We need more impactful project ideas for either local EA groups or a few friends!
Have you heard new EA's ask "This is awesome! What can we/I do?"
And does it feel a bit flat to only say "learn more, plan your career, or do community building?"
It was for sure unsatisfying to me. There's not enough ground-level, approachable actions. I thought we should make some kind of easy-access projects list..
And turns out someone already made it! --> EA and AIS projects
Shoutout to @david_reinstein for starting this & @Joe Rogero for taking it over <3
Doing projects together can really create group cohesion, because of that "fk yeah! we did something and it mattered!" feeling. I could also easily see this lead to a higher rate of members becoming highly engaged EA's [HEA's] (which is one of CEA's metrics for whether a group has success).
I think this is something that is underutilized in our local groups. It can give members a feeling that they are having impact right from the beginning. And I think it is good to balance out the very intellectual reading-group-type stuff with something actionable that actually does good already now.
Some guideline criteria (that I only offer. use if you see fit or use your own)
- Should be short or low investment - with a relatively high upside/impact
- Can be done by a few people (1-5)
- Even better if it's something that can be reproduced
- Fx an Effective Charity run - create all the materials needed & you can share them with other groups to make it accessible for them to execute too [this happens to be an idea I have, and if you want to help me make it please reach out]
What I see you can do:
- Populate the Airtable with ideas
- (spend some time thinking about them though, and get feedback. The more the ideas are high quality the better)
- Sign up as a volunteer
- Share with your EA network that this list exists
- Consider taking on one of the projects with a few (EA) friends
I recommend staying with the Airtable to have things in one place, but here's a few lists for inspiration:
- https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/4mWxEixs5RZ8DfCKe/annotated-list-of-project-ideas-and-volunteering-resources
- https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/topics/student-projects
- https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/9AEEqDR8zcQv2XmsB/what-posts-do-you-want-someone-to-write
& if you didn't know, EA has an opportunity board
This could be very useful to you! For smaller requirements, internships, experience, etc.
Other opportunities, for the sake of completion: