EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

Last week, I joined “Revolutionist's Night” — a cabal aiming to radically improve animal welfare, with some flavor of 1800s slavery abolitionism or the 1700s American revolution. Our topic for the evening was inspired by Aaron Boddy's post “The current market price for animal welfare is zero”: can we create a market where anyone can directly buy credits for animal welfare?

I’m very sympathetic to this idea, and similar ideas like Paul Christiano's for offsetting factory-farmed eggs. (A year ago, I spent some time brainstorming how one might actually implement the egg-offset-thing.)

Some reasons I’d be excited:

• Markets are great at optimizing for particular objectives, if you shape them correctly. The world abounds in cheap high-quality consumer goods, thanks to markets.
• There are some precedents for using markets for public goods, from carbon credit markets and renewable offsets (eg electric vehicle or solar credits)
• Welfare credits let you [...]

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First published:

July 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/34BKchKuN4wvR84Cy/questions-about-animal-welfare-markets

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

The Strategic Animal Funding Circle just finished its first two rounds of grantmaking, and we ended up giving ~$900,000 across 16 organisations. Below is some brief reasoning behind why we were excited about these grants and broad factors that resulted in us not granting to other organisations. Overall we were pretty excited about the quality of applications we got and feel optimistic the circle will continue to run/deploy more in the future.

At the bottom of this post, you can find more information about the next round, how to apply and how to join as a donor.

Top four reasons we ruled out applications

Unclear theory of change

The most common reason an organisation was ruled out was for unclear theory of change. This has come up with other funding circles’ explanation copied from a prior writeup we made “Some applicants do not share sufficient reasoning on [...]

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Outline:

(00:48) Top four reasons we ruled out applications

(03:47) Funded organisations

(04:00) Asia Accountability Initiative

(04:42) The Centre for Responsible Seafood

(05:16) Animal Policy International

(06:06) Projet Animaux Zoopolis

(07:02) An anonymous coalition aiming to limit public support for insect farming in France

(07:55) An anonymous initiative trying to promote pain-mitigation strategies in farms

(08:20) Bob Fischer - Academic research on tools for incorporating animal welfare into benefit-cost analysis

(09:18) Arthropoda Foundation

(10:06) Centre for Responsible Food Business

(10:48) Animal Partisan

(11:38) AETP - Animal Enterprise Transparency Project

(12:12) Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

(13:03) International Council for Animal Welfare

(14:04) Insect Welfare Research Society

(15:00) Nettverk for dyrs frihet

(16:03) Get involved

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First published:

July 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/fRQejQGJsKx33ud8u/strategic-animals-funding-circle-results-from-first-two

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

The Strategic Animal Funding Circle just finished its first two rounds of grantmaking, and we ended up giving ~$900,000 across 16 organisations. Below is some brief reasoning behind why we were excited about these grants and broad factors that resulted in us not granting to other organisations. Overall we were pretty excited about the quality of applications we got and feel optimistic the circle will continue to run/deploy more in the future.

At the bottom of this post, you can find more information about the next round, how to apply and how to join as a donor.

Top four reasons we ruled out applications

Unclear theory of change

The most common reason an organisation was ruled out was for unclear theory of change. This has come up with other funding circles’ explanation copied from a prior writeup we made “Some applicants do not share sufficient reasoning on [...]

---

Outline:

(00:48) Top four reasons we ruled out applications

(03:47) Funded organisations

(04:00) Asia Accountability Initiative

(04:42) The Centre for Responsible Seafood

(05:16) Animal Policy International

(06:06) Projet Animaux Zoopolis

(07:02) An anonymous coalition aiming to limit public support for insect farming in France

(07:55) An anonymous initiative trying to promote pain-mitigation strategies in farms

(08:20) Bob Fischer - Academic research on tools for incorporating animal welfare into benefit-cost analysis

(09:18) Arthropoda Foundation

(10:06) Centre for Responsible Food Business

(10:48) Animal Partisan

(11:38) AETP - Animal Enterprise Transparency Project

(12:12) Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

(13:03) International Council for Animal Welfare

(14:04) Insect Welfare Research Society

(15:00) Nettverk for dyrs frihet

(16:03) Get involved

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First published:

July 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/fRQejQGJsKx33ud8u/strategic-animals-funding-circle-results-from-first-two

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

I learned about EA in mid-2022, finished my degree and got “properly” involved in my local community in 2023, got my first paid role in the movement in 2024 and got promoted to Managing Director at Hive at the beginning of 2025.

