Acronyms & abbreviations that I’ve come across during my time in EA. Big thanks to the CEA team for their help compiling this.

Are there any I’ve misunderstood or missed? Please add more in the comments!

acronym	meaning
:)))	big smile
~	approximately / roughly
80k	80,000 hours
AFAICT	as far as I can tell
AFAIK	as far as I know
AFAIU	as far as I understand
AMF	Against Malaria Foundation
AP	action points
ASTLAC	approved subject to looking at comments
ATS	applicant tracking software
b/c	because
BAU	business as usual
BIRD	boundaries, input, responsible, decision maker
BLUF	bottom line up front
BOTEC	back of the envelope calculation
BRT	be right there
CB	community building
CBG	community building grantees
CBPCs	criteria-based plan changes
CEA	Centre for Effective Altruism
CEA	cost-effectiveness analysis
CF	comparing 2 things
COB	close of business (i.e. end of day)
COP	close of play
CoS	Chief of Staff
CR’s	core responsibilities
crux	a crux for a belief B is another belief C such that if I change my mind about C, that will also change my mind a lot about B
cruxy	essential, difficult consideration
CTA	call to action
CW	content warning
DE&I	diversity, equity and inclusion
DIPY	discounted impact-adjusted peak years
DW	don’t worry
e.g.	example
EA	effective altruism
EAA	effective animal advocacy
EACF	EA Coordination Forum (event)
EAG	Effective Altruism Global
EAIF	Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund
ED	Executive Director
ELI5	explain like I’m 5 years old
EOD	end of day
EOW	end of week
ETG	earn to give
EV	Effective Ventures
EV	expected value
EVP	employee value proposition
FAO	for the attention of
FTE	full time employee / equivalent
FWIW	for what it’s worth
FYI	for your information (i.e. no action points)
FYIO	for your information only
GD	GiveDirectly
GDPR	data privacy regulations in the UK / Europe
GH	global health
GWWC	Giving What We Can
h/t	hat tip (meaning giving credit to someone)
HM	hiring manager
HMU	hit me up
HNW	high net worth
HODL	basically means “who’s owning this responsibility?”
IAM	I am in a meeting
IANAL	I am not a lawyer (i.e. “this is not legal advice”)
IASPCs	impact-adjusted specific plan changes
ICYMI	in case you missed it
IDM	I don’t mind
IIRC	if I recall correctly
IIUC	if I understand correctly
IKR	I know right
ILYA	I love you all
IME	in my experience
IMHO	in my humble opinion
IMO	in my opinion
inner sim	inner simulation
IRL	in real life
ISO	International Standards Organization
ITN	importance, tractability, neglectedness
ITT	ideological Turing test
JD	job description
JFC	Jesus f**ing Christ
JSYK	just so you know
JTBC	just to be clear
KYB	know your business
LFG	let’s f***ing go
LGTM	looks good to me
LMICs	lower middle income countries
LMK	let me know
LP	low priority
LT	leadership team
LTR	likelihood to recommend
LW	LessWrong
LYK	let you know
M&E	monitoring and evaluation
MECE	mutually exclusive collectively exhaustive
MRSE	median survey respondent equivalent
MTW	Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
NAN	no action needed
NB	nota bene (actually means “note”)
NFG	no f***ing good
NGL	not gonna lie
NGMI	not going to make it
NNTR	no need to respond
NSFW	not safe for work
OFC / ofc	of course
OKR	objectives & key results
OOM	order of magnitude
OOTB	out of the box
OP	Open Philanthropy
OPSEC	info sharing / operations security
OTOH	on the other hand
OTP	on the phone
PAYE	pay as you earn
PFA	please find attached
PITA	pain in the a*s
ppl	people
PTAL	please take a look
put on ice	delayed indefinitely / cancelled
RACI	responsible, accountable, consulted, input / informed (the traditional version of BIRD), pronounced “ray-c”
rat	rationalist
RE	regarding
RFD	request for discussion
s.t.	such that
SEO	search engine optimization
SGTM	sounds good to me
sitrep	situation report (update on where thinking / work stands in relation to broader strategic goals)
SJW	social justice warrior
SMH	shaking my head
SoT	source of truth
sth	something
sus	suspect / suspicious (informal), can often playfully mean something is questionable
SWB	subjective wellbeing
TAP	trigger action planning
TBC	to be confirmed
TBD	to be determined
TBF	to be fair
TC	take care
TH	Trajan House
TIA	thanks in advance
TIL	today I learned
TL’s	team leads
TLDR (or tl;dr)	too long; didn’t read (i.e. summary)
TM	trademark (e.g. being an adult™)
ToC	theory of change
TOIL	time off in lieu (i.e. you worked on a holiday or weekend, and so you take that time off a different day)
TW	“trigger warning” Way to broadcast content below might be problematic for some people to read, so they may want to skip (e.g. “TW: brief description of violent things”)
UNODIR	unless otherwise directed
VoTs	value of time estimates
VP	virtual program
w/	with
w/c	week commencing
WFH	work from home
WFM	works for me
WIP	work in progress
WRT (or w/r/t)	with regards to
WSJ	Wall Street Journal
WTAF	what the actual f**k
WTBU (or WTB)	watch team backup
xp	experience
ymmv	your mileage may vary (i.e. you may have a different experience)
YoY	year over year

