Effective Altruism Forum
EA Forum

Hide table of contents
by [anonymous]
3 min read 2

6

Center on Long-Term Risk
Frontpage

This is the third post in the Working At EA Organizations series. The posts so far:


Effective Altruism Foundation (EAF; official name: Stiftung für Effektiven Altruismus) is known to many as GBS Switzerland and is currently rebranding. The following are my notes from an interview with Jonas Vollmer (the executive director of EAF) which he reviewed before publishing.

Current talent needs

EAF is somewhat money-constrained but also looking to hire in a few month’s time. There are three positions to be filled, one of which is for EAF’s sister-organization, Foundational Research Institute (FRI). If you are particularly talented or a great fit for EAF, you should apply even if you don’t fit any profile. The most urgent positions are:


  • A person for operations, finance and running the organization. The tasks depend on the skillset and interests of the person, e.g. a person with a particular interest in REG could do mostly operations for REG. Who they look for:

    • Strong interest in EA.

    • Demonstrated ability to run things, e.g. a chapter, organization or volunteer project.

    • Speaking German is a big advantage though you may be hired if you’re committed to learn the language.

    • Programming, IT and Excel skills would be highly advantageous.

  • A Director of Growth to scale REG. The position could be part-time or full-time. Would work very long hours during poker tournaments. Who they look for:

    • Good networker, good people skills / social skills.

    • Interest or experience in poker.

    • Experience in project management, marketing and/or similar fields.

    • You can demonstrate the necessary social skills in many ways, including in a personal conversation with EAF.

  • A researcher for the Foundational Research Institute. Would do research into topics such as AI trajectories, technological forecasting and all things far-future-related with the aim of reducing future suffering. Working hours are flexible, ideally full-time. Preferably would work from Switzerland, but could also work from home. Who they look for:

    • Very strong analytical/quantitative skills and a strong interest in the subject.

    • One way to demonstrate your fit is by publicizing your thoughts on some related topic, e.g. on a personal blog.

Approach Brian Tomasik or Lukas Gloor for more information. They should be able to determine your fit.


What’s the interview process like?

Historically, most employees have previously volunteered for EAF (or GBS), though this is a small sample. An application form can be found on the ‘Work with us’-page.

 

 

How to get involved on a lower-commitment basis

EAF is very open to having volunteers. This is also a great chance to demonstrate your skills and see if there’s a fit for a full-time engagement. Often paperwork and operational tasks are done by EAF’s leaders because it’s hard to find reliable volunteers who can work independently. If you can do this, that’s a big plus.

To become a volunteer, get in touch with a team member of EAF (if in doubt, ask Jonas Vollmer) to determine how you can best contribute.

It’s especially important that you don’t just stop after just a few months. The longer and the more hours the more useful the work usually becomes.

Don’t know how you want to contribute? Be persistent and get info on EAF’s work from team members. Ideas will come up. Potential volunteers are encouraged to not be shy about asking questions.

Potential volunteer tasks:

  • It can be useful if you’re motivated enough to do low-status tasks such as paper work and are reliable at doing this.

  • Video or image editing. If you’re committed to do this longer-term it may even be worth teaching yourself these skills.

  • Don’t forget to ask how else you could contribute! How you can best contribute is best determined in person.

How competitive are the positions?

The applicant pool for any position is usually not big and most applicants have historically been previously known to the team. EAF could find suitable volunteer tasks for ~50% of enthusiastic interested EAs (on the current margin).


Why work at Effective Altruism Foundation?

EAF is a team of young and highly skilled people with diverse backgrounds and a very strong altruistic motivation. You would be working on challenging and meaningful projects in an exceptionally honest and friendly atmosphere. There is large potential in establishing the EA movement in German-speaking areas and EAF is making considerable progress.


6

0
0

Reactions

0
0
Mentioned in

More posts like this

Comments2


Sorted by
New & upvoted
Click to highlight new comments since:
Jonas V3
0
0

We've recently published an up-to-date list of the positions available (in German): http://www.ea-stiftung.org/blog/blog/stellenangebote-herbst-2015

More on the REG position (in English): http://www.ea-stiftung.org/blog/blog/reg-director-of-growth

Reply
UriKatz0
0
0

Hi,

Could you by any chance use a few hours of software development each week from volunteers?

