✨ What is Penn Effective Altruism? We are a group of Penn students unified by a common desire to do the most we can to improve the world — by tackling climate change, effective policy, global poverty, novel technology safety, animal welfare, pandemic prevention, and more.
💡 What is effective altruism? Effective altruism is a research field and social movement about using evidence and reason to find the best ways to help others. If you’re interested in blending empathy with rigor and intellectual discussion — this is the club for you. If you want to think about and act on your desire to improve the world — this is the club for you.
The broader effective altruist community’s focus is broad and spans from effective philanthropy and advocacy (see orgs like GiveWell, Open Philanthropy) to career advising (i.e. 80,000 Hours) to global priorities research (i.e. Oxford’s Global Priorities Institute, Cambridge’s Center for Study of Existential Risk), and the community’s focus and theories of change are constantly-evolving.
🚀 How do I sign up? To stay updated, subscribe to our newsletter (bit.ly/eapennmail), and join our Slack (bit.ly/eapennslack)!
🥂 2023 Exploration Fellowship This year, we’re holding multiple open beginning-of-semester sessions combined with a selective workshop at Rethink Priorities’ Philadelphia office — with the aim of showcasing various ways in which various people have applied these ideas (e.g. philanthropy, policy, long-term future, research, business, critiques of effective altruism). If you’d like to attend the workshop, join in the sessions!
📢 Past workshop speakers we’ve brought in — remarkable people who have seriously thought about and acted on their desire to improve the world:
- Danny Bressler, former climate staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisors under the Biden Administration
- Jacob Peacock, Senior Research Manager at Rethink Priorities focusing on plant-based meat alternatives
- Abraham Rowe, COO at Rethink Priorities
- Quinn McHugh, Director of Effective Altruism Philly
- Ellen McGeoch, Director of Contracting at NeuroFlow
- Matt Coleman, Affiliated Researcher at the Effective Altruism Psychology Lab
Last updated Aug 5, 2023.