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Rekindling the Fire:

Principles-First EA Groups

and Movement Building

Jessica McCurdy

Head of Groups at CEA

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Questioning my path

Over the past two years, I spent quite a while trying to figure out my path. I’ve been working with EA groups since 2017. When the FTX collapse happened, it caused a crisis of faith for many in the community. It was an important time to reflect on whether we still endorse the movement.

Simultaneously, and maybe even more destabilizing, we saw massive advancements in AI.

With AI advancements in the public sphere, we began to focus more on AI safety-specific field-building and AI safety specific groups emerged. These AI safety groups did incredibly well. This made me question whether I should continue principles-first EA outreach or switch to AI safety field-building. AI was developing so quickly and the field felt really important to work on. I wasn’t sure what the right move was. I will admit, at the time, EA work felt lower status, and fewer people were interested in it. It seemed like the fire around EA community building was dying out.

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Ecosystem approach

In 2023, I worked on a memo trying to really sort out what I believed. I spent a lot of time talking to people in AI safety field-building, as well as my coworkers at CEA and others in the field. Over time, I realized I wanted to take a more ecosystem-level approach to doing good. In my ideal ecosystem, there needed to be people doing both AI safety field-building and EA movement-building.

Still, I thought, "I love EA. EA is this amazingly unique community with a great track record for making high-impact things happen in the world and noticing really important neglected problems. I believe in it, and I'm willing to stand up and be one of the people who makes it happen." I'm really grateful I made that choice. I think it was the right move for my comparative advantage, and that EA is such a valuable mission, one with a track record, foresight, and flexibility. It would be a shame not to have more energy going toward it.

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The Disconnect

Grantmakers

People actually �doing the work

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Why groups?

What groups do

Multiplier effects

Strong track record

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What groups do

Motivation

Empowering discussion spaces

Taking action in line with one’s values

I think that groups leverage repeated interactions and relationships to help people get into a motivational state where they're willing to take significant action on the world’s most pressing problems. Some people can read about EA online and immediately take action, but many need that extra push—a community of supporters around them to help them figure out what to do and, importantly, to take those leaps to actually do it.

For example, I was considering taking the Giving What We Can pledge, but I didn’t do it right away - it made sense to me to do and I wanted to but hadn’t. It wasn’t until I saw people from my own group taking the pledge that I thought, Well, I respect these people. If they can do it, I can just actually do it. That social proof and encouragement were really important.

How many of you came to this conference because someone nudged you to attend? I know for me, at some of my first EA events, I needed that encouragement. Taking a weekend out of your busy schedule, traveling to an event—it’s a big ask, even if its something you want to do or internally endorse doing. So having a community that supports you in doing it makes a huge difference.

I think groups are a really strong space for cultivating this. They help people to go from, “This is interesting,” to “This is something I’m going to contribute to and take action on” This happens not just because of social proof or encouragement, but because groups can offer tangible resources and spaces for discussion where people can ask questions, hash out their uncertainties, and deepen their understanding of themselves and what they want to do.

Importantly, I think what this is doing is helping people take action on their actual values. I think it would be against the truth-seeking nature of EA to be aggressively recruiting people or peer-presenting people to act against their values. I think it is important for people to have the space and ability to reflect on whether this does indeed match their values such as by having other communities they are a part of.

But for people who do reflect, and do truly endorse these values - groups offer a great sense of support and encouragement to take action.

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Multiplier Effect

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Data on EA Groups

36.8%

University groups were mentioned the most times out of all community building efforts.
City and national groups also ranked highly in the top 10 community-building efforts

Rethink Priorities, EA Survey 2022

Open Phil LT Survey (unreleased)

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“In my work at Open Phil I've spent mid-hundreds of hours trying to determine what drives the careers that drive real change in the world on e.g. AI policy, animal welfare, and global health. I found it greatly surprising (at the time) that in many cases, the main driver of these people's careers seemed to be EA and related ideas.”

Why Principles-First EA?

Track record

Ahead of the game

Flexible

Eli Rose

Senior Program Associate

Open Philanthropy

Not all of these were EA groups but the vast majority were.

Maybe Eli: “In my work at Open Phil I've spent mid-hundreds of hours trying to determine what drives the careers that drive real change in the world on e.g. AI policy, animal welfare, and global health. I found it greatly surprising (at the time) that in many cases, the main driver of these people's careers seemed to be EA and related ideas”

EA has been a beacon for thousands of people to do more good in the world.
It’s addressed neglected issues and has a notable track record in saving the lives of the poor, improving the lives of billions of animals, and identifying risks from emerging technologies before the rest of the world caught on
And these principles can continue to be flexible and help us look around the corner even if these current issues are addressed, pushing us to expand our moral circle and vision to issues like the welfare of smaller and neglected animals, digital sentience, and any cause x to come

All you have to do is look around this room and see the number of causes, professions, disciplines represented to get a sense of the unique value of EA

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What about cause specific groups?

