State of EA Poland in 2024, Plans for 2025, and Funding Opportunity

TL;DR

In 2024, we focused on creating impactful, lasting resources and programs while navigating significant funding challenges. We translated The Life You Can Save and the 80,000 Hours guide into Polish, launched career 1-1s to foster community growth, and laid the groundwork for funding diversification.

We believe the talent pool in Poland to be significant, and we are ready to tap into it.

Your support can help us put to use some of the best community-building tools we know of.

! The funding gap for 2025 has been filled, thank you!

Adapting to Challenges

We entered 2024 knowing that from February we would rely on individual donors’ support “only” (your help blew us away!).

As such, it seemed prudent to immediately modify our strategy in a way that would:

• increase our chances to diversify the income stream;
• generate outcomes with high impact potential that may outlive our paid team* if we fail to continue past 2024;

The criteria above and the Rethink Priorities (RP)’ EA survey from 2022 served as our primary guide in selecting high-impact interventions.

RP's survey gives insights into:

• How do people first hear about EA?
• How do people get involved with EA?
• What helps them have an impact?

*Due to funding constraints, we have had to gradually reduce our team size from 2 and 2/3 FTEs in Nov. 2023, through 2 and 1/3 FTE in Sept. 2024 to (hopefully) 1 - 1.5 FTE in March 2025. For the same reason, as of January 2025, one of the Co-Directors - Maria Gembarzewska-Truong will step down from her function.

Projects we ended up pursuing

Translating Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save

Why?

• According to RP's EA survey results from 2022, it is the 2nd most popular book that led people to learn about EA (getting the top performer - Doing Good Better - translated proved more difficult, but we keep an eye on it).
• OpenPhilantropy supported us with the project (thank you!).
• It is the kind of outcome that can outlive our paid team, as the book can just hang on the websites (efektywnyaltruizm.org, wiecejdobra.org, and thelifeyoucansave.org) to be downloaded for free. Thank you, Peter Singer, for enabling this and writing a preface for the Polish audience! 

Where do we stand?

• The book is translated and the publishing house we contracted is expected to release it by March 2025.
• We have ~2,500 USD to promote the book once it gets released.

Goal for 2025

• 2,000 - 5,000 downloads of the book with 10–30 readers taking follow-up actions such as attending events, pursuing intro fellowships or career 1-1s.

Translating 80,000 Hours guide

Why?

• 80,000 Hours is among the top performers in RP’s 2022 EA survey rankings. The survey blends different elements (80k’s website, 1-1s, podcast), but these results combined with the fact that the guide is relatively cheap to produce in Polish, contains high-quality EA content, and promotes 80,000 Hours overall seemed like good enough indicators to pursue the experiment.
• It is the kind of outcome that can outlive our team, as the book can just hang on the websites (efektywnyaltruizm.org and a new website we will develop for that purpose) to be downloaded for free.

Where do we stand?

• The book is translated and we are finalizing formalities to proceed to the final steps.

Goal for 2025

The following numbers are merely our best guess:

• 500 - 1000 downloads of the guide with 5–15 readers taking follow-up actions such as attending events, pursuing intro fellowships, or career 1-1s.

The goal assumes we would have 0 PLN to boost the marketing campaign. We might update the numbers in early 2025. By progressing with the brand development we expect to gain more precision in goal-setting.

Career 1-1s

Why?

• Another top performer in RP's survey was “personal contact with EA” and it inspired the experiment. Apart from the direct function of the sessions, we want to test if career 1-1s will serve as an effective community expansion tool. In the end, they offer the chance to facilitate relationship-building with people from EA.
• We think it's feasible to get the project to the point where it requires minimum coordination effort and therefore, may last even if we lack funds for the paid staff.
• We have know-how on board as Maria (EA Poland’s Co-Director), apart from being a psychologist and psychotherapist, has experience as a career advisor, recruiter, and talent developer. To implement the project, she conducted research among the EA groups and organizations that pursue career 1-1s and complimented it with her knowledge.

Where do we stand?

