Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: My Experience as a Full-Time EA Community Builder in NYC, published by Alex R Kaplan on July 26, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
Some rewards and challenges of working as an EA NYC community builder over the past two years
Motivations
I wanted to share these thoughts for a few reasons:
1. I hope this serves as a reference point for people considering careers in EA community building (though this is only one reference point, of course).
2. EA NYC is hiring an Executive Director! If you're interested, apply here by the end of July 28th (Eastern Time).
3. I think there's often value in people discussing their jobs.[1]
By the way, I have a few relevant disclaimers/caveats that I encourage you to check out at the bottom of this post. For now, I'd just like to say that I'm writing this in a personal capacity and do not claim to represent the views of any of my employers, past, present, or future.
Otherwise, I may occasionally update this post to correct any misleading/inaccurate points. Please let me know if you catch anything that seems off!
Lastly, many thanks to those who encouraged me to share this post and especially to Elliot Teperman for sharing some helpful thoughts on an earlier draft. Of course, all mistakes are my own.
Summary
From July 2022 to July 2024 (ongoing at the time of writing), I will have supported Effective Altruism NYC (EA NYC). In this position, I worked closely with the Centre for Effective Altruism's (CEA) Community Building Grants (CBG) program, which provided funding and support for my position.
This work has been pretty great for me! Like anything, there have been some bumps in the road, but I think it has been broadly good. I imagine many cases where I would recommend EA community building and/or CBG program participation for specific individuals. However, I would also like to give some disclaimers about things I wish I had known beforehand.
Given my uncertainty at various points throughout the past two years, I've questioned whether taking the role was the right move… However, if I had known two years ago what I know now, I would have felt a lot more confident in my decision![2]
Here's an outline of my considerations:
Some good things
I built a lot of skills
I made a lot of connections
(Perhaps aided by the other benefits) I got access to more opportunities
(Definitely aided by the other benefits) I built up my confidence quite a bit
Some mixed things
I felt my compensation was fair, but that might be specific to me
Personal career planning was complicated, but that helped me design a new path for myself
Working at a small (EA) organization has had some pretty straightforward pros and cons
Diving deep into EA has been stressful at times, but I now feel better because of it
I also left a lot out! Feel free to reach out and/or add (anonymous) comments if you have any thoughts and/or questions (though I imagine I may only sometimes be able to answer/help with some things).
Context
CBG program participation
According to CEA's website, the Community Building Grants (CBG) program aims to build flourishing communities of individuals who work to maximize their impact using critical reasoning and evidence.
I've benefited from the following kinds of support from the program:
Personal grant funding (which constituted my salary)
Network with fellow CBG community builders
Including in-person retreats and online community
1-on-1 support from the program's manager
I did not leverage this support much, but I received significant support from the first two points mentioned.[3]
One point to clarify: the Community Building Grants program is one way to fund EA community-building work. One could also do EA community building through various other models.
EA NYC context
EA NYC started as a small meetup group in 2013. Since then, it has grown into a communit...