Effective altruism (EA) is a philosophical and social movement that advocates “using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis.”

The world has a lot of problems but we can’t work on them all at once. As a result, we need to prioritise the action that we take in order to maximise our impact. Our goal is to find ways to help others as much as possible with our limited time, energy, and resources.

If you are new to effective altruism, learn more here.

I am a professional new to EA and want to learn more and get involved

• Speak to us to learn what actions you can take to be impactful

• Learn more here

• Join the Introductory EA Program

I am interested in giving or donating

• Check out our page on effective giving

• Donate to support our work, or the work of other effective charities

• Speak with us to learn how to give effectively and get connected to external philanthropy services

I am interested in pursuing an impactful career that helps solve a pressing world problem

• Check out our page on impactful careers

• Speak with us to resolve career uncertainties, gain feedback or advice on your plans, and get connected to experts who could help

I am a busy professional and do not have much time to engage with the community

• Sign up to our newsletter for key updates once a month

• Join any relevant interest or career groups to keep in touch virtually

• Join our Slack channel

• Have a one-off call with us to learn what actions you can take to be impactful

I am a professional and I’m very interested in engaging with the in-person (or virtual) community

• Attend our events

• Join any relevant interest or career groups

• Keep an eye out for London social events

• Join the In-Depth EA Program or reading groups

I am a student

• Get in touch with your local EA university group

I am a professional based in or moving to London and I’m looking to join a local EA group

• Speak with us to learn more about what the movement is like in London and how you can get involved

• Sign up to our newsletter

• Attend our events

• Check out EA resources in London

I am a professional based in or moving to a UK city outside of London and I’m looking to join a local EA group

• Get in touch with your local EA group in your city

• If there is no local group where you’re based, get in touch with us

• Sign up to our newsletter

• Join our Slack channel

I organise an EA city, interest, cause area, or career/workplace group or I’m planning to start one

• Speak with us if you’d like to receive support or advice about community building; or to get connected with other helpful resources and individuals; or if you’d like to use our website or Slack channel to promote your group

• Check out the EA Groups Resource Centre

EA UK is a network of people who are willing to help one another and collectively work towards a better world. We envision a world where we use evidence and reasoning to do more good with our resources. More concretely, we want to contribute to a world that has solved a range of pressing global problems. We welcome anyone interested in being impact-oriented and cares about doing good to join our community.

Our mission is to support individuals in the UK (but not exclusively) who are interested in using evidence and reason to do good by providing connections, resources and knowledge. EA UK’s team currently consist of two organisers, Lynn and David, and five trustees.

Our activities include:

• Having 1-1 discussions with individuals about EA and the community, career and donation choices/opportunities and cause prioritisation/selection

• Initiating and running events e.g. for specific career/cause/interest groups

• Developing monthly newsletters to connect community members to relevant job opportunities, research and events in the UK

• Headhunting and recommending opportunities - providing recommendations to EA organisations about prospective applicants; notifying people of suitable donation & career opportunities (e.g. jobs, training/upskilling)

• Supporting existing UK-based EA organisations, sub-groups and events with marketing, feedback, connections - sharing knowledge about community demographic, landscape, needs in the UK so this can inform their work/strategy

• Supporting other international (potential) EA group organisers e.g. city/national groups and cause/career/interest groups

• Research and dissemination of community building ideas and our strategy - needs assessment (chatting to individuals, reading relevant materials); writing up articles on the EA forum, discussing with others about our strategy and ideas

• Maintaining our online infrastructure (website, Slack channel, Facebook groups, LinkedIn group)

You can read more about our strategy here, including what we do and don’t focus on.

We currently do not:

• Organise events that are purely social in London. There are many individuals and EA projects/organisations who self-organises social events.

• Support students or provide support to UK student groups. This is already done by the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA), Open Philanthropy and London EA Hub (LEAH).

  • EA UK could act as an extra place for them to go for support, but generally we would be more focused on professionals in the UK

• Set up local city or student groups around the UK.

• Act as an umbrella organisation for other EA city, student, cause area, career/professional, and interest groups around the UK except for EA London, EA Finance and EA Global Development. Groups are independent in their own strategy and decision-making and secure their own funding separately from CEA, the EA Infrastructure Fund, Open Philanthropy or other funding sources. We do not act as a layer of management between other EA groups in the UK and CEA.

We think that anyone who has any interest in doing good using evidence and reasoning can benefit from the group. EA UK is made up of individuals who have broad career, educational, and personal backgrounds and we strive to maintain it as an inclusive and welcoming space for everyone. As long as you’re interested in engaging with EA ideas in any way we’re excited to have you in the community and can give you any resources and connections that you’re looking for from the group.

EA UK started off life as EA London. The London launch event in March 2012 was organised by Sam Hilton, with speakers from Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, Action for Happiness and Giving What We Can.

Soon after, we had our first meetup in London. These monthly meetups have been ongoing to introduce those who are new to EA. Our group evolved from casual meet-ups to more structured ones, including cause and career groups and 1-1 support.

In 2016 Sam took a year out to set up EA London as a registered charity and work as a full time community organiser inspiring many people to give more effectively and to choose higher impact careers. 

At the end of 2017, enough money was raised to fund Holly Morgan and David Nash working part time as Sam went back into the civil service.

In 2019 we were funded by a grant from the Centre for Effective Altruism for David to work on community building full time.

In 2022 Lynn Tan joined us and we rebranded to become Effective Altruism UK.

We welcome anyone interested in being impact-oriented and cares about doing good to join our community.

There are people in the UK outside of London who have an interest in EA and don’t have a local group. They may miss out on chances to connect with others, stay motivated and find out about job and donation opportunities. It could be useful to set up EA UK to support this wider group of people. You can read more about our reasoning here.

Whether you have specific questions about EA or EA UK or anything else in particular you’d like to talk about please reach out to us by filling out our contact form.