EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

Crosspost from my blog.

I just got back from Effective Altruism Global London—a conference that brought together lots of different people trying to do good with their money and careers. It was an inspiring experience. When you write about factory farming, insect suffering, global poverty, and the torment of shrimp, it can, as I’ve mentioned before, feel like screaming into the void. When you try to explain why it's important that we don’t torture insects by the trillions in insect farms, most people look at you like you’ve grown a third head (after the second head that they look at you like you’ve grown when you started talking about shrimp welfare).

But at effective altruism conferences, people actually care. They’re not indifferent to most of the world's suffering. They don’t think I’m crazy! There are other people who think the suffering of animals matters—even the suffering of small [...]

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First published:

June 9th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rZKqrRQGesLctkz8d/the-unparalleled-awesomeness-of-effective-altruism

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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TL;DR

This post introduces Notify Health, an AIM-incubated charity that reduces vaccine-preventable child deaths in Nigeria via SMS and voice vaccination reminders.

Nigeria has the highest number of children missing vaccines globally by count. Over 50% of missed vaccines are caused in part by caregivers forgetting or misunderstanding the schedule. SMS and call vaccination reminders are a scalable solution that has strong evidence of effectiveness. A meta-analysis in LMICs shows sizable effects, and there are programs that prove this intervention can work at scale by serving millions of children already. Implementation remains neglected in many contexts, including Nigeria.

Founded one year ago, Notify Health piloted reminders with ~2,200 caregiver-child pairs from 44 clinics in Kogi state, Nigeria. The program works by digitising widespread health facility paper records to enrol caregivers. During the pilot, we sent 42,000+ reminders and saw timely vaccination increase by 12–24 percentage points in our analysis [...]

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Outline:

(00:21) TL;DR

(02:37) The problem - Millions miss vaccination due to simple knowledge barriers

(05:35) The solution - Make it easy with proven, low-cost, and scalable reminders

(05:41) Intervention: Vaccination Reminders

(07:48) Our implementation

(09:39) Progress - Notify Health piloted reminders in Nigeria with ~2,200 caregivers

(11:00) Operational metrics - Feasibility & Reach

(13:06) Caregiver Feedback

(15:10) Changes in immunization rates

(19:05) Discussion and limitations

(19:46) Timeliness vs coverage

(21:02) Limitations of our analysis

(24:28) Cost-Effectiveness - Not Yet 10x, but a clear path there

(29:30) Up Next - Iterating on the model for greater impact and cost-effectiveness

(29:53) Pilot in another Nigerian State

(30:23) Find a way to enrol a wider range of children from the general population

(31:04) Iterate on the program design to reduce cost and improve impact

(32:12) Continue to build our monitoring and evaluation muscle

(32:55) Looking further ahead

(34:01) How you can get involved

(35:15) Acknowledgements - Who we're grateful for

The original text contained 7 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

June 4th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/22323TMBfYzkosrhy/notify-health-vaccination-reminders-our-first-year-pilot

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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TL;DR

Starting an Effective Altruism (EA) group might be one of the highest-impact opportunities available right now. Here's how you can get involved:

• University students: Apply to the Centre for Effective Altruism's Organiser Support Programme (OSP) by Sunday, June 22.
• City or national group organisers: You’re invited, too. See details here!
• Interested in mentorship? Apply to mentor organisers by Wednesday, June 18.
• Know someone who could be an organiser or mentor? Forward this post or recommend them directly.

OSP provides mentorship, workshops, funding support, and practical resources to build thriving EA communities.

Why Starting an EA Group Matters

EA Groups, especially university groups, are often the very first exposure people have to effective altruism principles such as scale, tractability, and neglectedness. One conversation, one fellowship, one book club - these seemingly small moments can reshape someone's career trajectory.

Changing trajectories matters - even if one person changes course because of an EA group and [...]