Acronyms & abbreviations

Hillary Grills18 Mar 2024 5:08 UTC

20 points

2 comments9 min readEA link

Practical Collections and resources Building effective altruism Draft Amnesty Week

acronym	meaning
:)))	big smile
~	approximately / roughly
80k	80,000 hours
AFAICT	as far as I can tell
AFAIK	as far as I know
AFAIU	as far as I understand
AMF	Against Malaria Foundation
AP	action points
ASTLAC	approved subject to looking at comments
ATS	applicant tracking software
b/c	because
BAU	business as usual
BIRD	boundaries, input, responsible, decision maker
BLUF	bottom line up front
BOTEC	back of the envelope calculation
BRT	be right there
CB	community building
CBG	community building grantees
CBPCs	criteria-based plan changes
CEA	Centre for Effective Altruism
CEA	cost-effectiveness analysis
CF	comparing 2 things
COB	close of business (i.e. end of day)
COP	close of play
CoS	Chief of Staff
CR’s	core responsibilities
crux	a crux for a belief B is another belief C such that if I change my mind about C, that will also change my mind a lot about B
cruxy	essential, difficult consideration
CTA	call to action
CW	content warning
DE&I	diversity, equity and inclusion
DIPY	discounted impact-adjusted peak years
DW	don’t worry
e.g.	example
EA	effective altruism
EAA	effective animal advocacy
EACF	EA Coordination Forum (event)
EAG	Effective Altruism Global
EAIF	Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund
ED	Executive Director
ELI5	explain like I’m 5 years old
EOD	end of day
EOW	end of week
ETG	earn to give
EV	Effective Ventures
EV	expected value
EVP	employee value proposition
FAO	for the attention of
FTE	full time employee / equivalent
FWIW	for what it’s worth
FYI	for your information (i.e. no action points)
FYIO	for your information only
GD	GiveDirectly
GDPR	data privacy regulations in the UK / Europe
GH	global health
GWWC	Giving What We Can
h/t	hat tip (meaning giving credit to someone)
HM	hiring manager
HMU	hit me up
HNW	high net worth
HODL	basically means “who’s owning this responsibility?”
IAM	I am in a meeting
IANAL	I am not a lawyer (i.e. “this is not legal advice”)
IASPCs	impact-adjusted specific plan changes
ICYMI	in case you missed it
IDM	I don’t mind
IIRC	if I recall correctly
IIUC	if I understand correctly
IKR	I know right
ILYA	I love you all
IME	in my experience
IMHO	in my humble opinion
IMO	in my opinion
inner sim	inner simulation
IRL	in real life
ISO	International Standards Organization
ITN	importance, tractability, neglectedness
ITT	ideological Turing test
JD	job description
JFC	Jesus f**ing Christ
JSYK	just so you know
JTBC	just to be clear
KYB	know your business
LFG	let’s f***ing go
LGTM	looks good to me
LMICs	lower middle income countries
LMK	let me know
LP	low priority
LT	leadership team
LTR	likelihood to recommend
LW	LessWrong
LYK	let you know
M&E	monitoring and evaluation
MECE	mutually exclusive collectively exhaustive
MRSE	median survey respondent equivalent
MTW	Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
NAN	no action needed
NB	nota bene (actually means “note”)
NFG	no f***ing good
NGL	not gonna lie
NGMI	not going to make it
NNTR	no need to respond
NSFW	not safe for work
OFC / ofc	of course
OKR	objectives & key results
OOM	order of magnitude
OOTB	out of the box
OP	Open Philanthropy
OPSEC	info sharing / operations security
OTOH	on the other hand
OTP	on the phone
PAYE	pay as you earn
PFA	please find attached
PITA	pain in the a*s
ppl	people
PTAL	please take a look
put on ice	delayed indefinitely / cancelled
RACI	responsible, accountable, consulted, input / informed (the traditional version of BIRD), pronounced “ray-c”
rat	rationalist
RE	regarding
RFD	request for discussion
s.t.	such that
SEO	search engine optimization
SGTM	sounds good to me
sitrep	situation report (update on where thinking / work stands in relation to broader strategic goals)
SJW	social justice warrior
SMH	shaking my head
SoT	source of truth
sth	something
sus	suspect / suspicious (informal), can often playfully mean something is questionable
SWB	subjective wellbeing
TAP	trigger action planning
TBC	to be confirmed
TBD	to be determined
TBF	to be fair
TC	take care
TH	Trajan House
TIA	thanks in advance
TIL	today I learned
TL’s	team leads
TLDR (or tl;dr)	too long; didn’t read (i.e. summary)
TM	trademark (e.g. being an adult™)
ToC	theory of change
TOIL	time off in lieu (i.e. you worked on a holiday or weekend, and so you take that time off a different day)
TW	“trigger warning” Way to broadcast content below might be problematic for some people to read, so they may want to skip (e.g. “TW: brief description of violent things”)
UNODIR	unless otherwise directed
VoTs	value of time estimates
VP	virtual program
w/	with
w/c	week commencing
WFH	work from home
WFM	works for me
WIP	work in progress
WRT (or w/r/t)	with regards to
WSJ	Wall Street Journal
WTAF	what the actual f**k
WTBU (or WTB)	watch team backup
xp	experience
ymmv	your mileage may vary (i.e. you may have a different experience)
YoY	year over year

Bella 18 Mar 2024 10:22 UTC
7 points
2 ∶ 0
This was cool to read — a number I didn’t know! :D
cruxy essential, difficult consideration
‘Crux’ has a quasi-formal definition when used by EA/rat types. I think your definition might be good enough for navigating discussions where the word is used, but I think crux (as formally defined) is a cool/useful concept :)
- Hillary Grills 19 Mar 2024 1:12 UTC
  7 points
  0 ∶ 0
  Thanks @Bella! I added “crux” to the list and linked the article you shared.