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Centre for Effective Altruism

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Quick Assessment

Section titled “Quick Assessment”
DimensionAssessmentEvidence
Focus AreaEA movement building & coordinationRuns conferences, supports local groups, maintains EA Forum1
Primary FunderOpen Philanthropy$26M in 2022, $11M in 20232
Founded2012Created as umbrella for Giving What We Can and 80,000 Hours3
Current CEOZach Robinson (Feb 2024)Former Chief of Staff at Open Philanthropy4
Staff & Budget≈40 staff, ≈$30M budgetAs of March 20245

Overview

Section titled “Overview”

The Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) is an Oxford-based organization that serves as a central coordinating body for the effective altruism movement. Founded in 2012 by philosophers William MacAskill and Toby Ord, CEA emerged from the need to create an umbrella organization for two earlier projects: Giving What We Can (founded 2009) and 80,000 Hours (founded 2011).3 The naming process for this new organization was historically significant—it marked the first time the term “effective altruism” was used in its current sense, replacing earlier terms like “optimal philanthropy” and “rational altruism.”6

CEA’s primary activities center on building and supporting the effective altruism community. The organization runs EA Global conferences that bring together people interested in effective altruism ideas, supports over 200 local EA groups across 50 countries,7 and builds and moderates the EA Forum—an online discussion platform for the community.1 CEA also operates effectivealtruism.org and publishes the Effective Altruism Newsletter.8 Through its Community Building Grants Program launched in 2018, CEA provides funding to individuals and groups doing local EA community building.9

The organization has received substantial funding from Open Philanthropy, including $26 million for general support in 2022 and $11 million in June 2023.2 CEA currently operates as a project within Effective Ventures, though it announced plans in January 2024 to spin out as an independent organization, with a target date of July 1, 2025.10 As part of this spinout, CEA and EA Funds have decided to merge into a single organization that will retain the CEA name.10

History

Section titled “History”

Founding Era (2009-2012)

Section titled “Founding Era (2009-2012)”

The roots of CEA trace back to two earlier organizations. Toby Ord founded Giving What We Can in 2009, a community of people pledging to donate a significant portion of their income to effective charities. William MacAskill and others then founded 80,000 Hours in 2011, focused on providing career advice for those wanting to make a positive impact.3

In late 2011, members of these two organizations met to discuss creating a new umbrella entity and what it should be named.11 This discussion resulted in the adoption of “effective altruism” as the movement’s defining term—the first use of the phrase in its current sense.6 CEA was formally founded in 2012 with both MacAskill and Ord, philosophers at the University of Oxford, as co-founders.12

Consolidation and Growth (2015-2017)

Section titled “Consolidation and Growth (2015-2017)”

In 2015 and 2016, CEA incorporated several projects including Effective Altruism Global and Giving What We Can, transitioning from a loose umbrella structure to a more centralized organization.13 The organization began running its flagship EA Global conferences during this period, though CEA has acknowledged that the 2015 and 2016 conferences made mistakes by not providing strong animal advocacy content, which made community members focused on animal welfare feel undervalued.14

In 2017, Open Philanthropy provided $2.5 million in general support, reflecting growing funder confidence in CEA’s work.15 That same year, Sam Bankman-Fried joined CEA as director of development in late 2017, though he worked there only from October to November before leaving to found Alameda Research.16

Expansion and Restructuring (2018-2022)

Section titled “Expansion and Restructuring (2018-2022)”

The Community Building Grants Program launched in 2018, enabling CEA to fund local community builders around the world.9 Also in 2018, CEA launched a new version of the EA Forum based on the LessWrong codebase.17 In fall 2021, the EA Forum team moved to sharing a repository directly with the LessWrong team, deepening the technical collaboration.18

A significant organizational restructuring occurred in 2022 when the division of CEA providing operations support and fiscal sponsorship changed its name to “Effective Ventures.” After this change, CEA operates as one project within Effective Ventures, alongside Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours, EA Funds, the Forethought Foundation, the Centre for the Governance of AI, Longview Philanthropy, and other initiatives.19

Post-FTX and Independence (2022-Present)

Section titled “Post-FTX and Independence (2022-Present)”

The collapse of FTX in November 2022 and Sam Bankman-Fried’s subsequent arrest created significant challenges for the EA movement and organizations like CEA that had historical connections to him.20

In December 2023, CEA announced that Zach Robinson would become its next CEO, starting in February 2024.4 Robinson was selected through a search process that considered hundreds of internal and external candidates. He previously served as Chief of Staff at Open Philanthropy and also serves as CEO of Effective Ventures Foundation USA.4

In January 2024, CEA announced plans to spin out of Effective Ventures and become an independent organization over a 12-24 month timeline.10 As part of this process, CEA and EA Funds decided to merge rather than spin out separately, with the combined organization targeting independence by July 1, 2025.10 Open Philanthropy provided $990,000 in May 2024 to support these spinout costs.21

CEA continues its core activities, including EA Global conferences—with EA Global: Boston 2024 held November 1-3 at the Hynes Convention Center22 and plans for EA Global: Bay Area (February 21-23, 2025) and EA Global: London (June 6-8, 2025).23

Programs and Activities

Section titled “Programs and Activities”

CEA operates several interconnected programs focused on community building and knowledge sharing.