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Outline:

(00:15) TL;DR

(01:07) Why Starting an EA Group Matters

(02:31) About the Organiser Support Programme (OSP)

(03:55) Application Deadlines

(04:18) Help Spread the Word

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First published:

June 6th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/cfKvC4WY9LHxgM27y/one-of-the-highest-impact-things-you-can-do-run-an-ea-group

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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At EAG London 2024, Zach Robinson (CEA's new CEO) highlighted strengthening EA institutions as a top priority. One avenue is democratizing EA organisations. While there's been abstract discussion on democracy within EA, concrete examples are rare. EA Norway's governance model — and similar structures in EA Sweden, Denmark, and Finland — offers a practical illustration. In this post, we provide an overview of how things work at EA Norway. We don’t make strong arguments or claims about this being the best solution for everyone.

About EA Norway

Founded in 2017, EA Norway has grown to 300 paying members — alongside over 1,000 affiliated supporters. Its annual budget stands at around 3.8m Norwegian kroner (about €320,000), with 3.25 full-time-equivalent staff handling day-to-day tasks.

At EAG London 2024, the Norwegian delegation ranked third in per-capita terms. Alumni of EA Norway have gone on to work at organisations such as CEA, the [...]

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Outline:

(00:49) About EA Norway

(01:55) Democracy from the Ground Up

(02:27) Inside the General Assembly

(03:18) The Board and Beyond

(04:27) A Hands-On General Secretary

(04:58) Lessons for the Global Movement

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First published:

June 7th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/6trPMB3zXkBfLEDhw/don-t-panic-about-democracy-in-ea

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Adam Becker recently published More Everything Forever. From the initial blurbs and early reactions, I expected it to be broadly representative of the now familiar leftist critique of Effective Altruism, Rationalism, and adjacent communities: essentially a highly critical summary of what is often referred to as TESCREAL. This expectation has proven accurate.

I’ve been summarizing each chapter carefully while also adding my own commentary along the way. Since Chapter 4 is the main (though not exclusive) section where Becker directly focuses on Effective Altruism itself, I thought it might be particularly relevant to share my notes and reflections on this chapter here.

Chapter 4 - “The Ethicist at the End of the Universe”

Secrets of Trajan House exposed!

• Becker visits Trajan House in Oxford, home to many EA organizations (Centre for Effective Altruism, Global Priorities Institute Future of Humanity Institute…)
• Key figures include William MacAskill, Toby Ord, Nick [...]

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First published:

June 6th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/f2aAdC8JwgsT28JfN/more-everything-forever-a-new-book-critique-of-ea

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This is a link post.

I am deeply saddened to share that Gabrielle Young, a much-loved member of the EA NZ community and personal friend, died last month. This is an absolutely devastating loss, and our hearts go out to Gabby's friends and family, including her parents and her sister Brigette.

While most of us knew her through EA, Gabby was an incredibly vibrant person with a diverse range of interests. She brought an infectious enthusiasm to everything she did, from software development to parkour and meditation. Music was also a huge part of Gabby's life. She performed with multiple groups— including ACAPOLLiNATiONS, the Medena ensemble and Gamelan— and enjoyed recording original music with friends.

Though EA was just one part of Gabby's life, it was an important one. Like many of us, she cared deeply about alleviating suffering. And in her short life, Gabby had an amazing impact [...]

The original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

June 5th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/5DvenF2RjFM7QQLtK/gabrielle-young-1995-2025

Linkpost URL:
https://effectivealtruism.nz/blog/gabrielle-young

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This is a link post.

Summary

The purpose of this post is to summarize the achievements and learnings at Impact Ops in its first two years.

Impact Ops provides consultancy and hands-on support to help high-impact organizations upgrade their operations. We’ve grown from three co-founders to a team of 11 specialists and supported 50+ high-impact organizations since our founding in April 2023.

We deliver specialist operations services in areas where we have deep experience, including finance, recruitment, and entity setup. We have 50+ active clients who we’ve helped tackle various operational challenges. Besides our client work, we’re pleased to have contributed to the broader nonprofit ecosystem in several ways, including via free resources.

We’re also proud to have built a sustainable business model that doesn’t rely on continuous fundraising. We’ll share details about our services, projects, and business model in what follows, including our key takeaways and what's next for [...]

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Outline:

(00:15) Summary

(01:19) What is Impact Ops?

