Jim Bobowski | GiveWell top charities Malaria Consortium GiveDirectly StrongMinds Cool Earth Clean Air Task Force ProPublica Sogorea Te Land Trust Stonewall (UK) Afrinspire Against Malaria Foundation One for the World Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention Young1ove Namati Astraea Foundation UHAI-EASHRI The Other Foundation Colombia Diversa The Trevor Project Médecins Sans Frontières Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund | Periodic donation list documentation | | Continuing an annual tradition started in 2013, GiveWell staff members describe where they are donating. Some of the main themes: staff members deciding whether to donate directly to specific GiveWell top charities or donate to GiveWell for regranting to top charities. While most people choose the latter, a few choose the former for reasons including tax advantages, opinion of other family members, and slightly different moral weights than those used by GiveWell. Donors also talk about setting aside small portions of their giving for other kinds of causes, including animal welfare, AI safety, climate change, mental health, social justice, and local philanthropy. Amounts donated are not included, per a decision by GiveWell |
| My 2018 donations | 2019-01-20 | Ben Kuhn | | Ben Kuhn Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund Ben Kuhn donor-advised fund | GiveWell GiveWell top charities Ben Kuhn donor-advised fund Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Periodic donation list documentation | Global health and development | Kuhn describes his decision to allocate his donation amount ($70,000, calculated as 50% of his income for the year) between GiveWell, GiveWell top charities, and his own donor-advised fund managed by Fidelity. Kuhn also discusses how he has been out of the loop of the latest developments in effective altruism, which is part of the reason his grants for this year are so boring. However, he is happy with recent management changes and increased grantmaking activity from the Effective Altruism Funds, and they are currently his default choice of where to allocate money from his donor-advised fund in 2019, if he does not find a better donation target. Kuhn also discusses some logistical aspects of his donation, such as: need to make some of his 2018 donations in 2019 and use of the donor-advised fund to channel his donation to GiveWell |
| EA Giving Tuesday Donation Matching Initiative 2018 Retrospective (GW, IR) | 2019-01-06 | Avi Norowitz | Effective Altruism Forum | Avi Norowitz William Kiely | Against Malaria Foundation Malaria Consortium GiveWell Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters Effective Animal Advocacy Fund The Humane League The Good Food Institute Animal Charity Evaluators Machine Intelligence Research Institute Faunalytics Wild-Aniaml Suffering Research GiveDirectly Center for Applied Rationality Effective Altruism Foundation Cool Earth Schistosomiasis Control Initiative New Harvest Evidence Action Centre for Effective Altruism Animal Equality Compassion in World Farming USA Innovations for Poverty Action Global Catastrophic Risk Institute Future of Life Institute Animal Charity Evaluators Recommended Charity Fund Sightsavers The Life You Can Save One Step for Animals Helen Keller International 80,000 Hours Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative Vegan Outreach Encompass Iodine Global Network Otwarte Klatki Charity Science Mercy For Animals Coalition for Rainforest Nations Fistula Foundation Sentience Institute Better Eating International Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research Raising for Effective Giving Clean Air Task Force The END Fund | Miscellaneous commentary | | The blog post describes an effort by a number of donors coordinated at https://2018.eagivingtuesday.org/donations to donate through Facebook right after the start of donation matching on Giving Tuesday. Based on timestamps of donations and matches, donations were matched till 14 seconds after the start of matching. Despite the very short time window of matching, the post estimates that $469,000 (65%) of the donations made were matched |
| Donation Post: 2018 | 2019-01-03 | Ozy Brennan | | Ozy Brennan | Longevity Research Institute Evidence Action Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Periodic donation list documentation | Global health and development|Scientific research|Animal welfare | The blog post describes Ozy Brennan's donations for 2018, along with an explanation of the selection of each donee. The high-level explanation: "This year I am splitting my donations between the Animal Welfare Fund (animals), Evidence Action (global poverty), and the Longevity Research Institute (anti-aging). I’m taking basically the same approach with all three places I’m donating this year. I am not donating to particular programs that I think are high impact, such as malaria nets or cellular agriculture. Instead, I’m delegating my donation decisions to particular people or organizations. In two cases, I’m betting on a specific person that I have reason to believe is more informed, has better judgment, and is generally capable of making better decisions than me. In a third case, Evidence Action, I’m betting on an organization’s process and epistemics: while I know little about their current charities, I’m impressed by their transparency and commitment to admitting when things they’re trying may not work." |
