Summary

The Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) is accepting expressions of interest from community members who may want to organize an in-person EA Global x (EAGx) conference in the second half of 2021. We are particularly keen to support applications from the following areas: US West Coast, US East Coast, Europe, Asia, and Australia. 

The deadline for expressing your interest is 11:59 pm PST on Sunday, 7 February. 

CEA’s plans for 2021

In December, CEA published our plans for 2021, which focus on three broad areas: recruitment, retention, and risk reduction. 

Our recruitment efforts will focus on students and young professionals, particularly from highly-ranked universities and underrepresented groups. Our retention work aims to increase the value that community members get from EA discussion spaces through high-quality content and new connections. Our priorities for risk reduction include testing ways of communicating EA to students in our target audience and improving EA culture and epistemics.

To support these goals, the EAGx programme provides funding, platforms, and mentorship to community members who are excited about dedicating a significant amount of time to organize an EAGx conference in collaboration with others.

What is an EAGx conference?

The “x” in EAGx signifies a community-organized EA conference, rather than a formal EA Global conference produced by the CEA Events Team. They are typically two-day conferences held over a weekend, with a range of content representing all the main cause areas in effective altruism. In order to use the EAGx brand, organizers must sign a formal agreement with CEA following a short selection process.  

Where we expect to fund EAGx events in 2021

Expressions of interest will be considered from any location, but the following regions will be prioritised for funding due to the established and active EA communities in these areas:

• USA (West Coast)
• USA (East Coast)
• Europe
• Asia
• Australia 

If CEA receives multiple expressions of interest from organizers in a single region, we will seek opportunities for collaboration between the applicants before selecting one application over the other.

What skills are required to be an EAGx organizer?

It’s essential that the lead organizer for each event has demonstrable experience leading projects of a similar size and complexity. Previous project leads have included EA group leaders, a professional event producer, a business consultant, and a CEO of a tech startup. A strong understanding of EA principles and movement-building strategy is also desirable. 

Running a successful event requires a core team of 3 to 4 people (plus additional volunteers) with a strong understanding of your target audience and a range of complementary skills including communications, logistics, and content curation. Some of those team members should have relevant experience, but it’s also important to include 1 or 2 less-experienced people in the core team so they can develop the skills needed to run events or other complex projects themselves in the future.

What support will CEA provide to organizers?

Funding

CEA will provide a £14,500 grant for each event, which breaks down as follows:

• £10,000 restricted to event costs such as venue hire, catering, and AV.
• One £4,500 stipend for all of the core team members, in recognition of the time they will each need to contribute (100-150 hours) to ensure the event is a success. This can be split across the core team members as 3 x £1,500 or 4 x £1,125.

Organizers are responsible for ensuring their events do not run at a loss by sticking to their event budget, carrying out additional fundraising, and choosing a ticketing strategy that will generate sufficient revenue to cover their costs. 

Platforms

Each organizing team will have free access to the following platforms:

• A Slack workspace for EAGx organizers and the CEA events team
• Custom Gmail addresses for external communication
• A Google Drive folder for file storage
• An event listing on eaglobal.org 
• Access to one of CEA’s approved event apps (including Grip and Swapcard)
• Access to CEA’s CRM system (Zoho) for applications, ticketing, and surveys 

Full training will be provided to relevant team members as required.

Mentorship

• 8 hours of virtual training sessions (replacing the in-person organizer retreat)
• Monthly check-in call with Barry Grimes (Events Associate at CEA)
• 10-20 hours/month of event team time responding to questions in the EAGx Slack (this will vary depending on the proximity of the events)

How to apply

The application process begins with you answering a few basic questions in the expression of interest form. If you’re not sure whether you want to be an organizer, please fill out the form anyway, so we can discuss your situation in more detail and answer any questions you may have. The deadline for submissions is 11:59 pm PST on Sunday, 7 February. 

After receiving this information, we’ll contact you via email to discuss whether you should follow up with a full application. If so, you’ll be asked to complete a RASCI matrix which shows how responsibility for different tasks will be shared across your team members. Once we receive your RASCI matrix, we’ll schedule a 1-hour virtual interview with the core team members and relevant CEA staff.

We aim to inform applicants of our final decision and any conditions of acceptance by Friday, 26 February.

What are the benefits of being an organizer?

1. Develop your skills and career capital
2. Make new friends and strengthen your EA network (locally and globally)
3. Multiply your impact by increasing attendees’ engagement with the EA community
4. Learn from and collaborate with other EAGx organizers around the world
5. Receive mentorship and support from the CEA Events Team

Questions

If you have any questions about the application process or the EAGx programme in general, please post them in the comments below or contact hello@eaglobal.org.