EA Global Conferences are CEA’s flagship activity, bringing together people interested in effective altruism to share ideas, network, and collaborate.1 These multi-day events take place in major cities including Boston, London, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The 2025 schedule includes EA Global: Bay Area in February at the Oakland Marriott and EA Global: London in June at the Intercontinental London.23

Community Building Grants, started in 2018, provide full- and part-time grants to individuals and groups doing local effective altruism community building.9 The program has supported groups at universities and in cities around the world, helping grow the network to over 200 groups across 50 countries.7

The EA Forum serves as an online discussion platform for the effective altruism community.1 Built as a fork of the LessWrong codebase in 2018, most code development is done by the LessWrong team and then ported to the EA Forum.17

Virtual Programs, launched in Q1 2021 by CEA contractor Emma Abele, attracted over 600 participants and 100 facilitators in their first iteration.24 The EA Introduction Fellowship is an 8-week program with weekly readings and discussion groups of 4-8 people, moderated by experienced community members.25

Funding

Section titled “Funding”

CEA receives substantial support from Open Philanthropy, which has provided tens of millions of dollars in grants over the years. As of March 2024, the organization has a budget of approximately $30 million.5

YearAmountPurpose
2017$2,500,000General support15
2021$7,500,000General support26
2022$26,000,000General support2
June 2023$11,000,000Support CEA2
November 2023$3,406,887General support27
May 2024$990,000Spinout costs21

Open Philanthropy has also provided targeted grants including $7,783,000 over two years for EA Funds regranting support, $5,318,000 over three years for a biosecurity coworking space in Boston, and $500,000 for EA Infrastructure Fund support.28

Organizational Structure

Section titled “Organizational Structure”

CEA operates through the Effective Ventures legal structure, which consists of two separate entities: Effective Ventures Foundation (UK), a registered charity in England and Wales (charity number 1149828) and a Netherlands registered tax-deductible entity (ANBI 825776867); and Effective Ventures Foundation USA, a section 501(c)(3) organization (EIN: 47-1988398).2930

As of March 2024, CEA has approximately 40 staff members.5 Following the planned merger with EA Funds and spinout from Effective Ventures, the organization expects to operate independently by July 2025.10

Leadership
ZR
Zach Robinson
CEO (Feb 2024–present)
WM
William MacAskill
Co-founder
TO
Toby Ord
Co-founder

Criticisms and Controversies

Section titled “Criticisms and Controversies”

The FTX Connection

Section titled “The FTX Connection”

CEA’s most significant controversy stems from its connections to Sam Bankman-Fried. He met co-founder William MacAskill in 2013,31 joined CEA as director of development in late 2017 (serving from October to November), and then left to co-found Alameda Research with CEA staff member Tara Hedley (née Mac Aulay).16 Bankman-Fried served on CEA’s board until 2019.32

William MacAskill was personally cautioned about Bankman-Fried by at least three different people in 2018 and 2019.33 Issues reported to EA leaders about Alameda beginning in 2018 included “pervasive dishonesty, sloppy accounting, and rejection of corporate controls”—problems that presaged the FTX scandal four years later.34 CEA conducted an internal investigation relating to CEA and Alameda sometime in 2019, and Bankman-Fried left the board that same year.32

Following FTX’s collapse and Bankman-Fried’s arrest in November 2022,20 questions arose about whether CEA and the broader EA movement exercised adequate oversight and judgment regarding someone who became one of the movement’s most prominent figures and funders.

Philosophical Critiques

Section titled “Philosophical Critiques”

As a central institution of effective altruism, CEA faces criticism of the movement’s approach more broadly. Critics argue that EA’s data-centric approach marginalizes principles that don’t lend themselves to quantification—justice, fairness, and equality.35 Some have argued that EA excludes perspectives from feminist theory, critical disability studies, critical race theory, and anti-colonial theory.35 Environmental ethicists have noted tensions with EA’s focus on entities that can suffer, which conflicts with frameworks that value ecosystems and non-sentient nature.36

Organizational Focus Concerns

Section titled “Organizational Focus Concerns”

Some in the EA community have raised concerns about whether CEA remains aligned with core effective altruism principles. An EA Forum post titled “Centre for Effective Altruism Is No Longer ‘Effective Altruism’-Related” represents these internal community concerns about organizational direction.37

Key Uncertainties

Section titled “Key Uncertainties”
Key Questions (4)
  • How will the CEA-EA Funds merger and spinout from Effective Ventures affect organizational strategy and priorities?
  • What governance changes will accompany the transition to an independent organization?
  • How effective are Community Building Grants at producing lasting engagement versus temporary interest?
  • What is the organization's funding diversity beyond Open Philanthropy?