| Suggestions for Individual Donors from Open Philanthropy Project Staff - 2018 | 2018-12-20 | Holden Karnofsky | Open Philanthropy Project | Chloe Cockburn Lewis Bollard Amanda Hungerford Alexander Berger Luke Muelhhauser | National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls Texas Organizing Project Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund The Humane League Center for Global Development International Refugee Assistance Project Donor lottery | Donation suggestion list | Criminal justice reform|Animal welfare|Global health and development|Migration policy|Effective altruism | Open Philanthropy Project staff give suggestions on places that might be good for individuals to donate to. Each suggestion includes a section "Why I suggest it", a section explaining why the Open Philanthropy Project has not funded (or not fully funded) the opportunity, and links to relevant writeups. The post continues a tradition of similar posts published once a year |
| Animal Welfare Fund AMA (GW, IR) | 2018-12-19 | Jamie Spurgeon Lewis Bollard Natalie Cargill | Effective Altruism Forum | Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund | Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund | Donee AMA | Animal welfare | The post is an Ask Me Anything (AMA) for the Animal Welfare Fund. The questions and answers are in the post comments. Questions are asked by a number of people including Tee Barnett, Peter Hurford, Halstead, Josh You, and Kevin Watkinson. Answers are provided by Lewis Bollard, Jamie Spurgeon, and Natalie Cargill, three of the four managers of the fund. The fourth manager, Toni Adleberg, does not particulate directly, but is referenced in the other answers. Questions cover the risks of lack of diversity due to dominance by Open Philanthropy Project and Animal Charity Evaluators, learning plans from the seemingly "hits-based giving" approach, the relation with the Effective Animal Advocacy Fund managed by ACE, the amount of time spent evaluating grants, criteria for evaluating grants, and research that would help the team. |
| Staff members’ personal donations for giving season 2018 | 2018-12-10 | Catherine Hollander | GiveWell | Elie Hassenfeld Natalie Crispin Josh Rosenberg Devin Jacob Catherine Hollander Andrew Martin Christian Smith Isabel Arjmand James Snowden Dan Brown Olivia Larsen Amar Radia | GiveWell top charities Donor lottery GiveDirectly International Refugee Assistance Project RAICES National Immigration Law Center CALmatters Center for Investigative Reporting ProPublica Malaria Consortium Against Malaria Foundation StrongMinds Planned Parenthood Action Fund Cool Earth Causa Justa::Just Cause Initiate Justice Sorea Te Land Trust No Means No Worldwide Stonewall (UK) Afrinspire Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Periodic donation list documentation | | GiveWell staff members describe where they are donating in 2018. The majority are donating most of their money to GiveWell top charities (i.e., to GiveWell for discretionary regranting). A few explicitly donate to Malaria Consortium, Against Malaria Foundation, and GiveDirectly. Many staff members announce intent to donate a small fraction of their donation budget for animal welfare charities, but explicit names of animal welfare charities are not included. A number of donors mention donating small amounts to charities focused on justice-related themes and local causes. Not all employees are present in the document (participation is optional). Amounts donated are not included, per a decision by GiveWell |
| Announcing new EA Funds management teams (GW, IR) | 2018-10-27 | Marek Duda | Effective Altruism Forum | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Broad donor strategy | Animal welfare|Global health|AI safety|Global catastrophic risks|Effective altruism | The post announces the transition of the Effective Altruism Funds manaagement to teams, with a chair, team members, and advisors. The EA Community Fund is renamed the EA Meta Fund, and has chair Luke Ding and team Denise Melchin, Matt Wage, Alex Foster, and Tara MacAulay, with advisor Nick Beckstead. The long-term future fund has chair Matt Fallshaw, and team Helen Toner, Oliver Habryka, Matt Wage, and Alex Zhu, with advisors Nick Beckstead and Jonas Vollmer. The animal welfare fund has chair Lewis Bollard (same as before) and team Jamie Spurgeon, Natalie Cargill, and Toni Adleberg. The global development fund continues to be solely managed by Elie Hassenfeld. The granting schedule will be thrice a year: November, February, and June for all funds except the Global Development Fund, which will be in December, March, and July. |
