Patrick Gruban
Bio
Participation7
Co-Director EA Germany
Entrepreneur (currently textiles, previously software) for 25+ years and interested in EA since 2015, joining the local group and donating. I joined the EA Munich organiser team and took the GWWC pledge in 2020, developed the software for the new donation management system Effektiv Spenden is using in Germany and Switzerland in 2021 and am co-director EA Germany since November 2022.
I run the donation drive Knitters Against Malaria, which has raised over $100,000 for the Against Malaria Foundation since 2018.
How others can help me
Let me know if you have ideas for EA Germany
How I can help others
I can offer to mentor and be a sounding board if you are an EA-aligned non-profit entrepreneur
Posts 27
Comments67
Topic Contributions2
Seeing the other replies, it seems the specific experience of running a national EA organisation is not specifically represented, although, in our (EA Germany) case, Anne Schulze is part of the community. Bigger EA organisations like ours (>100 members, supporting 27 local/uni groups, providing fiscal sponsorship/employer of record services, having a community health contact, etc.) might bring an additional perspective.
However, I see that having a representative for each sub-group would make for a big forum and that it's okay to have people who represent multiple perspectives.
After transitioning from for-profit entrepreneurship to co-leading a non-profit in the effective altruism space, I struggle to identify clear metrics to optimize for. Funding is a potential metric, but it is unreliable due to fluctuations in donors' interests. The success of individual programs, such as user engagement with free products or services, may not accurately reflect their impact compared to other potential initiatives. Furthermore, creating something impressive doesn't necessarily mean it's useful.
Lacking a solid impact evaluation model, I find myself defaulting to measuring success by hours worked, despite recognizing the diminishing returns and increased burnout risk this approach entails.
Thank you for writing this up, I’m happy to see so much going on in Poland and was impressed when I visited EAGxWarsaw and talked to active members there.
Thank you for the inspiration! I reduced my salary from now to the end of the year and will be able to contribute a mid-four-figure amount more due to saved social security costs compared to donating it. Additionally, it helps save taxes as only 20% of salary is tax-deductible in Germany.
This post was pretty impactful!
Concerning 2 I think from an organization’s perspective it might be even helpful to have a salary agreed with you that makes it easier to replace you and so calculate a realistic runway for the organization.Then you can still voluntarily reduce the salary and claim it as donation. This is what I’m doing and it helps with my own budgeting and with that of my org. I was inspired by this post: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/GxRcKACcJuLBEJPmE/consider-earning-less