Hi everybody ! My name is Virginie, and I'm working in Human Ressources in the field of education. I'm currently completing my PhD's degree at Lille University. My research is about headteacher's soft skills and collaborative work in secondary schools. 

I'm Peter. I work as a data scientist at Avant Credit, a non-profit providing online loans to people with near-prime credit ratings. This job helps me earn-to-give, but more valuably it provides a lot of opportunity for learning, to enhance my career prospects later.

When not doing my day job, I work on .impact, a distributed volunteer force of effective altruists working on really useful projects. Recently, this has lead me to collaborate a lot with ACE, where I'm researching the impact of Facebook ads on diet change, and Charity Science, where I'm helping scale up the Birthday Charity fundraisers you guys may have been seeing around a lot (p.s. you should do one).

Hi, I'm Jess. I'm currently living in Oxford and doing a PhD in Behavioural Science - I'm looking at ways of making people more willing to consider evidence that conflicts with their existing views, and more likely to change their minds about important topics. I want to figure out how people can be more open-minded and truth-seeking, basically :)

I got involved in effective altruism after I finished my degree at Oxford, and came across 80,000 Hours. I'd always wanted to make a difference in the world, but was feeling a bit disillusioned about how to do it and unsure how this really fitted with my skills and interests. I ended up spending a year working for 80k - mostly designing and running the careers advising process - whilst learning more about effective altruism and thinking about what to do with my life. I'm still figuring a lot of this out!

I blog at www.jesswhittlestone.com and have written a number of EA-related posts for the 80,000 Hours blog.

I'm a programmer at Google, and I've been earning to give since 2009. I write about EA sometimes; some favorite posts:

• Keeping Choices Donation-Neutral
• Haiti and DIsaster Relief
• Personal Consumption Changes as Charity

I also help organize EA meetups, so let me know if you're going to be in Boston!

I'm Kerry. I'm currently in the last year of a PhD program in philosophy, specializing in ethics and I work for the Centre for Effective Altruism on effective altruism outreach.

Previously I spent 3 years at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation where I ran the technology and innovation department. I've spent a lot of time thinking about how to influence foundations to give more effectively and how to improve the functioning of the nonprofit marketplace. I'm currently thinking about a number of hard problems in how to ensure that the EA movement is the last social movement the world ever needs.

I'm Bernadette. Originally from Australia, I'm a medical doctor, training in Infectious Diseases. I'm currently on a break from clinical work to if a research fellowship and DPhil in the genetics of bloodstream infections with Staphylococcus aureus (a worldwide disease). I'm also currently on a break from my research fellowship to care for my baby daughter. I now live in Oxford with my husband Toby.

My interest in doing more good by giving, and the role we could all play in ending global poverty was kindled after reading One World by Peter Singer in 2002. Since I graduated in 2005 I've been giving at least 10% of my income and in 2009 I made the GWWC pledge.

Hi all. I'm a sophomore mechanical engineering student, planning on earning to give in either energy (nuclear or petroleum) or aerospace, depending on how the job market looks when I finish my master's/PHD. I've always considered myself a utilitarian, so it was really a relief when I found EA and realized that I could actually do as much good as possible, rather than constantly coming up with justifications as to why it couldn't work since no one else was doing it.

Right now I'm focused on getting through college, though I have been donating a percentage of my summer income for signaling and habit forming reasons. I haven't had a chance to do the deep research necessary to figure out where I stand on animal and far future considerations (philosophy isn't exactly my strong suit), so I'm currently giving to 80,000 Hours as a compromise, since it acts as a donation multiplier toward pretty much every field.

I'm pretty new to EA (about a year now), and I'm still trying to figure out what I can do besides earning to give.

In my spare time I enjoy outdoor activities like climbing and backpacking for cheap and healthy recreation.

Hi, I'm Erica. I'm a New York nanny (so obviously not EtG :P), and I lean towards poverty reduction and animal activism. I got into EA through the LW/CFAR route, and am relatively active in those communities.

Other interests include: many various styles of dance, self-improvent, community organizing, board games, and trying new things. I recently joined the choir for the local Sunday Assembly, which is an organization that I highly recommend as a welcoming community of people who are into applying reasoning to things, AND doing good.

Hi all, I wasn't sure whether to use my real name here, but paranoia and probably having a bigger online presence with this one anyway won over. Anyway, I'm Sasha Cooper, currently self-studying programming after recently having completed a UK bootcamp, looking for an E2G coding role.

