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Project for Awesome (P4A) is a charity video contest running from February 11th to February 19th this year (2025). Participants create short videos supporting a specific charity. Afterwards, the public can vote, and the charities with the most votes receive donations. This presents an excellent (and cost-effective, as explained below) opportunity to raise funds for EA charities and promote EA principles to a wider audience.

In recent years, winning charities have received between $14,000 and $38,000 each. In 2024, over $100,000 was distributed among three different EA charities. Videos don’t need to be professionally made but must be submitted by 11:59 AM EST on Saturday, February 8th.

How It Works

  1. Create and Submit Videos
    Participants make 1-4 minute videos supporting charities, upload them to YouTube, and submit them via the P4A website by 11:59 AM EST on Saturday, February 8th (earlier submissions are preferable).
  2. Voting Period
    Voting takes place between February 11th and February 19th. This year, you have one vote per charity per device.
  3. Livestream
    A P4A livestream will run from Friday, February 14th, to Sunday, February 16th. Some videos will be featured during this stream, likely increasing their chances of receiving votes.
  4. Donation Distribution
    Funds raised during P4A are split 50/50. Half goes to Save the Children and Partners in Health, while the other half is distributed among the charities with the most community votes.

Key Statistics

  • Last Year’s Success
    In 2024, the Against Malaria Foundation, GiveDirectly, and ProVeg International each received $37,297. In total, over $1.1 million was distributed to 30 charities.
  • Video Impact
    Around 320 videos were submitted last year, averaging $3,500 in donations per video. Of those, 30 videos (one in eleven) were featured in the livestream, and 19 of those ultimately won donations. According to P4A, there is no magic formula for being featured in the livestream. For example, last year, a video about the Against Malaria Foundation was promoted.
  • Voting Impact
    In 2024, a total of 72,702 votes were counted, meaning each vote was worth approximately $15 on average. The distribution of votes among videos is unknown. With the extended voting period this year (a full week instead of just a weekend), it’s likely that the total number of votes will increase.

For questions or additional information, please contact ea.projectforawesome@gmail.com.

How to Get Involved

Every video for an EA charity is incredibly valuable! Your efforts will raise awareness and, with some luck, your video could be featured during the livestream, securing a significant donation for your favorite charity.

Never made a video before? No problem! According to the P4A FAQ: “You don’t need a fancy camera or microphone to make a good video. Use whatever you have, even if it’s a webcam or a phone. If you’re uncomfortable showing your face, make a video showing only your hands or using only text. Here’s a video from Hank explaining how to best use the resources you have!”

Five Steps to Follow:

  1. Register your planned video in our spreadsheet. You’re welcome to make multiple videos for different charities (one charity per video).
  2. Read the P4A video guidelines carefully. Note: Videos must be new and created specifically for P4A 2025, and they should mention P4A.
  3. Upload your video to YouTube and submit it to P4A as early as possible. Submissions will be accepted between 12:00 PM EST on Saturday, January 25th, and 11:59 AM EST on Saturday, February 8th.
  4. Optional: Join the Facebook group EA Project for Awesome 2025!
  5. Vote for your video and other great EA videos, and encourage your friends to do the same!

Detailed instructions and hints can be found here.

Opportunities for Charities

EA charities can also participate directly by creating one or more videos. This is explicitly allowed: „Whether you’re a fan of a charity, volunteer with one, or are part of an organization, anyone can make a video and submit it to our website so that it may receive votes from our community.“ Charities can also encourage their supporters to create videos. 

Additionally, they can promote the videos (e.g., via newsletters), increasing their chances of securing a donation of over $30,000 with minimal effort. This is also encouraged by P4A: “We love it when charities get directly involved with the Project for Awesome, and we highly encourage you to make a video and share it with your community.”

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Lucas Lewit-Mendes3
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Excited to vote on this! I'll also share it with my local EA group. Is there any strategy involved in voting? (e.g. is it better if we don't split our vote?)

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EA_ProjectForAwesome4
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One vote per charity and device will be counted. So everyone can vote for all EA charities. :)

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SummaryBot1
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Executive summary: The Project for Awesome (P4A) 2025 is a video contest that offers a unique opportunity for participants to create impactful videos to support their favorite Effective Altruism (EA) charities, with significant donation potential based on public voting.

Key points:

  1. The P4A runs from February 11th to February 19th, 2025, where participants can submit videos supporting charities for public voting.
  2. Successful charities can receive significant donations, as evidenced by three EA charities receiving over $100,000 combined in 2024.
  3. Videos should be 1-4 minutes long, uploaded to YouTube, and submitted by 11:59 AM EST on February 8th, 2025.
  4. The public voting mechanism allows each device to cast one vote per charity, potentially increasing the total donation each video can secure.
  5. A livestream from February 14th to 16th will feature selected videos, enhancing their visibility and likelihood of receiving more votes.
  6. Charities and individuals are encouraged to participate by creating and promoting their own videos, optimizing their chances of securing a part of the donations.

 

This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.

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