Annotated List of Project Ideas & Volunteering Resources
This list was created as part of the Local Career Advice Network’s efforts to map the EA volunteering & project opportunities space. For other annotated lists and bibliograhies, see here.
Please make suggestions in the google doc, and link to the article, author’s name or username, and a one line summary. You can also add comments to existing resoruces.
General & Guides
A List of Things for People To Do by Chris Leong. This provides a range of suggestions, from individual actions (i.e. specific versions of Earning to Give) to starting projects.
A list of Small Exploration Projects by Richard Batty linked (comment it came from here). Contains links to guides and examples for a number of direct work projects.
A guide on research projects (2020) by Edo Arad from EA Israel. This has some fairly specific suggestions with time estimates.
Notes on getting involved with small EA projects by Aaron Gertler. He also lists a few possible projects
Project Ideas
Meta Projects
List of possible EA meta-charities and projects by Saulius, with specific sections for Careers and Policy project recommendations.
Call for an EA Wiki (2019), comment on academic wiki-related research, open discussion on EA Wiki
What will 80,000 Hours provide (and not provide) within the effective altruism community? and related: What career advice gaps are you trying to fill? - EA Forum (both 2020)
Gaps in 80K and possible projects (2018) comment by Jamie Harris
EA Career Ideas (2014) by Ben Kuhn. A list of non-80K career ideas with skills that could be useful. Fairly off-the-cuff.
Task Y: Representing EA in your Field (2019) by Toon Alfrink
Suggestion: EAs should post more summaries and collections (2020) by Michael Aird
Research Projects
Central directory of open research questions & research-related projects (2020) by Michael Aird
Tech/Software Projects
What are some software development needs in EA causes? (2020) question by evelynciara
EA Tech Initiatives’ project list and resources (ongoing)
Misc. Project lists
EA Summit brainstormed list (2018)
Projects I’d like to see (2017) by Will MacAskill This post was created when EA grants was first launched to encourage people to apply for funding.
Concrete project lists (2017) by Richard Batty.
Volunteering
Guide to Effective Volunteering (2018) by Khorton
Finding volunteering opportunities
List of Remote Volunteering Opportunities in Effective Altruism (2018) by Evan Gaensbauer
LCAN Annotated Lists
- What areas are the most promising to start new EA meta charities—A survey of 40 EAs by (Dec 23, 2020, 12:24 PM; 150 points)
- Notes on EA-related research, writing, testing fit, learning, and the Forum by (Mar 27, 2021, 9:52 AM; 98 points)
- Impactful Projects and Organizations to Start—List of Lists by (Apr 16, 2023, 5:11 PM; 78 points)
- Annotated List of Project Ideas & Volunteering Resources by (Jul 6, 2020, 3:29 AM; 57 points)
- A Step-by-Step Guide to Running Independent Projects by (Jul 15, 2020, 11:49 AM; 49 points)
- Annotated List of EA Career Advice Resources by (Jul 13, 2020, 6:12 AM; 43 points)
- Help us find pain points in AI safety by (Apr 12, 2022, 6:43 PM; 31 points)
- Idea: Curated database of quick-win tangible, attributable projects (update 2024: links Airtable, but the EA side is not actively monitored) by (Jan 13, 2023, 10:21 PM; 29 points)
- 's comment on Can I have impact if I’m average? by (Jan 5, 2021, 11:39 AM; 21 points)
- Notes on effective-altruism-related research, writing, testing fit, learning, and the EA Forum by (LessWrong; Mar 28, 2021, 11:43 PM; 14 points)
- 's comment on List of possible EA meta-charities and projects by (Aug 5, 2020, 1:42 PM; 2 points)
Thanks for compiling this—things like this seem plausibly really valuable, and I’m glad to see increasing numbers of this kind of thing! I’ve directed a few people to this post at various times :)
Just a heads up that I think the “Annotated List of EA Careers Advice” link is broken, and the link should instead be this.
Thanks Michael—glad you found it useful! And thanks for point out the broken link, I’ve fixed it! :)
Couldn’t comment on the doc, so here are a few others I found:
The FTX Future Fund curated this list of projects they seem inclined to fund.
SHIP’s Projects Categories Page offers ideas that students may be able to tackle. Last updated in 2019 before the group discontinued, but many ideas have yet to be undertaken.
Capacity Ventures (I’m not sure about their background and couldn’t find their website) put out this list with the added benefit of being prioritized by the expected benefit to the undertaker.
This CV Project Ideas list (unknown source) lists many of the above resources, some additional ones, and some new ones. Worth reading as a complementary post to this one.
I can’t comment on the Google Doc version of this post. Can you add Impact CoLabs?