I'm an unrepentant scalar totalising hedonistic utilitarian, formerly an admin on Felicifia. Focus-wise, I lean towards movement building at the moment, then developing-world health. I'm an AI-risk and cause-prioritisation sceptic, though I take the possibility that either could be the best approach seriously.

Hi all! I'm David Perry, living in Durham NC. I just recently began the NC Effective Altruists meetup.

Also, this week I started an intensive code school for Ruby on Rails. I hope to eventually either work directly on software needed for EA-related causes, or Earn to Give more than I was in my previous job.

Howdy! I'm a senior in college studying neuroscience. Right now, I'm in the midst of management consulting interviews and might also go to law school or graduate school (likely in neuroscience or economics). I'm mainly interested in building career capital right now, but would guess that most of my life's impact will come from building high-impact communities and public influence.

I decided I wanted to "do the most good" when I was about 13, and happened to Google "greatest happiness rule" one day, which led me to utilitarianism, which led me to Felicifia.org. The rest is history!

I also agree with Michael Dickens that helping nonhuman animals seems like the area where most of us can have the most impact.

Hi everyone! I'm a student at Stanford studying math and computer science. I got into utilitarianism a few years ago, and started thinking about how to apply utilitarian philosophy to life. This led me to the effective altruist community.

I currently plan on doing earning to give, either by programming, working in finance, or starting a startup. I typically donate to ACE-recommended charities--helping non-human animals is a hugely neglected area and I think that's where we can have the biggest impact.

I'm Ryan. I'm currently a Grounds Maintenance worker in Albany, NY. I've recently been motivated to Earn to Give and am using 80,000 Hours' resources for ideas on a career switch.

I'm a former Philosophy student dropout and I was introduced to Effective Altruism through Peter Singer's Life You Can Save last year. Since then I've been donating what I can to effective charities and eating Veganaise.

Other interests: hiking, kayaking, sound design, podcasts, comedy, climate change and green wizardry.

Hi! I'm a postdoc in philosophy at London School of Economics, mainly specializing in epistemology, broadly construed. I'm particularly interested in how we can use social media, online rating systems, internet tests, and various other internet applications to further efficiency, rationality and altruism. Here's my blog, where I'm discussing these matters.

Hello, I'm Toby. I've been involved with effective altruism since 2005 when I started putting together the ideas behind Giving What We Can. I co-founded Giving What We Can in 2009 and the Centre for Effective Altruism in 2011. I'm currently the president of the former and a trustee of the latter. I am a Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University. I work on global poverty, global health, global priority setting, and existential risk. This involves academic research as well as policy work with governments, NGOs, and foundations.... (read more)

Hi, I'm Claire. I'm a master's student at Stanford, and I also work at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. I research climate engineering (manipulating the world's climate to reduce the effects of climate change and otherwise make Earth more habitable). I'd really like to go into government work and this year I'll be thinking and possibly blogging about what EA policy-making might look like.

I used to write a lot, and I'm interested in how fiction can be used to spur activism and reshape ethical frameworks, especially in young people. I'm also cur... (read more)

Hi, I'm Josh. I'm a sophomore in college and I'm tentatively planning on EtG through programming. I have been donating to CEA for movement-building purposes, but may switch to ACE and/or ACE-recommended charities in the near future. I became an EA after being heavily exposed to moral philosophy (esp. utilitarianism) through doing debate in high school.

When I'm not doing school work I enjoy playing video games, reading philosophy, working out, and programming.

Hi, I'm Owen. I work for the Centre for Effective Altruism, planning and doing research for the Global Priorities Project into how we should choose between diverse options.

I joined Giving What We Can in 2009 while I was doing a PhD in pure mathematics. Later as a postdoc I thought more seriously about whether that was the area where the world most needed more research, and concluded that it wasn't. I still teach at the university.

I'm Kaj. I'm currently doing my Computer Science MSc at the University of Helsinki. Currently I'm focusing on my thesis, which is on the topic of educational games and involves me trying to develop a game to teach Bayesian reasoning. I'm also helping get EA Finland on its feet.

