EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

Why marginal funding matters for the front door of effective giving.

TLDR/ Overview:

• One for the World's mission is to scale the effective giving movement on poverty and public health. As such, we’re the tip of the spear for effective giving in the English-speaking world.
• We’ve focused on two target segments: MBA students and early-career professionals in tech, consulting, and finance.
• This year we’ve seen strong early momentum: pledges up 4× YTD (July 1 → now), ≈$300k moved since July 1, improved retention, and strong comms/social media growth.
• We are currently working to fill a $160k budget deficit for fiscal year AY26 (ends June 30th).
• Marginal funding would ensure that we can continue driving our growth strategy with additional workplace talks, chapter support, and pledge platform tech improvements.
• Your support helps grow the entire effective giving movement — not just OFTW.

Since last year…

In 2024, One for the World shared that we were entering a new phase of growth under new leadership, with plans to validate our value proposition, strengthen our programs, and expand our outreach across campuses and workplaces.

Since then, we identified our two target segments and value propositions. We reorganized our team structure, strengthened [...]

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Outline:

(00:23) Why marginal funding matters for the front door of effective giving.

(01:37) Since last year...

(02:43) What OFTW does

(05:28) What marginal funding enables

(05:56) Why marginal funding matters

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First published:

November 22nd, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Re3D8rt8TaWWDaKSa/oftw-early-results-from-new-growth-strategy

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Summary

• MSI Reproductive Choices is one of the largest providers of reproductive health services globally. Last year we served more than 23.8 million people and are on track to exceed that in 2025.

• We work in 36 countries and are highly cost-effective. On average, we can provide a woman with a year of protection from unintended pregnancy for $6.50

• You can read more about our cost-effectiveness here.

• USAID was by far the largest global donor to family planning, and its dissolution has put the lives and futures of millions of girls at risk.

• We are seeing more than a 20% increase in demand for our services as other organizations have had to close.

• We are seeking to raise an additional $25m for 2026 to support our country programs that have significant gaps next year and those that are expecting further foreign aid cuts in Q1 2026.

Donate Here

What is MSI Reproductive Choices? Why Support Reproductive Health?

According to the Guttmacher Institute, an estimated 214 million women in low- and middle-income countries want to avoid pregnancy but aren’t using contraception.[1] This unmet need leads to unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and maternal [...]

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Outline:

(00:15) Summary

(01:21) What is MSI Reproductive Choices? Why Support Reproductive Health?

(02:57) Why MSI? Why Now?

(06:12) Key Areas for Impact

(07:57) 1. Contribute to Randomized Control Trial research in Sierra Leone ($200,000/year for 5 years)

(10:22) 2. Support 16 MSI Ladies delivering life-saving services in remote areas of Afghanistan ($196,000 over 1 year)

(13:58) 3. A Market-Based Approach to Scaling Family Planning Access in Pakistan ($3.57M over 1 year)

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First published:

November 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/DsrrRoa8jvAKyC2g2/invest-in-futures-support-msi-reproductive-choices-to-meet

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Today we’re announcing a new cluster headache advocacy and research initiative: ClusterFree

Learn more about how you (and anyone) can help.

Our mission

ClusterFree's mission is to help cluster headache patients globally access safe, effective pain relief treatments as soon as possible through advocacy and research.

Cluster headache (also known as ‘suicide headache’) is considered the most painful condition known to mankind. We believe it is one of the largest sources of preventable extreme suffering in humans today. Every year, about 3 million adults (and an unknown number of minors) suffer from this debilitating condition.

And yet, even in the EU, only 47% of the cluster headache population had unrestricted access to standard treatments (primarily oxygen and triptans) in 2019. Despite affecting a similar number of people as multiple sclerosis, global investment into cluster headache is minuscule.

At the same time, countless patients have reported previously unattainable relief using certain psychedelics, even at low doses. For example, psilocybin, LSD and 5-MeO-DALT can effectively prevent attacks, and N,N-DMT can abort attacks within seconds and also have some preventative effects. However, these life-saving treatments are inaccessible to the vast majority of patients.

