Shortlist of ways for new, local, aspiring EAs to "get involved"

ColinBested

In search of the best shortlist of ways for new, local, aspiring effective altruists to get further involved in EA locally and globally.

I've spent many hours updating and polishing this page on the EA Toronto website, and I'd like to share it with other community builders and EA community members more widely. The page is made to help people at any level of engagement with EA understand how to get involved, take action to get involved, and help build the community.

I would love to get your constructive thoughts on this list (e.g., whether you think there are better alternative resources, how the list may differ for different communities, how important having such a list or another form of a roadmap is or isn't?

Thanks to EA London for the original form of the list, the 1-1 form, and the intro coffee form. Thanks to Hannah for feedback on the 1-1 form.

The List:

10 WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

Welcome! This page provides a map of options for getting involved with EA whether you are brand new to the community or have been a part of it for years.

Each item on this list has been handpicked and placed in sequence, like signposts along a path.

This list forms a far-reaching set of options where each item roughly corresponds to an increased level of engagement with our local and global effective altruism community.

If you notice yourself finding value with this list, then consider setting a reminder to return to this page every six months or so to see what awaits further down the path.

May your journey be fulfilling and impactful.

1. SIGN UP FOR A FOCUSED 1-1 MEETING OR INTRO COFFEE

Meet with an organizer of our community to discuss careers, donations, goals for the year, and the EA community locally and globally.

Our favourite career resource to recommend is 80000hours.org, and we often help community members to use tools such as this career decision-making tool.

2. GET NOTIFICATIONS FOR EATO’S EVENTS & COMMUNITY UPDATES BY JOINING OUR ONLINE LISTS

Find out about weekly events: concepts, topics, workshops, socials, transformative experiences, and more. We are a community that aims to be welcoming and helpful. Here is the buffet of options, EATO’s online event & community offerings:

3. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GLOBAL EA NEWSLETTER & OTHER LISTS

It is difficult to work out how we can best help contribute to solving global problems, and learning is often the best place to start, so get these helpful updates from the community.

Vox’s Future Perfect mailing list is a great way to get very high quality and mostly EA content regularly.

4. JOIN CAREER, CAUSE & STUDENT GROUPS

Join a group related to the areas most relevant to you and hear about useful events and discussions whether online, locally, or through creating your own with our help.

5. PARTICIPATE IN KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND SHARING WITH THE EA FORUM

Ask questions, share your knowledge, and see what others are talking about on the EA forum.

6. DONATE TO EFFECTIVE CHARITIES & ORGANIZATIONS WITH RCFORWARD – FOR CANADIANS

Dear Canadian Donors, we would love to help you give to charities and organizations that are likely to do the most good; RC Forward is the leading resource for making well-informed, high-impact, tax-deductible donations.

Further, consider challenging yourself and your community to take a pledge:

1. One for the World is a movement of people changing charitable giving to end extreme poverty, growing especially quickly among students and young professionals.

2. Giving What We Can is a community of effective givers. “We now have 4,522 members, who have pledged to donate 10% of their income over the course of their careers. So far, our members have donated more than $126,751,939 to charity.” – GWWC 2020 01 27

7. EXPLORE OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY’S PROJECTS & REACH OUT TO HELP

See the projects our community members are working on and connect with the ones that pique your interest.

8. COMMUNITY BUILDING: APPLY TO HELP US RUN EA TORONTO & TRY TO SET UP YOUR OWN GROUP

We’re eager to work with you to build a sustainable and vibrant community that connects EA concepts to your workplace, university, or city. Community matters, whether it’s just a few friends or a global network.

9. FILL OUT OUR IMPACT & FEEDBACK SURVEY – ESPECIALLY FOR RETURNING MEMBERS

The survey can take less than 5 minutes to fill out fully, and it plays a crucial role in basing EATO’s community building strategy on evidence.

For us to be effective in our altruism we need relevant and accurate information.

EATO’s efforts and resource allocations are built on feedback and data from community members, and we need this information to verify the degree to which we are responsible for causing effective and positive social impact or for wasting resources and causing harm.

If you have interacted with the EATO community over the last year, then please take the time to help us understand our impact and improve our strategy, especially if you’d like to report a concrete outcome or suggest a change for the community.

10. SEE MORE WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

This is a longer, and growing, list of ways to get involved, made for a global audience.

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