In career-related conversations, I often get asked about how I got into my role. I used to be hesitant to share my career journey, since it seemed riddled with luck and privilege. In many instances, I felt like I was just in the right place at the right time, and many of my actions were only possible because I could dedicate significant time (~10h per week) for the largest part of a year to pursuing what I found to be impactful. However, every time I do tell the story, people seem to find it useful for various reasons. Over time, I identified a few takeaways that seem [...]

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Outline:

(01:35) 0. Deciding to pivot my career

(04:01) 1. Creating my own opportunities

(08:02) My key takeaways

(09:31) 2. Getting noticed for my work

(13:09) My key takeaways

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First published:

July 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/D4Zbg6cWwWQPhL3Wo/reflecting-on-my-career-journey

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Introduction

This payout report covers the Animal Welfare Fund's (AWF) grantmaking from April 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025 (3 months). It follows the previous January-March 2025 payout report.

Organizational updates

• In May, the AWF welcomed two full-time fund managers: Neil Dullaghan, who joined as a Senior Fund Manager, and Renata Scarellis, who joined as a Fund Manager. They bring experience in animal welfare grantmaking, research, and advocacy:

  • Dr. Neil Dullaghan is a full-time senior fund manager with the AWF, where he has worked part-time since 2022. Previously, he worked at Rethink Priorities as a Senior Research Manager on their farmed animal welfare team and led a regranting fund focused on EU farmed animal welfare policy. He holds a PhD in Political & Social Science from the European University Institute, an MPhil in European Politics & Society from the University of Oxford, and a BA [...]

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Outline:

(00:16) Introduction

(00:35) Organizational updates

(03:11) Overview of Q2, 2025 grants

(03:50) Highlighted Grants

(09:19) Grants Funded with AWF's Partners

(10:29) All Grants We Approved During This Time Period

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First published:

July 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/CXoHMCNwJ6HkbxazZ/animal-welfare-fund-payout-recommendations-from-april-to-1

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Summary

After three decades spanning startups, consulting, banking, entrepreneurship, and impact nonprofits, I'm sharing lessons that might be useful for others navigating career decisions. I was prompted by the Career Conversations Week post noting that "EA skews pretty young, so if your career can be measured in decades rather than years, you probably have a lot to share!" Rather than my specific job history, I'll focus on lessons learned, though I'm wary of biases or being too general to be applicable.

My career began in 1994 after finishing Gymnasium (the German equivalent of high school) in Germany. I had to do civilian service and planned on studying after, but was offered a traineeship at an advertising agency. This led to a diverse 30-year journey through multiple industries and roles. Rather than recount specific details of my path, I'll focus on lessons I learned, though I acknowledge these may reflect [...]

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Outline:

(00:13) Summary

(01:42) The biggest opportunities came through unexpected connections

(02:38) Learning what I didnt want proved surprisingly valuable

(03:10) I learned fastest when I was genuinely excited

(03:50) Discovering trust is a valuable currency

(04:37) Financial prudence created unexpected freedom

(05:23) Finding mentors in unexpected places

(06:08) I learned to insert myself into opportunities

(07:03) I had to actively build my resilience

(07:52) Experimenting before making big commitments

(08:31) Avoiding living someone elses life

(09:08) Neglecting social connections and paying a price

(09:43) Caveats and limitations

(10:12) Acknowledgements

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First published:

July 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xRfZMmfoCNq8DWcKB/from-rave-websites-to-ai-risk-30-years-of-career-lessons

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

I tend to send the recording of this talk quite a lot when I’m asked to share my story about how I started Hive, so I thought for folks’ convenience I’d make it into a post so that it's more scannable. Some of the info is a bit outdated, I tried to include updates in brackets. I included some slides to help demonstrate the point, but you can find all my slides in the resource section below.