We want to tackle these problems by:

• Publishing [...]

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Outline:

(00:37) Our mission

(02:32) About us

(03:22) How you (and anyone) can help

(04:59) Room for funding

(06:41) Work with us

(06:54) Further information

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First published:

November 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/vzG8wu9b6vuoRxD3z/announcing-clusterfree-a-cluster-headache-advocacy-and

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I lead Forethought: we research how to navigate the transition to superintelligent AI, and then help people to address the issues we identify.

I think we might soon be funding constrained, in the sense that we’ll have more people that we’d like to hire than funding to hire them. (We’re currently in the middle of a hiring round. While we’re still evaluating candidates, we’ve been pleasantly pleased with our applicant pool, and we think that we might want to end up making offers to (or offering grants to) more people than we can currently fund.) If we end up in this situation, I think that marginal funding would (in expectation) lead to more good macrostrategy research.

You can see a bit more about the case for donating, budget, impact to date, and plans on our donate page and our 2025 fundraiser page. You can donate here.[1]

Some quick FAQs:

Why haven’t other funders picked this up?

• Forethought has been evaluated and endorsed by Longview Philanthropy and Coefficient Giving (formerly Open Philanthropy), who are pitching us to donors in their network.
• Our work is pretty unusual, which means we’re mostly trying to raise money from highly-aligned private donors, who [...]

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First published:

November 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/vSzepxLiz9yr5dYwd/forethought-likely-has-room-for-more-funding

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Center for Reducing Suffering's post for Marginal Funding Week 2025.

Quick Summary

CRS is a non-profit organization that aims to alleviate and prevent the worst forms of suffering, in the present and in the long-term future, across all sentient beings. We believe reducing suffering is an urgent moral priority and in this post we will share how your support can help us expand our work.

What We Do

We conduct research with the goal of understanding how to best reduce and prevent suffering. Our outputs include books and essays that are accessible free of charge to everyone.

Here are some: Suffering Focused Ethics; Reasoned Politics; Avoiding the Worst;

In terms of content and focus areas, we concentrate on suffering-focused ethics and avoiding worst-case outcomes such as s-risks. S-risks are scenarios in which future suffering occurs on an astronomical scale. These risks can arise in several ways, such as:

• Authoritarian global rule supported by advanced surveillance technologies, potentially enabling oppression and cruelty that persists across generations with little opportunity for meaningful reform.
• The rise of extremist belief systems, which, if embedded in influential future institutions or powerful AI agents, could normalise large-scale cruelty or retribution.
• The deliberate infliction [...]

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Outline:

(00:16) Quick Summary

(00:38) What We Do

(03:01) What Has Happened in 2025?

(04:47) What We Plan to Do with Marginal Funding?

(05:58) The Size of Our Funding Gap

(06:39) Funding CRS

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First published:

November 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/DJifsD9zd4ggtgKqd/why-donate-to-the-center-for-reducing-suffering-1

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TL;DR: As global challenges grow more complex and resources more constrained, the question is no longer just how much we can do, but how can we feasibly save the most impactful components of lifesaving and lifechanging programming.

The social sector has always had to grapple with constrained resources, but the recent seismic shifts in the funding environment are exerting new pressure on changemakers. Leaders are facing difficult tradeoffs: which programs to continue, which to adapt, and how to continue supporting and serving vulnerable communities. Funders are equally grappling with decisions on which effective programs are at risk and could benefit from an infusion of capital to continue delivering life-saving interventions.

IDinsight's cost-effectiveness approach is a framework that enables organizations to optimize their impact with constrained resources. Our strategy goes beyond simply cutting costs. We incorporate a cost lens into design and implementation to continuously improve the efficiency of program delivery.

Drawing on our 15 years of global experience as a trusted data, evidence, and AI for good advisor to the sector, IDinsight's cost analysis methodology is built around hands-on collaboration and practical, data-driven tools that equip leaders of both large institutions and smaller nonprofits to make evidence-based resource choices [...]