To be clear, I am also very excited about AI safety groups and other cause specific groups like the alt protein project and one for the world. I actually spent a significant portion of the past year incubating a spinoff of AIS group support. I am excited about different types of groups having different types of goals and audiences. Over the past couple of years it was good for us to encourage people who were a good fit for AI safety field-building. I think it still is for those with good fit.

But one thing EA is very good at is updating based on new information—sometimes too much so. I think we swung a bit too far in the direction of encouraging people to work on these groups at the expense of EA groups. I think now, on the margin, there’s been a lot of effort poured into AI safety field-building, and I want to bring back some enthusiasm for principles-first community building. I am excited for us to take that ecosystem level approach.

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Why now?

New leadership

Reflected on mistakes

New exciting plans

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Why now?

Community building today is far more robust and tractable than it was four years ago. We have the infrastructure now—we’ve built talent pipelines, created upskilling programs, and there are so many more job opportunities. We’re in a place where we can absorb a lot of talent, and that creates even better opportunities than we had before.

Everyone here has the potential to play a strong part in growing this movement. I’m genuinely excited about where the movement is headed—toward even more growth, more opportunities, and more impact. And it’s not just me, I have been working on a project on this and other stakeholders, from grantmakers to community leaders, are excited about this too.

We’re not just rekindling a flame; we’re launching into something big, and that depends on us

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Addressing Objections

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Broad awareness of EA is still really low (2%)

The EA brand isn’t dead—it’s just beginning.

Objection 1: The EA brand is so bad, its ruined!

Yes, it’s true that the FTX collapse and some other scandals have had an impact on EA’s reputation. And it is true that you as a community builder may have heard more negative things about EA.

But I think there’s multiple reasons to maintain optimism here’s the thing—for one, broad awareness of EA is still really low. And for most people, these events haven’t dramatically altered their overall sentiment toward EA.

Over the summer, soem ecomms research was conducted via Breakwater Strategy focus groups and a quantitative survey (July-August 2024), a Rethink Priorities survey (August 2024), and our own survey of 28 EA brand stakeholders (June-July 2024).

According to that research awareness of EA is around 2% of the general public. That’s tiny! In specific elite circles, it’s a bit higher, but it’s still relatively low. This means we have a huge opportunity -- not only to introduce EA to many more, but to introduce it in a way that is both cognizant of how some may perceive of EA after the past few yearsFTX but more importantly, grounded in enthusiasm for the core ideas of EA So, the EA brand isn’t dead—it’s just beginning. Brand damage is not irrecoverable. I believe that the more we can continue to invest into comms and people publically representing EA in positive ways… the more we can positively shape what comes to mind for people when they think of EA. There’s so much room for growth, and we have the opportunity to shape what the next chapter of EA looks like.

And I get it—when something is really important to you, something that’s part of your identity, you’re especially sensitive to negative press. It becomes highly salient. If even one person out of 100 mentions something negative about EA, it’s easy to focus all your attention on that one negative comment. It’s human. And I’m not saying it’s unjustified to feel that way, but I do think there’s a lot of hope. This shouldn’t stop us from trying to grow the movement and make it even stronger.

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Worth considering

EA Brand as a common good

Objection 2: Reputation Risk

Another objection: Will this hurt my resume?

It’s a reasonable concern, and I’d be wrong to say there’s no risk. I think it would be bad for organizers to not consider this. Like any affiliation group, people might take into account EA on your resulme. If you’re entering careers in policy, for example, this might matter more. I encourage you to talk to people in those roles to see how much weight they would place on this.

That said, people often overestimate how bad it would look and don’t consider the opportunity costs. As I mentioned, brand damage is recoverable, and only around 2% of people know what EA is. If you’re not going into sensitive policy roles, this is less of a concern.

But should I leave option value?

There is a cost to this

Impact loss

As we mentioned, there is a lot of impact opportunity at stake

EA brand as a common good

If everyone jumps ship, there is no one left to represent or improve EA
people get a lot from the EA ecosystem—free career advising, cool conferences, etc.—and that we need to invest in EA to keep the ecosystem vibrant and able to offer a lot

I won’t say its not at all a risk, but also sometimes its worth taking risks for things you believe in.

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Objection 3: It isn’t good career capital

Track record of CBers going on to do impactful work and CB helping that

01

Kelsey Piper,

Vox Future Perfect

Dewi Erwin, �BlueDot Impact

Ryan Kidd,

MATS

Ajeya Cotra, �Open Phil

Eirin Evjen,

Langsikt

Haven King-Nobles

FWI

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“Doing community building for 1-2 years is an insanely good way to spend time doing "product discovery", understanding people's problems, and testing different solutions. And that can then be the springboard to start a new company that scales and improves a solution to an important problem that you discovered”

Objection 3: It isn’t good career capital: Building skills

Dewi Erwin, �BlueDot Impact

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“In my experience, people who run student groups well often gain a degree of experience in core skills like management, delegation, recruiting, and running events that's rare for their career stage, making them exciting hiring prospects who are often able to handle more complex tasks more autonomously compared to their peers”

"I'm about 10 years out from being part of an EA student group, and I truly still benefit from the connections I made there, and grateful to the original organizers that made it possible. I think it caused me to enter my EA career faster and stronger"

Objection 3: It isn’t good career capital: legibility

Claire Zabel, �Open Philanthropy

What’s more, I regularly get requests from organizations that are hiring for roles, and they specifically ask for group organizers as potential candidates. In my time at CEA, we’ve sent about 50 lists of recommendations to hiring managers looking for people with these skills. Group leadership has become a positive signal of the qualities they care about—skills like initiative, leadership, and the ability to manage complex projects.