• Maria developed training for EAs who want to try themselves as career consultants. It constitutes a mix of coaching basics, information on the project-related processes, and other best practices.
• 10 community members have gone through the course in Q4. 5 have conducted their first 1-1s.
• 14 community members applied for career 1-1s so far.
• We haven’t promoted the project more broadly yet so as not to overload the system. We are still automating the processes and verifying the consultants’ availability and readiness.
• The applicants will be requested to submit three feedback forms: straight after the session, 3 months later, and 6 months after the session.
• If we see that the outcomes are positive and that we can process more applications, we will move on to promoting the “product” among the talented youth through social media and NGOs we cooperate with.
• We sustain and gradually expand our partnerships with NGOs that work with talented youth, e.g.:
  • We were present at an event organized by one of them which was attended by ~4500 people. Maria took part in a discussion panel there.
  • A lesson scenario on high-impact career planning developed by Maria was distributed to 3000+ high school teacher. We know that in Q1, at least 500 students took part in the lesson.

Goal for 2025

• Conducting 70-90x 1-1s.
• Inspiring a career-related significant action, e.g. pursuing an internship, degree, or a job in a primary EA cause area among 5-10% of the participants.

Funding diversification

What’s the plan?

We hypothesize that by focusing on initiatives that appeal to a broader audience, we will open up more non-EA funding opportunities because:

• Career guidance is universally relatable and addresses a well-recognized gap in Poland
• There are institutional grants we can try obtaining for that purpose.
  • We have just applied for 10k EUR here to pursue high-impact career 1-1s.
  • We will submit a similar application for 60k EUR in March 2025 here.
• We can form commercial partnerships. We will try one already in January by running a series of high-impact career online workshops for an NGO that facilitates remote education to high school students.

New brand

To boost these efforts, our marketing team is developing a separate brand with talented youth as a target audience. 

To help us decide whether to develop a new brand or not, Marcin Woźniak from OptimumPareto (a Polish org working on Improving Institutional Decision-Making) facilitated a workshop in which ~10 people from our community took part and where we created a map of argumentation using Swarmcheck. Thank you!

From then on, the process has been led by an expert in the field of marketing strategy development for the NGO sector, Karo. The team constitutes three more comms warrioresses: Diana (communication specialist), Natalia (marketing expert), and since recently, Angelika (social media campaigns expert). Go Legends!

• The team has recently finalized the analytical part.
• In December, they move on to the creative part which will result in the development of a new brand concept, including products like a landing page and a brandbook.
• Q1/Q2 2025, the strategy of the new brand will be implemented.
• Apart from assisting fundraising through a specialized brand, its goals will be to promote career 1-1s and 80,000 Hours guide.     

These efforts aim to reduce dependence on traditional EA funding streams while enhancing EA Poland's reach and impact. That's not to say we won't be applying for grants from EAIF, MCF (we have not been prioritized by these organizations in 2024), and perhaps OP.

It’s not all about money.

Daniel Wyrzykowski agreed to donate 5-10 hours/month of administrative assistance from his enterprise which is offering exactly that. 

Goal for 2025

• Securing 1 - 1.5 FTE (32.7k - 49k USD) for the whole of 2026 with 10-15% coming from non-EA sources by the end of December 2025.  Thank you!

Community

New strategy development and its main objectives put constraints on our ability to expand the community in 2024.

As such, no new city groups got seeded and only 10 people got Intro Fellowshiped (thank you, Paulina for carrying the torch! Gabriel, thank you for moderating the groups! Without you, this number would be 0).

We made sure, however, to be available (through 1-1s, at live and online meetups, by organizing integration event and a retreat) for active community members and those who proactively seek ways to engage with or contribute to the community. 

We were considering conducting a detailed national survey at the end of 2024 to get a better sense of community progress, but Rethink Priorities released theirs. We don’t want to suffocate people with questionnaires.

We know that in 2024:

• at least 3 people got a job at an EA organization;
• at least 3 people got EA grants;
• at least 4 people pursued a paid EA project;
• at least 3 people volunteered or pursued an internship for an EA organization other than ours;

None of the above duplicates, but some will be highlighted below.

Mostly autonomous projects in EA Poland

• Effective giving platform - Więcej Dobra

The platform we incubated is now run by Daniel Wyrzykowski and we are finalizing the transfer of the rights to the project. 