| EA Funds - An update from CEA (GW, IR) | 2018-08-07 | Marek Duda | Centre for Effective Altruism | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Broad donor strategy | Animal welfare|Global health|AI safety|Global catastrophic risks|Effective altruism | Marek Duda gives an update on work on the EA Funds donation platform, the departure of Nick Beckstead from managing the EA Community and Long-Term Future Funds, and the experimental creation of "Junior" Funds |
| Update on Partnerships with External Donors | 2018-05-16 | Holden Karnofsky | Open Philanthropy Project | Open Philanthropy Project Future Justice Fund Accountable Justice Action Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Accountable Justice Action Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Miscellaneous commentary | Criminal justice reform,Animal welfare | The Open Philanthropy Project describes how it works with donors other than Good Ventures (the foundation under Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna that accounts for almost all Open Phil grantmaking). The blog post reiterates that the long-term goal is to inform many different funders, but that is not a short-term priority because the Open Philanthropy Project is not moving enough money to even achieve the total spend that Good Ventures is willing to go up to. The post mentions that Chloe Cockburn, the program officer for criminal justice reform, is working with other funders in criminal justice reform, and they have created a separate vehicle, the Accountable Justice Action Fund, to pool resources. Also, Mike and Kaitlyn Krieger, who previously worked with the Open Philanthropy Project, now have their own criminal justice-focused Future Justice Fund, and are getting help from Cockburn to allocate money from the fund. For causes outside of criminal justice reform, the role of Effective Altruism Funds (whose grantmaking is managed by Open Philanthropy Project staff members) is mentioned. Also, Lewis Bollard is said to have moved ~10% as much money through advice to other donors as he has moved through the Open Philanthropy Project |
| How to improve EA Funds (GW, IR) | 2018-04-04 | Henry Stanley | Effective Altruism Forum | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Evaluator review of donee | Animal welfare|Global health|AI safety|Global catastrophic risks|Effective altruism | Henry Stanley echoes thoughts expressed in his previous post http://effective-altruism.com/ea/1k9/ea_funds_hands_out_money_very_infrequently_should/ and argues for regular disbursement, holding funds in interest-bearing assets, and more clarity about fund manager bandwidth. Comments also discuss Effective Altruism Grants |
| Where, why and how I donated in 2017 | 2018-02-01 | Ben Kuhn | | Ben Kuhn Open Philanthropy Project Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund Effective Altruism Grants | GiveWell GiveWell top charities EA Giving Group Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Periodic donation list documentation | Global health and development | Kuhn describes his decision to allocate his donation amount ($60,000, calculated as 50% of his income for the year) between GiveWell, GiveWell top charities, and his own donor-advised fund managed by Fidelity. Kuhn also discusses the Open Philanthropy Project, EA Funds, and EA Grants, and the EA Giving Group he donated to the previous year |
| EA Funds hands out money very infrequently - should we be worried? (GW, IR) | 2018-01-31 | Henry Stanley | Effective Altruism Forum | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Miscellaneous commentary | Animal welfare|Global health|AI safety|Global catastrophic risks|Effective altruism | Henry Stanley expresses concern that the Effective Altruism Funds hands out money very infrequently. Commenters include Peter Hurford (who suggests a percentage-based approach), Elie Hassenfeld, the manager of the global health and development fund, and Evan Gaensbauer, a person well-connected in effective altruist social circles |
| Suggestions for Individual Donors from Open Philanthropy Project Staff - 2017 | 2017-12-21 | Holden Karnofsky | Open Philanthropy Project | Jaime Yassif Chloe Cockburn Lewis Bollard Nick Beckstead Daniel Dewey | Center for International Security and Cooperation Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Good Call Court Watch NOLA Compassion in World Farming USA Wild-Animal Suffering Research Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund Donor lottery Future of Humanity Institute Center for Human-Compatible AI Machine Intelligence Research Institute Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative Centre for Effective Altruism 80,000 Hours Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters | Donation suggestion list | Animal welfare|AI safety|Biosecurity and pandemic preparedness|Effective altruism|Criminal justice reform | Open Philanthropy Project staff give suggestions on places that might be good for individuals to donate to. Each suggestion includes a section "Why I suggest it", a section explaining why the Open Philanthropy Project has not funded (or not fully funded) the opportunity, and links to relevant writeups |
