Centre for Effective Altruism
Effective Altruism Events
The Centre for Effective Altruism's (CEA’s) events facilitate high-quality content and discussion spaces that foster growth, collaboration, and knowledge sharing between individuals and organisations acting on effective altruism principles.
What problem is the Centre for Effective Altruism working on?
The Centre for Effective Altruism's events facilitate connections among a diverse network of individuals and organisations striving for impactful change — creating effective platforms for knowledge exchange, networking, and the promotion of high-impact projects. Through these platforms, attendees share new thinking, coordinate on projects, and collaboratively address pressing global issues; with a particular emphasis on high-priority cause areas such as global health, animal welfare, and existential risk. The events team also shared that “EA Global and EAGx events also play a crucial role in tackling the talent gap in the movement by providing opportunities for high-impact organisations to connect with suitable candidates seeking impactful work.”
What does the Centre for Effective Altruism do?
CEA’s events operate under three different programs in order to cater to the range of needs in the community, and maximise impact.
- EA Global is the flagship conference for the effective altruism community. It gathers thought leaders, researchers, and professionals to discuss the latest ideas, findings, and strategies in the movement. Attendees can expect a weekend full of engaging talks, discussions, and workshops, hearing from experts in fields such as global health, animal welfare, existential risk, artificial intelligence, and policy. The conference is primarily aimed at individuals with a solid understanding of EA's core ideas and those already taking significant actions based on these principles.
- EAGx is a series of regional conferences designed to make the core ideas and community of effective altruism more accessible to a broader audience. These events are organised by local groups with support from the CEA Events Team. EAGx conferences are open to both those familiar with EA's core concepts and those keen to learn more about implementing these ideas. They serve as platforms for sharing research, updates, and advice and fostering regional connections.
- The Partner Events Program supports other organisations and individuals in and around the effective altruism community who wish to host their own events. This initiative provides resources, guidance, and often on-the-ground support to ensure the success of these events. This support empowers the broader community to share knowledge, collaborate on projects, and further the movement's goals.
What are some notable accomplishments of CEA’s events?
The events team shared that “EA Global conferences have a strong track record of facilitating high-impact collaborations and career-changes” and gave the following examples:
- At an EA Global conference in 2019, an attendee became a mentor to three others, who in turn went on to work in longtermist policy roles — including at DAPRA and the Biological Weapons Convention.
- Good Food Institute found both their Asia and Europe managing directors, as well as other staff members via EA Global conferences.
- Our World In Data’s work on lead poisoning was a result of them meeting the Lead Exposure Elimination Project at EA Global: London 2021.
Additionally, they shared that EAGx regularly helps attendees secure high-impact careers:
- An operations hire made by Alvea (EAGxBoston) and a senior civil servant getting a 3-year grant to engage in longtermist policy advocacy (EAGxAustralia).
- High-impact engineers, which primarily directs talent to engineering roles which might help reduce existential risks, brought on a second full-time employee after they were encouraged to apply for funding at EAGxAustralia.
- A first-time EAGxIndia attendee reported that the conference directly led them to receiving an LTFF grant to upskill in AI safety and start an AI safety group for online students at their university.
Partner Events supports attendees in connecting with relevant individuals and achieving their goals.
- For example, an attendee at the Summit on Existential Security fundraised more than 20% of their organisation’s budget through a connection they made at the event
People buying a ticket can attend events without making a donation.
CEA will not give preference to those who do give a donation.
What information does Giving What We Can have about the cost-effectiveness of Centre for Effective Altruism: Events?
We don't currently have further information about the cost-effectiveness of Centre for Effective Altruism: Events beyond it doing work in a high-impact cause area and taking a reasonably promising approach.
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At Giving What We Can, we focus on the effectiveness of an organisation's work -- what the organisation is actually doing and whether their programs are making a big difference. Some others in the charity recommendation space focus instead on the ratio of admin costs to program spending, part of what we’ve termed the “overhead myth.” See why overhead isn’t the full story and learn more about our approach to charity evaluation.