Effective Altruism Foundation (EAF) strives for full transparency. This page serves as a comprehensive overview of EAF’s activities and finances.

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Organization and goals

EAF is a charitable foundation located in Basel, Switzerland, and Berlin, Germany. Its board members are Lukas Gloor (President), Jonas Vollmer (Vice President), David Althaus, Ruairí Donnelly, Tobias Baumann, Max Daniel and Caspar Oesterheld. EAF’s purpose, according to its foundation charter, is as follows:

English (translated version):

Article 2: Purpose
The Foundation’s purpose is to improve the quality of the lives of as many sentient beings as extensively as possible, making use of scientific methods in order to do so. As a think tank, it contributes to the development of fundamental understandings of effective ethical behavior and action.
In particular, it is committed to evidence-based poverty reduction, the reduction of animal suffering, the improvement of international cooperation and stability, and the promotion of responsible approaches to future technologies. It promotes the philosophy and social movement effective altruism. The Foundation is active domestically and internationally.
The Foundation pursues no commercial interest and is exclusively not-for-profit.
Pursuant to Article 86a of the Swiss Civil Code (ZGB), the founder explicitly reserves the right to change the Foundation’s purpose.

German (original text):

Art. 2 Zweck
Die Stiftung bezweckt, die Lebensqualität möglichst vieler empfindungsfähiger Wesen möglichst umfassend zu verbessern. Sie bedient sich dazu wissenschaftlicher Methoden. Als Denkfabrik leistet sie einen Beitrag zur Erarbeitung der Grundlagen effektiven ethischen Handelns.
Insbesondere engagiert sie sich für eine evidenzbasierte Armutsbekämpfung, die Reduktion des Tierleids, internationale Kooperation und Stabilität sowie einen verantwortungsbewussten Umgang mit Zukunftstechnologien. Sie fördert die Philosophie und soziale Bewegung des effektiven Altruismus.
Sie ist im In- und Ausland tätig.
Sie verfolgt keinen Erwerbszweck und ist ausschliesslich gemeinnützig tätig.
Der Stifter behält sich gemäss Art. 86a ZGB ausdrücklich das Recht vor, den Stiftungszweck zu ändern.

EAF has two predecessors: GBS Switzerland and Effective Altruism Switzerland (EACH). GBS Switzerland was an organization (Verein) located in Basel, Switzerland, and a local chapter of the German gbs. GBS Switzerland transferred all of its activities and funds to EAF in November 2015 and has since been inactive. Effective Altruism Switzerland (EACH) was an organization (Verein) located in Basel, Switzerland, and was dissolved on 15 December 2015.

We receive the majority of our funding from individual supporters who pledged to donate a percentage of their income to effective charities. We are fully independent and do not receive significant contributions from institutional donors.

Important documents

Stiftung für Effektiven Altruismus

Foundation based in Basel, Switzerland

Stiftung für Effektiven Altruismus e.V.

Club based in Berlin, Germany

Effektiver Altruismus Österreich

Club based in Vienna, Austria

Effective Altruism Foundation, Inc.

Nonprofit corporation based in San Francisco, USA

2018

Activities in 2018

Financials in 2018

2017

Activities in 2017

Financials in 2017

In 2017, total expenses by project were as follows:

2016

Activities in 2016

Raising for Effective Giving (REG)

Financials in 2016

In 2016, total expenses by project were as follows:

EAS Expenses 2016

EAF received CHF 877,918 in unrestricted donations. Taking into account the interest and preferences of the donors as well as the board’s judgment of the relative effectiveness and the room for more funding of the projects, we allocated these donations as follows: CHF 69,073 to REG, CHF 90,630 to Sentience Politics, CHF 279,592 to Outreach, and CHF 438,622 to FRI. In addition, EAF received CHF 372,375 in restricted donations: CHF 134,621 for REG, CHF 134,687 for Sentience Politics, CHF 50,672 for Outreach, and CHF 52,394 for FRI. (Other income sources, including differences in exchange rates, account for an additional income of CHF 31,244 for REG, CHF 31,560 for Sentience Politics, CHF 49,906 for Outreach, and CHF 75,563 for FRI.)