| Staff Members’ Personal Donations for Giving Season 2017 | 2017-12-18 | Holden Karnofsky | Open Philanthropy Project | Holden Karnofsky Alexander Berger Nick Beckstead Helen Toner Claire Zabel Lewis Bollard Ajeya Cotra Morgan Davis Michael Levine | GiveWell top charities GiveWell GiveDirectly EA Giving Group Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund Sentience Institute Encompass The Humane League The Good Food Institute Mercy For Animals Compassion in World Farming USA Animal Equality Donor lottery Against Malaria Foundation GiveDirectly | Periodic donation list documentation | | Open Philanthropy Project staff members describe where they are donating this year, and the considerations that went into the donation decision. By policy, amounts are not disclosed. This is the first standalone blog post of this sort by the Open Philanthropy Project; in previous years, the corresponding donations were documented in the GiveWell staff members donation post |
| Staff members’ personal donations for giving season 2017 | 2017-12-11 | Josh Rosenberg | GiveWell | Elie Hassenfeld Natalie Crispin Josh Rosenberg Sophie Monahan Catherine Hollander Andrew Martin Chelsea Tabart Christian Smith Isabel Arjmand James Snowden | GiveWell top charities Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund No Lean Season Against Malaria Foundation GiveDirectly Causa Justa::Just Cause Planned Parenthood ProPublica Earthjustice | Periodic donation list documentation | | GiveWell staff describe where they are donating in 2017. Not all employees are present in the document (participation is optional). Amounts donated are not included, per a decision by GiveWell |
| AI: a Reason to Worry, and to Donate | 2017-12-10 | Jacob Falkovich | | Jacob Falkovich | Machine Intelligence Research Institute Future of Life Institute Center for Human-Compatible AI Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative Future of Humanity Institute Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Single donation documentation | AI safety | Falkovich explains why he thinks AI safety is a much more important and relatively neglected existential risk than climate change, and why he is donating to it. He says he is donating to MIRI because he is reasonably certain of the importance of their work on AI aligment. However, he lists a few other organizations for which he is willing to match donations up to 0.3 bitcoins, and encourages other donors to use their own judgment to decide among them: Future of Life Institute, Center for Human-Compatible AI, Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative, Future of Humanity Institute, and Effective Altruism Funds (the Long-Term Future Fund) |
| What is the status of EA funds? They seem pretty dormant | 2017-12-10 | Ben West | Effective Altruism Facebook group | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Miscellaneous commentary | Animal welfare|Global health|AI safety|Global catastrophic risks|Effective altruism | Ben West, wondering whether to donate to the Effective Altruism Funds for his end-of-year donation, wonders whether the Funds are dormant, since no donations from the fund have been announced since April. In the comments, Marek Duda of the Centre for Effective Altruism reports that the Funds pages have been updated to include some recent donations, and West updates his post to note that |
| Update on Effective Altruism Funds (GW, IR) | 2017-04-20 | Kerry Vaughan | Centre for Effective Altruism | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Periodic donation list documentation | Animal welfare|Global health|AI safety|Global catastrophic risks|Effective altruism | Kerry Vaughan provides a progress report on the beta launch of EA Funds, and says it will go on beyond beta. The post includes information on reception of EA Funds so far, money donated to the funds, and fund allocations for the money donated so far |
| EA Funds Beta Launch (GW, IR) | 2017-02-28 | Tara MacAulay | Centre for Effective Altruism | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Launch | Animal welfare|Global health|AI safety|Global catastrophic risks|Effective altruism | Tara MacAulay of the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA), the parent of Effective Altruism Funds, describes the beta launch of the project. CEA will revisit within three months to decide whether to make the EA Funds permanent |
| Introducing the EA Funds (GW, IR) | 2017-02-09 | William MacAskill | Centre for Effective Altruism | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Effective Altruism Funds: Meta Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Long-Term Future Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Animal Welfare Fund Effective Altruism Funds: Global Health and Development Fund | Launch | Animal welfare|Global health|AI safety|Global catastrophic risks|Effective altruism | William MacAskill of the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) proposes EA Funds, inspired by the Shulman/Christiano donor lottery from 2016-12, while also incorporating elements of the EA Giving Group run by Nick Beckstead |