Reply
Curated and popular this week
Paul Present
 ·  · 28m read
 · 
Note: I am not a malaria expert. This is my best-faith attempt at answering a question that was bothering me, but this field is a large and complex field, and I’ve almost certainly misunderstood something somewhere along the way. Summary While the world made incredible progress in reducing malaria cases from 2000 to 2015, the past 10 years have seen malaria cases stop declining and start rising. I investigated potential reasons behind this increase through reading the existing literature and looking at publicly available data, and I identified three key factors explaining the rise: 1. Population Growth: Africa's population has increased by approximately 75% since 2000. This alone explains most of the increase in absolute case numbers, while cases per capita have remained relatively flat since 2015. 2. Stagnant Funding: After rapid growth starting in 2000, funding for malaria prevention plateaued around 2010. 3. Insecticide Resistance: Mosquitoes have become increasingly resistant to the insecticides used in bednets over the past 20 years. This has made older models of bednets less effective, although they still have some effect. Newer models of bednets developed in response to insecticide resistance are more effective but still not widely deployed.  I very crudely estimate that without any of these factors, there would be 55% fewer malaria cases in the world than what we see today. I think all three of these factors are roughly equally important in explaining the difference.  Alternative explanations like removal of PFAS, climate change, or invasive mosquito species don't appear to be major contributors.  Overall this investigation made me more convinced that bednets are an effective global health intervention.  Introduction In 2015, malaria rates were down, and EAs were celebrating. Giving What We Can posted this incredible gif showing the decrease in malaria cases across Africa since 2000: Giving What We Can said that > The reduction in malaria has be
Rory Fenton
 ·  · 6m read
 · 
Cross-posted from my blog. Contrary to my carefully crafted brand as a weak nerd, I go to a local CrossFit gym a few times a week. Every year, the gym raises funds for a scholarship for teens from lower-income families to attend their summer camp program. I don’t know how many Crossfit-interested low-income teens there are in my small town, but I’ll guess there are perhaps 2 of them who would benefit from the scholarship. After all, CrossFit is pretty niche, and the town is small. Helping youngsters get swole in the Pacific Northwest is not exactly as cost-effective as preventing malaria in Malawi. But I notice I feel drawn to supporting the scholarship anyway. Every time it pops in my head I think, “My money could fully solve this problem”. The camp only costs a few hundred dollars per kid and if there are just 2 kids who need support, I could give $500 and there would no longer be teenagers in my town who want to go to a CrossFit summer camp but can’t. Thanks to me, the hero, this problem would be entirely solved. 100%. That is not how most nonprofit work feels to me. You are only ever making small dents in important problems I want to work on big problems. Global poverty. Malaria. Everyone not suddenly dying. But if I’m honest, what I really want is to solve those problems. Me, personally, solve them. This is a continued source of frustration and sadness because I absolutely cannot solve those problems. Consider what else my $500 CrossFit scholarship might do: * I want to save lives, and USAID suddenly stops giving $7 billion a year to PEPFAR. So I give $500 to the Rapid Response Fund. My donation solves 0.000001% of the problem and I feel like I have failed. * I want to solve climate change, and getting to net zero will require stopping or removing emissions of 1,500 billion tons of carbon dioxide. I give $500 to a policy nonprofit that reduces emissions, in expectation, by 50 tons. My donation solves 0.000000003% of the problem and I feel like I have f
LewisBollard
 ·  · 8m read
 · 
> How the dismal science can help us end the dismal treatment of farm animals By Martin Gould ---------------------------------------- Note: This post was crossposted from the Open Philanthropy Farm Animal Welfare Research Newsletter by the Forum team, with the author's permission. The author may not see or respond to comments on this post. ---------------------------------------- This year we’ll be sharing a few notes from my colleagues on their areas of expertise. The first is from Martin. I’ll be back next month. - Lewis In 2024, Denmark announced plans to introduce the world’s first carbon tax on cow, sheep, and pig farming. Climate advocates celebrated, but animal advocates should be much more cautious. When Denmark’s Aarhus municipality tested a similar tax in 2022, beef purchases dropped by 40% while demand for chicken and pork increased. Beef is the most emissions-intensive meat, so carbon taxes hit it hardest — and Denmark’s policies don’t even cover chicken or fish. When the price of beef rises, consumers mostly shift to other meats like chicken. And replacing beef with chicken means more animals suffer in worse conditions — about 190 chickens are needed to match the meat from one cow, and chickens are raised in much worse conditions. It may be possible to design carbon taxes which avoid this outcome; a recent paper argues that a broad carbon tax would reduce all meat production (although it omits impacts on egg or dairy production). But with cows ten times more emissions-intensive than chicken per kilogram of meat, other governments may follow Denmark’s lead — focusing taxes on the highest emitters while ignoring the welfare implications. Beef is easily the most emissions-intensive meat, but also requires the fewest animals for a given amount. The graph shows climate emissions per tonne of meat on the right-hand side, and the number of animals needed to produce a kilogram of meat on the left. The fish “lives lost” number varies significantly by
Relevant opportunities
27
Apply to the Cambridge ERA:AI Fellowship 2025
Harrison 🔸
· · 3m read
0
0
19
Evals projects I'd like to see, and a call to apply to OP's evals RFP
cb
· · 4m read
2
2
7
EAGxNordics in Norway: apply now
Amalie Farestvedt 🔸
· · 3m read
0
0
View more