Maybe claire: “in my experience, people who run student groups well often gain a degree of experience in core skills like management, delegation, recruiting, and running events that's rare for their career stage, making them exciting hiring prospects who are often able to handle more complex tasks more autonomously compared to their peers." “

"I'm about 10 years out from being part of an EA student group, and I truly still benefit from the connections I made there, and grateful to the original organizers that made it possible. I think it caused me to enter my EA career faster and stronger"

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Is Community Building for You?

Lack of direct management
Independent, not at an org
Difficult to know if you are doing a good job
It’s hard!

Anti-sell

Isn’t your comparative advantage
Still need to learn more about EA
Opportunity cost

Other reasons not to do it…

The antisell:

Group organizers tend to work independently. Most don’t have managers, and it can be hard to stay motivated without that structure. You’ll need to be entrepreneurial, seeking out support systems on your own. While we do offer some mentorship programs, the role requires a fair degree of self-sufficiency.
Managing people who are volunteers can be tough. It’s hard to get people to commit their time, and that can be frustrating.
Plus, even though you’re gaining a lot of on-the-ground experience, you’re less likely to be part of a larger organization, so you miss out on some of the learning that comes from being in those environments.
Its also hard to know whether you are doing a good job. It has pretty long feedback loops with it often taking 2 years between an intervention and someone intering a high impact career.

Even within this, the signals we get are much less robust than eg: work that uses RCTs

Other reasons not to do it

It isn’t your Comparative Advantage
Not there yet

We also think having a solid understanding of EA is crucial, so you can explain concepts and answer questions from community members with accuracy and nuance. If you don’t feel confident in that, it might be worth building up your knowledge first.

there’s the opportunity cost. You might have another opportunity that’s even more impactful, and that’s a valid reason not to go into community building.

It’s important to recognize that community building isn’t for everyone. Different jobs require different comparative advantages.

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What can you do?

Volunteer
Found a group
Run a group
Work full time for a group
Work at a meta org

You can:

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Final thoughts and next steps

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I believe that you can change people's minds, but you can't change people's hearts. I think the aim of EA should be to inform and empower altruistic people to solve the world's most important challenges, not recruit for specific cause areas. I led my EA group the same way I lead MATS: we aim to empower talented, altruistic individuals to go out into the world and be their own guide. This way, alumni will adapt and specialize as needed, be robust to changes in environment, and be a guide to others.

Ryan Kidd

MATS

A great thing about the community is that we want to have the most impact we can. We use the ITN framework to define our focus areas but as the world circumstances change, that might mean that the focus areas we deem most important change as well. Building a community of impartial, open-minded scouts means that we can have the flexibility to focus on whatever area seems most pressing as needed.

Speaking for myself as a grantmaker, I don’t consider EA CB roles low status at all. I know several people who I believe have had a great positive impact who have had, or currently have, EA CB roles. The main reasons why I believe that these are important roles are:

A great community builder might influence a lot of people around them, vastly multiplying their impact

They might help start or reignite a community, ensuring continuity and progress of EA ideas moving forward

It is great career capital. I think it can train you on mentorship, project and people management, and potentially entrepreneurship, all of which are great assets for many impactful career paths

I think we’re at an inflection point with EA. After a couple really negative events, several people have lost faith in the community. Yet it is definitely worth rescuing. We need community builders now to make sure we have a sustainable community moving forward

Melanie Basnak

Open Philanthropy

I think the principles behind EA are true. As someone who is likely very privileged by global standards, you can at minimum save the lives of several others over the course of your own life. Via work and careful thinking, you can perhaps do much more. This isn't a fantasy; there's a track record.

Eli Rose

Open Philanthropy

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Final thoughts and next steps

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Four core principles that I and others think characterize the EA approach to doing good are

Scope sensitivity: Saving ten lives is more important than saving one, and saving a thousand lives is a lot more important than saving ten.

Scout mindset: We can better help others and understand the world if we think clearly and orient towards finding the truth, rather than trying to defend our own ideas and being unaware of our biases.

Impartiality: With the resources we choose to devote to helping others, we strive to help those who need it the most without being partial to those who are similar to us or immediately visible to us. (In practice, this often means focusing on structurally neglected and disenfranchised groups, like people in low-income countries, animals, and future generations.)

Recognition of tradeoffs: Because we have limited time and money, we need to prioritize when deciding how we might improve the world.