Hi everyone, and thank you for coming to my talk! I’m Sofia Balderson, co-founder of Hive—a global community for farmed animal advocates. Hive connects people to increase their impact, and we’re best known for:

• Hive Slack – an active online space with over 3,000 animal advocates
• Hive Highlights – our bi-weekly newsletter with ~3,000 subscribers featuring the latest news, research, and impact opportunities in the movement

We also host [...]

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Outline:

(01:32) Disclaimers:

(02:03) Talk Overview

(02:27) 1. Identifying the Right Problem

(03:46) 2. Finding the Right Team

(04:58) 3. Building a Minimal Viable Product (MVP)

(06:37) 4. Measuring Impact

(07:54) 5. Funding and Rejections

(09:08) 6. Lessons in Fundraising

(09:13) Build relationships before you ask for money

(09:50) Learn to cope with rejections--they're not personal

(10:27) 7. Deciding Whether to Commit

(11:44) Q&A section:

(19:16) Resources

(19:43) Want to get more support for your project or get in involved in farmed animal advocacy?

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First published:

July 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/4qsjWrHDpyQLRfJB4/from-a-side-project-to-a-funded-organisation-my-story-and

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

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Hi everyone! This post is the first in a series of four profiles on mid-career transitions in EA. Andrés very kindly allowed me to interview him on his shift from private equity to shrimp welfare. I think it takes a lot of courage to make drastic career changes, especially those that result in significant pay cuts and uncertainty. I hope this series is helpful to those considering it! And separately, I found it really lovely to hear how excited each person was about EA.

Andrés Jimenez Zorrilla | Philanthropy Consultant at Open Philanthropy, Co-founder of Shrimp Welfare Project

Andrés Jiménez Zorilla originally spent 15 years in investment banking and real estate private equity, leading the Iberian business for a European real estate fund and working in global finance hubs like London, New York, and Qatar. While the work was intellectually demanding in some ways (structuring deals, scaling companies [...]

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Outline:

(00:45) Andrés Jimenez Zorrilla | Philanthropy Consultant at Open Philanthropy, Co-founder of Shrimp Welfare Project

(05:32) Andrés' advice for others considering a similar shift:

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First published:

July 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/S5zJcEbdGoi8oarkC/private-equity-to-shrimp-welfare-mid-career-transitions-in

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

(about careers)

As part of Career Conversations Week on the EA Forum, I’ve gathered together some impact-focused career advisors to answer any questions you might have.

Career Advisors from Probably Good, Successif, Animal Advocacy Careers and 80,000 Hours will be online throughout the week to answer your questions. Interested and knowledgeable readers are also welcome to chip in! Leave your questions as comments below.

Some details on our advisors:

Probably Good is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to helping people build careers that are good for them and good for the world. They offer online guides, a job board, and one-on-one advising, among other services.

Successif offers tailored one-on-one career guidance to experienced professionals interested in transitioning into technical AI risk or AI governance and policy work.

Animal Advocacy Careers bridges the critical talent gap within the effective animal advocacy movement, ensuring passionate, skilled professionals are matched with the roles [...]

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Outline:

(00:36) Some details on our advisors:

(02:12) The kind of questions you might like to ask:

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First published:

July 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/RYPiSnihBWKi6oBrL/ask-career-advisors-anything

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

TLDR

When we look across all jobs globally, many of us in the EA community occupy positions that would rank in the 99.9th percentile or higher by our own preferences within jobs that we could plausibly get.[1] Whether you work at an EA-aligned organization, hold a high-impact role elsewhere, or have a well-compensated position which allows you to make significant high effectiveness donations, your job situation is likely extraordinarily fortunate and high impact by global standards. This career conversations week, it's worth reflecting on this and considering how we can make the most of these opportunities.

Intro

I think job choice is one of the great advantages of development. Before the industrial revolution, nearly everyone had to be a hunter-gatherer or a farmer, and they typically didn’t get a choice between those.

Now there is typically some choice in low income countries, and typically a lot of choice in [...]

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Outline:

(00:09) TLDR

(00:48) Intro

(01:21) The Mathematics of Job Preference

(02:20) EA Perspective on Job Impact

(04:10) Dimensions of Job Preference

(04:57) Gratitude as Motivation

(05:34) Conclusion

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First published:

July 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/SNL9YBGDRuiChAmQZ/grateful-for-job-choice

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.