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Outline:

(01:46) IDinsight's cost-effectiveness services

(03:45) Proven results and continuous improvement

(04:02) What we can do with your support:

(07:18) About IDinsight

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First published:

November 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/pAoggTQvdA9BoCvAn/cost-effectiveness-analysis-a-data-driven-approach-to-doing

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Register now! (takes ~1 minute)

EA Connect 2025 is two weeks away (December 5–7). We've hit 3,000+ registrations, making this likely the largest EA event CEA has ever run!

We expect more than 1,500 of these attendees will be newcomers to EA: people taking their first serious look at the community and trying to figure out how they might get involved. If you're an experienced community member who's attended EAG or EAGx before, we'd value your participation. One of the most important things we can do for newcomers is give them good first interactions with the community.

Two paths for the conference

EA Connect has two tracks:

Foundation Path (for people who've never attended an EAG or EAGx):

• Access to talks, speed friending, meetups, and the career fair
• Access to request 1:1 meetings with mentors (limited availability) who can provide guidance and next steps
• Can see all attendee profiles and message anyone

Collaboration Path (for people who've attended an EAG or EAGx):

• Everything from the Foundation Path (except mentors, which are prioritized for newcomers)
• Can book 1:1 meetings with other Collaboration Path attendees via Swapcard
• Can also book meetings with Foundation Path attendees if you want to reach [...]

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Outline:

(00:56) Two paths for the conference

(01:53) How the booking system works

(02:27) Why this structure?

(03:13) About the mentorship system

(04:11) How you can help (if youre on the Collaboration Path)

(05:11) What to expect

(05:56) Register if you havent already

(06:21) Looking forward

(07:00) Questions you might have

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First published:

November 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/L9ixhGCji9zhH7XjB/ea-connect-2025-c-ea-s-largest-event-ever-is-in-two-weeks

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

TLDR

1. Who we are: Vida Plena (meaning a ‘flourishing life’ in Spanish), which launched in 2022 via Ambitious Impact/ Charity Entrepreneurship. 
2. What We Do: Combat depression and anxiety by fostering hope and connection through community-based group therapy sessions.
3. Why We Do It: Because untreated depression drives immense suffering, yet remains one of the most neglected health burdens in low-resource settings.
4. Where We Work: Ecuador, with plans for regional expansion starting in 2028
5. Results: 84% of participants improve clinically in depression and anxiety. 82% had reduced suicidal thoughts. 
6. Funding Gap: Total of $175,000. 
   1.  $54,000 will allow us to expand to Manta, a coastal city plagued by gang violence, the Indigenous Amazon in Tena, and Puyo. 
7. Why Now? Nationwide expansion is within sight. We’re getting governmental buy-in, reducing our costs of operation, and we’re demonstrating that our model works within various cultural contexts throughout Ecuador. 

Before reading on, how strongly do you think mental health improvements reduce total human suffering? Please share your reasoning in the comments.

Mental health is a major driver of overall human suffering.Place your vote or view results.hellowhat

Context for Our Work

Depression is one of the largest drivers of disability worldwide, yet remains chronically neglected in global health. [...]

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Outline:

(00:21) TLDR

(02:01) Context for Our Work

(04:26) What is the evidence base for the intervention you are employing?

(06:19) Track Record so Far

(07:57) Now Entering Phase 2: Scaling Through Government Systems

(09:22) What's Next

(10:42) Cost effectiveness

(12:23) How marginal funding accelerates our work

(14:03) How You Can Help

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First published:

November 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ktqisZCNavtQGzxpF/scaling-evidence-based-mental-health-care-through-government

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Written as part of the EA Forum's Marginal Funding Week 2025.

Exec Summary

I believe there's a popular perspective in EA that animal welfare organisations can't absorb much more funding — but I actually think there are ambitious megaprojects in the movement (and within Shrimp Welfare Project specifically) that could each absorb millions of dollars.