Daniel is a social entrepreneur behind Altruisto. Although eventually Poland was not prioritized by Ambitious Impact’s effective giving incubation program, he got to the final stage in their recruitment process (top 3% of candidates).

One of the platform's recent successes was a World Malaria Day fundraiser organized with influencers. The campaign delivered a 3.33x return on marketing spend and introduced effective giving to new, EA-adjacent audiences. Daniel will publish a detailed post about the campaign soon.

We expect the platform to raise over 30k USD by the end of 2024. 

May you rock, Sir!

• EA at the University of Warsaw

ECTSed Intro to EA course at the top Polish university was implemented and it will start in the next semester. 24/32 slots got booked already! 

Kudos for the idea, Gabriel! Good luck, Maciej!

• EA at Jagiellonian University

The second university group in Poland was formalized in November at one of the top universities. 

Great job, good luck, and what an epic logo, Weronika!

• EA at AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow

I run a “Social Interventions” course (basically, intro to EA) for Sociology students as a visiting lecturer for the second year in a row. Ok, not autonomous, but kind of matches the university theme. 

• AI Safety Poland

An AI Safety Polska was launched around November. 

Thank you Marcel for agreeing to coordinate the efforts! Great job with the website, Jakub!

Piotr Zaborszczyk received a grant for field building in Warsaw.

That is epic, may it grow!

• Groups in Warsaw and Cracow are doing fine (~9 and ~7 regular attendees respectively) and attract newcomers monthly.

You are doing great with Warsaw, Kacper! Cheers for help with Cracow, Adam, Diana!

• Slack

The number of monthly active Slack users increased from 80 in Nov 2023 to 91 in Nov 2024.

• Last, but not least, here come the 3/28 available testimonials from individual community members:

   

  • Zuza (Recent high school graduate; Data Science and AI student at Leiden University): "Effective Altruism provided me with immense support in choosing my career path and made me realize which values are most important to me. Through meetings and interactions with others connected to artificial intelligence, I entered the AI world full speed ahead. I know my future will certainly involve AI Safety—whether in the legal sphere (creating new regulations) or the technical sphere (developing software and identifying flaws that could end civilization).
    
    Once I find my footing at university, I plan to help other students with difficult or unclear topics. I might also join an association focused on student well-being or a group related to Effective Altruism. Effective Altruism is truly an amazing organization that brings together people with similar values. Without your support, I wouldn’t be where I am now. Thank you!"

  • Magdalena (M&E consultant; researcher): ""I’d been interested in EA for a while, but your message after I followed the EA Poland Facebook page encouraged me to get more involved. Shortly after, I attended a meeting with the EA group in Warsaw, which reignited my interest in the movement.

    I joined the international version of the Introductory Program, and after completing it, I signed the 10% pledge. I also attended EAGx Warsaw, where I met Karolina Sarek, who introduced me to several AIM activities. The following year, I took part in the AIM Research Training Program, focusing on topics such as access to medical oxygen for children (an area where AIM successfully launched a charity this year:).

    I used the skills I gained through the Program to volunteer on research projects for AIM and the Happier Lives Institute. Now, I’m considering contributing to OPIS's mission, which I see as a meaningful opportunity to create impact." 

  • Mateusz (AI Safety Strategy Researcher at Convergence Analysis): "EA acted as an amplifier/facilitator for me. I would probably have made the decisions I’ve made (or similar ones) even if there wasn’t a large EA Poland community, but because it exists, I have a support structure and make sensible choices weeks or months earlier than I otherwise would have."

Goals for 2025

• Increasing the number of active Slack users to 105–110.
• Supporting 2–3 new autonomous EA projects, incl. the recruitment of a new Intro Fellowship coordination team.
• Growing attendance at local group events by 30-50%.

Why bother with Poland?

Country stats

Poland ranks as the 5th most populous country in the European Union. According to recent estimates, it has a population of around 38 million. Its economy has been growing steadily for over 25 years and is now the sixth largest in the European Union. In global economic rankings, Poland has entered the top 20 and, based on current trends, is likely to remain there.

Talent pool

EA-wise, Poles stand behind the setting up of organizations like Anima International (Jakub Stencel), Charity Entrepreneurship (Karolina Sarek), and Lafiya Nigeria (Klau Chmielowska). 