I've previously dabbled in a bunch of things that were broadly EA in spirit. I was one of the co-founders of the Finnish Pirate Party at a time when it looked like it could improve the state of the country's legislation with relative little effort, and later on spent a year working f... (read more)

Hey,

I recently reading mathematics and philosophy at Oxford, and now work in Finance. I've been interested since before it had a name, and am mainly interested in Existential Risks. I mainly donate to MIRI. I use the same username on LW.

I'm Alex, a math student at UC Berkeley. My primary EA focus area is existential risk reduction, and I plan on either doing AI risk-reducing research or earning to give or both.

I'm Daniel. I'm a first-year student who is studying economics and planning on earning to give through a career in finance. While at college, I will hopefully set up an EA group.

I got into EA through Peter Singer and 80000hours. I've considered utilitarianism correct for a long time, but I've only found about EA recently.

I'm mainly concerned about existential risk; recently I've been thinking about Pascal's Mugging and the prospect of displacing humanity with an utilitronium-like AGI.

I'm Julia. I live in Boston with my husband, Jeff Kaufman, and our daughter. I'm a social worker doing mental health work for prisoners.

Since childhood, I've been interested in richer people's obligations to poorer people. I took the Giving What We Can pledge in 2012. I'm thrilled that the EA movement is a thing, both because I'm no longer the only person I know talking about this stuff, and because other people have helped me think more clearly about it. I write the blog Giving Gladly.

Hello everyone,

I'm Joey I have worked and volunteered for a ton of different EA organizations (80k, ACE, GWWC, THINK, Leverage) and now have founded one (Charity Science) that works on moving money to the most effective and evidence based charities (GiveWell recommendations).

http://www.charityscience.com/

Hello, I'm Andrew. I'm currently a third year PPE student at the University of Manchester in the UK. I was introduced to EA through Less Wrong, and became actively involved a bit less than a year ago when a friend in Manchester started up a local chapter. I have taken the GWWC pledge and am currently torn between going into academic philosophy (which I would probably enjoy a lot, but may not be terribly effective due to the number of EAs already involved in academia), learning to program and getting a job in software, or getting involved in a think tank in order to advocate for open borders.

In my spare time I enjoy playing the piano, reading, and running while listening to podcasts.

I'm Jon. Working on a degree in computer science, and trying to figure out what I can do besides earning to give. Basically just spending my time/energy figuring out how to study harder/better so I can get a better-paying job when the time comes.

I'm considering using National Novel Writing Month to try fundraising for SCI, but I'm not sure how well I'd be able to pull it off without having any friends.

Hi! I'm John. I am co-president of Harvard's effective altruism student group for undergrads. I currently study physics and math, and I do research in economic theory; I'm planning to transition to economics after I graduate in May, eventually going to grad. school and likely doing research long-term.

In the past, I've spent a lot of time thinking about meta-ethics and movement building. I have two years of experience running Harvard's group, and am super happy to talk to other students / movement-builders. Currently, I'm most excited about rethinking some ... (read more)

I'm a London based IT Consultant and Software Developer, having read Doing Good Better over the summer I realise that I've been roughly Earning to Give for a number of years. I'm here to soak up other people's ideas and float some of my own.

My one-man consultancy company Do Right Digital has been running for almost 3 years, we've always given 10% of turnover to charity. From May we're considering "giving Wednesdays to charity" - any money made on a Wednesday is ring fenced for charity. This would help to communicate the Earning to Give model as well as bridging the gap between the average working week and our (mainly) annual giving.

I'm Gina, I'm a volunteer & board member for an animal rights & environmental protection organization in Madison, WI (Alliance for Animals and the Environment). I think promoting vegetarian/veganism is one of the best ways to reduce suffering in the world, since animal lives can be saved much more cheaply than human lives (and I don't think that they're worth hundreds of times less).

I work as a software & applications engineer for a small company that does hyperspectral imaging.

I'm Kiran, I am doing a philosophy degree in Warwick University in the UK. I'm really interested in ethics, logic, and philosophy of science. I am concerned about existential risk and have very utilitarian intuitions, so this seems the right place to be!

I'm Max and I'm from Vancouver, Canada. I am interested in far future causes and animal causes. I think that in terms of improving near term well being, animal causes dominate in expectation, but I am still unsure whether they have strong enough long run effects or if more specifically far future causes would be better.

I'm finishing up a philosophy BA right now and I am still trying to decide what to do after. It seems like my comparative advantage is definitely in philosophy or something else that uses verbal reasoning, but I'm not sure if the options are... (read more)