Shrimp Welfare Project doesn't have a funding gap, fortunately. I'm confident that by maintaining our current funding levels, we can continue to catalyse the future of shrimp welfare through cutting-edge research, collaborative corporate engagement, and farmer outreach. But, at the same time, I see real opportunities for large-scale funding to unlock exciting possibilities with exceptional impact, and I’m confident Shrimp Welfare Project is well-equipped to lead on them. We have concrete ideas that pave the way for new shrimp welfare solutions implemented across entire regions, potentially increasing our (Shr)Impact from our current ~4.5 billion per year to more than 100 billion shrimps per year, as soon as 2030.

Our Humane Slaughter Initiative (HSI) is already incredibly impactful, and the number of corporate partnerships in the program has essentially doubled each year since 2022. I believe there's potential for us to build on this [...]

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Outline:

(00:17) Exec Summary

(03:39) Expanding the Humane Slaughter Initiative

(04:13) Scaling Up

(06:55) Catalysing Research

(06:59) Increasing Confidence

(10:02) New Solutions & Protocols

(13:04) Exploratory Projects

(13:21) Scoping Work

(16:45) Sustainable Shrimp Farmers of India spin-off

(18:41) AI x Shrimps

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First published:

November 21st, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/PHgbyFu4ikJRKPqx9/shrimp-welfare-project-s-path-to-helping-100-billion-shrimps

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440 billion farmed shrimp, 1 trillion farmed insects, 85 billion chickens, 100 billion farmed fish. These are the staggering numbers of animals raised in factory farms each year—most suffer in systems where their welfare is an afterthought, if considered at all.

But 2025 proved that strategic grantmaking can change the fate of those animals. A single $28,500 grant helped ban cages for 270,000 hens in Slovenia. $290,000 in seed funding launched campaigns that secured welfare commitments for billions of shrimp from six major European retailers in just ten months. These demonstrates how pooled resources and rigorous grantmaking can unlock and amplify the impact of many activists.

The EA Animal Welfare Fund (AWF) just published our three-year grantmaking strategy at a crucial moment for animals around the world. Having deployed $4.2M across 45 grants in 2025 (with $2M more planned for Q4), we've identified high-impact opportunities that could help the most numerous yet most neglected animals. Our strategy aims to deploy at least $20M to proven and emerging interventions, but we face an $11.6M funding gap for 2026 that will determine whether these opportunities can be leveraged or remain unexplored.

This figure may seem daunting for an individual donor. But [...]

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Outline:

(02:36) Our 2025 Impact

(02:40) 2025. Grantmaking Overview

(04:02) By region

(04:15) By species

(04:27) By intervention type  en-US-AvaMultilingualNeural__ Bar graph showing spending across seven categories, with Warfare Campaigns highest at $1.387M.

(04:42) 2025. Progress From AWF's Grantees

(05:06) Animal Enterprise Transparency Project (AETP) - Ban on Cages for Egg-laying Hens

(06:17) International Council for Animal Welfare (ICAW) - Rapid Progress for Billions of Shrimp

(07:38) Arthropoda Foundation - Completing Promising Academic Research on Insect Welfare

(09:12) Animal Welfare League (AWL) - Establishing National Poultry Standards in Ghana and Increasing Supply of Cage-Free Across Africa

(11:04) How Your Support Turns Into Impact for Animals

(11:09) Objectives: Six Strategic Goals Your Funding Enables

(12:18) Ending Cage Confinement for Hens Globally, Accelerating Progress in the Global South

(13:14) Establishing Aquatic Animal Welfare Standards in the Global South

(13:47) Making Humane Slaughter the Default for Farmed Shrimp

(14:32) Preventing the Next Factory Farming Crisis Through Strategic Insect Welfare Work

(14:59) Research and Implementing Proven Interventions to Reduce Wild Animal Suffering

(15:42) Transforming Farm Animal Welfare Across Asia, Africa, and Latin America

(16:30) Funding Gap: What Different Contribution Levels Enable

(20:04) Please join us in the mission to alleviate animal suffering on a massive scale

(21:08) Take action now:

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First published:

November 20th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Gwss96MkMFawzoZKe/awf-s-plan-to-deploy-usd20m-to-scale-impact-for-billions-of

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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