(02:39) What does Impact Ops do, concretely?

(03:46) Who are Impact Ops's clients?

(05:57) What has Impact Ops achieved for its clients?

(06:31) Key lessons from the last two years

(06:36) Strategic foundation

(07:24) Risk management and resilience

(08:14) Organizational development

(08:56) Operational excellence

(09:48) Brand and purpose

(10:05) What has Impact Ops done for the broader nonprofit community?

(10:58) How is Impact Ops funded?

(11:25) What's next for Impact Ops?

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First published:

June 5th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/NWTEuaMDiGhcJQvLZ/lessons-learned-from-two-years-supporting-high-impact

Linkpost URL:
https://impact-ops.org/lessons-learned-from-two-years-supporting-high-impact-nonprofits/

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TLDR: This 6 million dollar TSU grant doesn’t seem to fit GiveWell's ethos and mission, and I don’t see the grant as high EV compared to other GiveWell grants.

Disclaimer: Despite my concerns I still think this grant likely has a higher EV than 80% of Global Health funding out there. GiveWell are my udonor, and given how much thought, research, and passion goes into every grant they give, I’m quite likely to be wrong here!

What makes GiveWell Special?

I love to tell people what makes GiveWell special. I giddily share how they rigorously select the most cost-effective charities with the best evidence-base. GiveWell charities almost certainly save lives at low cost – you can bank on it. There's almost no other org in the world where you can be pretty sure every few thousand dollars donated be savin’ dem lives.

So GiveWell Gives [...]

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Outline:

(00:38) What makes GiveWell Special?

(02:01) What is the grant?

(02:42) 1.The TSU Evidence base is minimal

(04:30) 2. Dubious Theory of Change

(06:35) 3. High Project Budget

(07:19) 4. Missed RCT Opportunity

(08:10) 5. No CEA and grant writeup

(08:43) 6. Why is this considered urgent post USAID cuts?

The original text contained 5 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

June 5th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/t8QRuMfetCbeAkyFu/technical-support-units-a-dubious-givewell-grant

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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TL;DR: Freelancing For Good is a platform and community for impact-driven freelancers, featuring a job board, Slack community, and vetted freelancer directory. We’re helping freelancers find meaningful work - and helping EA orgs find and hire aligned talent more easily.

Hello everyone!

After almost two years of testing, iterating, and building based on community feedback, we’re excited (and a little nervous!) to share Freelancing For Good with the EA Forum.

What is Freelancing For Good (FFG)?

Freelancing For Good is a platform and growing community for mission-driven freelancers. It began as a landing page collecting EA-aligned resources and has grown into:

• A 400+ member active Slack community
• An active freelance job board focused on high-impact roles
• A public directory of pre-vetted, value-aligned freelancers and entrepreneurs
• A space for freelancers to learn about EA ideas and earning to give

We believe orgs should make greater use of freelance talent [...]

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Outline:

(00:47) What is Freelancing For Good (FFG)?

(01:41) Community

(02:37) Job Board

(03:25) Freelance Directory

(04:14) FFG Pledge Club

(04:44) Why we built FFG

(05:14) Funding situation

(05:45) How to get involved

(06:20) What's next

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First published:

June 4th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/umHSKGDosDcJEzKDB/untitled-draft-iv2g

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

ACE is seeking a qualified independent consultant to conduct a feasibility study for our Charity Evaluations and Recommendations program. We are looking for a partner who is experienced with planning and conducting a feasibility study (or similar work), is familiar with the animal advocacy movement, (ideally) the effective altruism movement and meta-fundraising. The plan should a) assess our current approach to charity evaluations and recommendations alongside viable alternative approaches, and b) propose a potential new approach for our charity evaluation and recommendation program aimed at maximizing our meta-fundraising efforts and increasing the collective impact of the effective animal advocacy movement.

For more details, see the full request for proposals.

Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis until June 30th, 2025.

Thanks!

The ACE Team

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First published:

June 5th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/YcX6v55FiP5deGR2e/rfp-for-charity-evaluations-and-recommendations-feasibility

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.