Sources

Section titled “Sources”

Footnotes

Section titled “Footnotes”

  1. Centre For Effective Altruism | Official Website - Description of main activities ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (2022) | Open Philanthropy - 2022 and 2023 grant amounts ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. Centre for Effective Altruism - Wikipedia - Founding history and umbrella structure ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Zach Robinson will be CEA’s next CEO | EA Forum - CEO announcement and background ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. CEA is making a recruiting hire | EA Forum - Staff size and budget ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. Centre for Effective Altruism - Wikipedia - First use of “effective altruism” term ↩ ↩2

  7. EA groups survey 2020 | Rethink Priorities - Local group count and geographic distribution ↩ ↩2

  8. Centre For Effective Altruism | Official Website - Newsletter and website operations ↩

  9. Community Building Grants Program | Centre For Effective Altruism - Program founding and purpose ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  10. CEA is spinning out of Effective Ventures | EA Forum - Spinout announcement and merger with EA Funds ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  11. Centre for Effective Altruism - Wikipedia - Late 2011 meeting to discuss naming ↩

  12. Centre for Effective Altruism - Wikipedia - Founders and Oxford affiliation ↩

  13. Centre for Effective Altruism - Wikipedia - 2015-2016 incorporation of projects ↩

  14. Mistakes we’ve made | Centre For Effective Altruism - Acknowledged animal advocacy representation failure ↩

  15. Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (2022) | Open Philanthropy - 2017 grant ↩ ↩2

  16. Exclusive: Effective Altruist Leaders Were Warned About Sam Bankman-Fried Years Before FTX Collapsed | TIME - SBF’s role at CEA and founding of Alameda ↩ ↩2

  17. GitHub - centre-for-effective-altruism/EAForum - 2018 forum launch and LessWrong codebase ↩ ↩2

  18. GitHub - centre-for-effective-altruism/EAForum - 2021 repository sharing ↩

  19. Centre for Effective Altruism - Wikipedia - 2022 Effective Ventures restructuring ↩

  20. Exclusive: Effective Altruist Leaders Were Warned About Sam Bankman-Fried Years Before FTX Collapsed | TIME - FTX collapse and arrest ↩ ↩2

  21. Centre for Effective Altruism — Spinout Costs (EVF USA, May 2024) | Open Philanthropy - Spinout funding ↩ ↩2

  22. Update on EA Global costs and 2024 CEA Events Team activities | EA Forum - EA Global Boston 2024 ↩

  23. Update on EA Global costs and 2024 CEA Events Team activities | EA Forum - 2025 conference plans ↩ ↩2

  24. Virtual Programs | Effective Altruism - EA Virtual Programs launch ↩

  25. Virtual Programs | Effective Altruism - Introduction fellowship structure ↩

  26. Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (2022) | Open Philanthropy - 2021 grant ↩

  27. Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (2022) | Open Philanthropy - November 2023 grant ↩

  28. Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (2022) | Open Philanthropy - Targeted grants ↩

  29. What is CEA? | Centre For Effective Altruism - Legal structure and charity registration ↩

  30. Charity - Effective Ventures - Effective Ventures legal entities ↩

  31. Exclusive: Effective Altruist Leaders Were Warned About Sam Bankman-Fried Years Before FTX Collapsed | TIME - MacAskill meeting SBF in 2013 ↩

  32. Exclusive: Effective Altruist Leaders Were Warned About Sam Bankman-Fried Years Before FTX Collapsed | TIME - CEA internal investigation and SBF leaving board ↩ ↩2

  33. Exclusive: Effective Altruist Leaders Were Warned About Sam Bankman-Fried Years Before FTX Collapsed | TIME - Warnings to MacAskill ↩

  34. Exclusive: Effective Altruist Leaders Were Warned About Sam Bankman-Fried Years Before FTX Collapsed | TIME - Issues at Alameda reported to EA leaders ↩

  35. The Trouble with Algorithmic Ethics and Effective Altruism | Sierra Club - Philosophical critiques ↩ ↩2

  36. The Trouble with Algorithmic Ethics and Effective Altruism | Sierra Club - Environmental ethics concerns ↩

  37. Centre for Effective Altruism Is No Longer “Effective Altruism”-Related | EA Forum - Community concerns about organizational focus ↩