EACHI February 2024 Newsletter
News and happenings within the Effective Altruism Chicago community
Hi there,
Welcome to the monthly EA Chicago newsletter 👋
Be sure to stay in touch during the month via our Eventbrite page and Slack workspace.
EACHI February Event Schedule
February Social Event: Happy Hour and Games at Emporium Wicker Park on Friday, February 16th from 5-7pm (event details will be available soon)
February Learning Event: Presentation and Q&A from Assistant Professor of Marketing at Kellogg School of Management, Ike Silver. Ike will talk about his research on how sharing about charity online or in person can raise awareness and bolster funding efforts for good causes (event details will be available soon; the tentative date is February 26th from 6-8pm)
Additionally, two of our community members, Jacob Kelter and Max Chiswick, will be hosting a Shabbat dinner in partnership with EA for Jews on Feb. 23rd. All are welcome to attend whether Jewish or not! There will be a brief explanation of what Shabbat is for those who don't know and some basic intro to EA for guests who are new to EA. If you are interested, please sign up here on One Table (you have to create an account, but it is free).
News & Updates
Community
Not the End of the World – How to be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet
· A new book by GWWC pledger Hannah Ritchie from Our World in Data was released this month and talks about seven of our biggest environmental problems and how to solve them. Hannah also includes an endorsement of taking our Pledge! GWWC’s Executive Director Luke has finished reading already and highly recommends this book!
Effective Hedonism
· Charlie Bresler shared a fresh take on effective giving in an essay for TIME magazine, calling it aspirational to be an ‘effective hedonist’. The Life You Can Save’s co-founder points out that "living a pleasurable life and making the world a better place doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive."
Preventing lead poisoning for $1.66 per child
· 80,000 Hours interviewed Dr Lucia Coulter, Co-Executive Director of the Lead Exposure Elimination Project, discussing how they are able to prevent lead poisoning for $1.66 per child. You can hear more about how preventing lead poisoning can avert millions of deaths and trillions of dollars in lost income by listening to the podcast!
EA wins from 2023
· The EA Forum shared some wins from 2023 such as a new animal welfare law being upheld by the US Supreme Court, thanks in part to campaigning by organisations such as The Humane League, AI safety going mainstream after years of work in this area, positive results from GiveDirectly’s study on universal basic income, and a potentially dangerous virus-hunting programme being shut down.
Giving What I Can
· Nadine Spychala shared this post with her reflections on our relationships with money and our values, after making her first yearly donation after taking a pledge in March 2023.
Cause Areas
Animal Welfare
· Faunalytics released their 2023 Year In Review, which showcases the research, projects, and other accomplishments the organization achieved this past year. The organization has also announced its plans and priorities for 2024. Faunalytics is accepting applications for a new Projects Manager role. Applications are due January 31st.
Global Health and Wellbeing
· The World Health Organization recommended its second-ever malaria vaccine in 2023. The drug trial was co-funded by Open Philanthropy. Thanks to advocacy, the vaccine was quickly prequalified the vaccine, laying the groundwork for an expedited deployment, potentially saving hundreds of thousands of children’s lives. SoGive published a post on the EA Forum looking into how these vaccines compare to bednets and exploring remaining doubts about malaria vaccines.
· Against Malaria Foundation Korea was successfully designated a tax-deductible charity by the ROK government on 31 December, becoming the first of the effective charities recommended by the likes of GiveWell, GWWC and The Life You Can Save to be eligible for tax efficient donations in South Korea.
· TaRL Africa hosted a webinar for over 120 participants in December 2023, featuring key partners to discuss the Language Learning from Familiar to Formal (L2F2) methodology — an innovation helping to build children's local language and English skills. TaRL Africa is currently preparing to support the Ministries of Education in Angola and Somaliland to launch TaRL pilots in 65 schools in each country. They are also hiring, with new roles focused on innovations, scale & sustainability, and research.
Global Catastrophic Risk Reduction
· The Long-Term Future Fund has given out 196 grants totaling $6.6M in 2023. They are also in the process of hiring a new full-time fund chair.
Evaluators, Grantmakers and Incubators
· Charity Entrepreneurship is accepting applications for the 2nd edition of the Research Training Program which is designed to equip participants with the tools and skills needed to identify, compare, and recommend the most effective interventions and organizations. It is a full-time, fully cost-covered program that will run remotely between April 15 and July 5, 2024. The deadline for applications is January 28, 2024. The team is also hiring a Director of Outreach.
· The EA Infrastructure Fund made 121 grants totalling $3.5M in 2023. They have a new tentative plan to focus on Principles-First EA going forwards. The Fund is also fundraising! Donations before Feb 1st will be matched 2:1 by Open Philanthropy.
· GiveWell published GiveWell from A to Z, highlighting some key information about the organisation to celebrate the end of 2023.
· Founders Pledge Climate released its methodology update (also presented at EAGx) and end-of-year updates (short blog, FP Climate Fund Impact Report). Johannes also joined BBC's What in the World podcast to talk about the question of whether climate concern should affect whether one has children (spoiler: no).
(Please contact EACHI’s organizer, Samantha Kassirer, if you have something you’d like featured here next month!)
We look forward to seeing you in person or online!