2015

Activities in 2015

Raising for Effective Giving (REG)

Sentience Politics

Financials in 2015

In 2015, total expenses by project were as follows:

Project GBS Switzerland EACH EAS Total % of total
Raising for Effective Giving (REG) 70,714 4,452 0 75,166 6.7%
Sentience Politics 92,885 19,546 0 112,431 10.0%
Foundational Research Institute (FRI) 64,039 8,222 0 72,261 6.5%
Outreach 107,042 24,372 0 131,413 11.7%
Grants 313,384 0 414,683 728,067 65.0%
Transfers to EAS 289,006 6,502 -295,509 0 0%
Total 937,071 63,093 119,174 1,119,338 100.0%

All amounts are in Swiss francs (CHF).

2014

Activities in 2014

Raising for Effective Giving (REG)

Sentience Politics

Research
GBS Switzerland conducts research in collaboration with the Foundational Research Institute (FRI). Research has been published on two platforms:

Movement Building & Operations

  • Local chapters: frei denken uni basel (20 talks & meetups), THINK at the University of St. Gallen (9 talks & meetups), THINK University of Bern (11 talks & meetups)
  • Events, Camps, Conferences: Several talks at other universities, six networking meetups, two three-day camps, a conference (co-organized Denkfest)
  • GBS Switzerland Blog: published around 70 blog posts
  • Movement building & networking: Outreach via social networks, one-on-one follow-ups with people interested in EA, founding of the advisory board and much more
  • Operations: Among other things, furnishing and setting up an office space. Operations costs that are directly attributable to specific projects are not included here.
  • Finances, Accounting, Fundraising (if not attributable to the main projects)
  • Communications (if not attributable to the main projects), including the newsletter (German):

Grants
Donors could donate to our effective altruism project and specify which international effective altruism charities they would like to support. The board has been able to fulfill all of these wishes.

Financials in 2014

Note: Since EACH has received tax deductible status a bit earlier than GBS Switzerland, some major early donations were given to EACH instead of GBS Switzerland. As a result, some employees were hired via EACH instead of GBS Switzerland and the projects have been funded by both organizations. This is reflected in the chart below.

In 2014, donations to GBS Switzerland and EACH were allocated as follows:

Project GBS Switzerland EACH Total % of total
Raising for Effective Giving (REG) 37,883 9,929 47,812 6.0%
Sentience Politics 100,449 12,074 112,524 14.1%
Research 28,895 308 29,204 3.7%
Movement Building & Operations 65,397 45,497 110,894 13.9%
Grants 382,690 112,245 494,935 62.2%
Total 615,315 180,053 795,369 100.0%

All amounts are in Swiss francs (CHF).

2013

Activities in 2013

Financials in 2013

In 2013, about 70% of all expenses were used as grants to other organizations and about 25% were spent for the project “Sentience Politics”. 93% of all income was donations from individuals; the remaining 7% was membership fees.

Conflicts of interest

EAF aims to effectively identify, disclose and manage any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest to protect the integrity of EAF and manage risk.

A conflict of interest occurs when someone’s personal interests conflict with their responsibility to act in the best interests of EAF. Personal interests include direct interests as well as those of family, friends, or other organizations a person may be involved with or have an interest in (for example, as a shareholder). It also includes a conflict between a board member’s duty to EAF and another duty that the board member has (for example, to another charity).

These situations present the risk that a person will make a decision based on, or affected by, these influences, rather than in the best interests of the charity, and must be managed accordingly. The board is responsible for identifying, disclosing, and managing conflicts of interest across the charity.

Register of interests:

  • Jonas Vollmer is simultaneously a board member and the Executive Director at EAF. (Note: We are currently investigating the legal ramifications of making Jonas Vollmer a non-voting board member.)
  • Lukas Gloor, Jonas Vollmer, David Althaus, Ruairí Donnelly and Caspar Oesterheld are board members and simultaneously paid employees at EAF.

While we understand that these conflicts of interest have downsides, we value the strong commitment of the current board members—both concerning time investment as well as their depth of understanding of EAF’s mission—and think that the benefits outweigh the costs.


Services

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