Mentorship
Limited mentorship is available from CEA’s Groups Team. It includes both one-off guidance and ongoing advice, for either a specific project or running a group in general. To express interest in receiving mentorship, please contact groups@centreforeffectivealtruism.org.
Funding
The Centre for Effective Altruism funds effective altruism groups and community projects in 2 main ways, Community Building Grants and Group Funding. If you are unsure about which type of funding to apply for, please contact groups@centreforeffectivealtruism.org.
Community Building Grants
Through Community Building Grants we provide funding for individuals and groups to work part or full time on effective altruism community building. Grants are typically between $5,000 and $100,000 per year.
Find out more about Community Building Grants.
Group Funding
We provide Group Funding to either allow EA groups to run specific projects (such as retreats or fellowships) or provide general funding to cover the group’s running expenses. A group can receive up to £10,000 per year of total Group Funding, and there is no minimum application size.
The rest of this page will be focused on Group Funding, which splits into a few different categories:
Group General funding
We provide Group General Funding to cover groups’ running expenses e.g. food at events, room booking, and speaker travel expenses. We typically expect this to not exceed £1,000 per year for most groups, but groups can in theory each claim up to £10,000 per year. We recommend groups apply for this in advance once each year, and the funds may be carried forwards from one period to the next. (However multiple applications per year are permitted.)
Typically we would not pay for people’s living expenses/time, which are more firmly in the purview of Community Building Grants - a possible exception for this would be if the amounts involved are small. Applications should be strongly connected to a specific group.
Groups are required to submit a shortened plan when applying, and also a review at the end of the grant period, which includes submitting receipts for expenses incurred where possible. Groups are welcome (but not required) to get in touch with us in advance about their application, or if they have any questions about the process.
Group Project Funding
We provide Group Project Funding to allow groups to run specific projects above and beyond their normal activities. A few examples of possible projects include:
- Running a two night community building retreat for the 10-30 most engaged members of a group.
- Running an 8 week ‘fellowship’ of weekly discussion groups/dinners to engage new students at a university group with effective altruism.
- Group organisers visiting other EA groups to go to their events, talk to them about strategy, and strengthen their relationships.
Individual applications can be up to £10,000, although projects requesting over £5,000 might be better fit for Community Building Grants.
Typically we would not pay for people’s living expenses/time, which are more firmly in the purview of Community Building Grants - a possible exception for this would be if the amounts involved are small. Projects should be in some way connected to an EA group or groups.
Groups are required to fill out a project plan when applying, and also a review at the end of the grant period/project, which includes submitting receipts for expenses incurred where possible.
Groups are welcome to get in touch with us in advance about their project ideas. We generally encourage groups to apply for funding well in advance (several months if possible) of the start of the project itself to ensure they can respond to any feedback we might provide. In particular for retreats we recommend groups initially apply at least three months in advance, or ideally even earlier, as there might be up to a two month delay before funding is approved and dispersed.
Applications are reviewed on case by case basis with no strong restrictions on the kinds of activities or projects that can receive funding, so long as they are in some way connected to an EA group or groups and comply with CEA’s Mission and Aims (see below).
Reimbursements
We strongly encourage groups to apply for grant funding in advance of expenditure, however we can also consider reimbursements for past purchases on a case by case basis - this should been seen as a last resort, with applying for funding in advance being the correct choice in almost all cases.
If a you are planning on applying for a reimbursement we recomend you get in touch with us about your plans as soon as possible. Receipts must be provided for all reimbursement requests.
CEA’s Mission and Aims
As a charity CEA is only legally able to fund projects and activities which further its mission and aims. This is covered in more detail on the funding application form.
Applying for funding
You can apply for Group Funding here: Group Funding Application Form.
The application process will take 5-10 minutes for reimbursements. If, however, you are applying for a future expense, then you will also need to fill out a project proposal, which will require an additional 15-60 minutes. Templates for project proposals, general funding proposals, and project reviews can be found here: EA Group Funding Templates.
We will reply to all applications within one week of submission, and payments will be made to all approved grants within 5 working days of the 25th of each month. This means there may be up to a 2 month delay between applying for funding and the payment being made. In the case of groups based outside of the EU or USA, or transfers to group leaders we have not previously funded, additional verification may be required, which might further delay payments. You may, however, request more rapid consideration if your application is urgent.
If you are uncertain as to whether your group would be likely to receive funding, would like feedback on a potential application, or have questions about any other aspects of the application process, feel free to get in touch at groups@centreforeffectivealtruism.org.