Outside the EA, as Piotr Zaborszczyk noticed here: 10 out of 50 early OpenAI employees were Polish. Most of them come from just one elite university: the University of Warsaw (that’s where our first uni group and the ECTSed course got introduced, remember?)

Moreover, in thirty-four editions of the International Olympiad in Informatics, young Poles have won 123 medals, second only to China and ahead of Russia and the United States.

We take it as a positive sign talent-pool-wise.

Next steps

2025 should be a year when we get to make use of the tools we’ve been devising. As mentioned earlier these might be some of the most effective community-building means:

• promoting the freshly translated “The Life You Can Save” in Q1;
• promoting the freshly translated “80,000 Hours” in Q2;
• scaling up career 1-1s throughout 2025;
• supporting the local groups throughout 2025;
• supporting our proactive community members throughout 2025.

These would all work synergistically to direct the brightest Poles to work on the most pressing global issues.

We are uncertain of the expected scale, but it seems that this plan carries a significant community growth potential and that we would probably start seeing the results in the second half of 2025 (as more people get to finish TLYCS, 80,000 Hours, and the launch of our new website facilitates the outreach to the target group).

Given each person reached might turn out to be the one whose contribution to our common cause proves invaluable, we want to maintain the momentum to get the most out of these projects.

How can you help?

We think that the minimum needed to coordinate the projects* is ~$2,690/month**. 

This amount covers:

• 1 FTE (~$1,468 net + taxes).
• Necessary operational costs, such as accounting, legal, and tax advisory.

As of today, we are missing:

$2,770

That’s just 3 people donating $77/month.

If you’d like to see this scenario unfold, support us here:

*The promotion of The Life You Can Save is secured.

**That minimum is possible only thanks to the relentless volunteers of EA Poland. 

Bonus: thanking spree

I thanked a bunch, but there is more to be said.

Maria, what an honor to be working with you! I couldn’t wish for a better trenches partner. Cloning > AGI

Diana, speaking of AGI… are you sure you’re not one (#clever Turing test)? How can anyone juggle so many tasks that gracefully? More seriously, I am proud to have you on my side!

You ladies ignited EA Poland and I hope that watching all that fire in one community member after another will fill you with hope and satisfaction for many years to come.

Now, on behalf of FEA’s staff to the ones I have not thanked in the post:

• Karo, your guidance in the new brand development blows us away, thank you!
• Natalka, thank you for your work on the new brand and for using your wonderful writing style to make our newsletter unique and fun to read.
• Angelika, thank you for joining our comms team, and what a timing!
• Dorota, we don’t even want to imagine the coordination of the 80,000 Hours project without your support - thank you so much!
• Kasia, thank you for your time and generosity! We are really lucky to have you on board!
• Marta, thank you for your help with the editing and your participation in the content-related discussions!
• Aga, the way you refreshed our website, yummy! Thank you!
• Daniel, oh man… it takes quite a captain to navigate through that nonsense bureaucratic nightmare maze from hell - thank you for doing that!
• Patryk, Jakub, thank you for your readiness to share expertise during the grants acquisition! 2025 belongs to us.
• Tomek, thank you for your proactiveness across the board! It’s so great you joined us!
• Dawid, thank you for always being there to strategize with us!
• Kasia, Jakub, Marta - long live the Supervisory Board!
• Bartek, Darek, Illia, Zuza, - we are so happy our paths crossed and we get to strive for the same goals!
• Filip, Mikołaj, Michał, Mateusz, Jakub - thank you for actively participating in the community while AI Safetying!
• Patryk, Natalka, Diana, Michał, Maciej, Tomek, Darek, Dawid, Kacper, Jakub - thank you for your readiness to assist others with their career planning!
• Marek, Rafał, Ewelina, Karol, Michał, Wojtek, Wiktor, Tomek, Paweł, Jakub, Łukasz, Filip, Marcel, Piotr, Jana, Paulina, Weronika, Marcin, Adam, Constance, Danny, Michael, Jason, Francesco … - thank you for your trust! We simply wouldn’t be here without you!
• and to all of you who strive for a better world…

You are that fire! Keep it lit up!

There is much that needs to be done.