Based on your preferences, it seems like working on EA projects funded by grants might be your best bet, since you donāt need to found a whole company or charity, and it can be done with a local team in Israel. Maybe there are existing EA charities with people working from Israel you could join, although I donāt know the situation there well. I only know of EA Israel, and some animal groups like Animals Now (ACE review, EA Israel review) and plant-based or cultured meat startups.
You could check out what the EA Funds are looking to make grants to support (also see past grants), and apply with a project in their scope. Maybe you can ask the managers if they have any fairly specific projects theyād like to fund, and apply with one such project.
I would also consider setting up an EA co-working space in Israel (or join an existing co-working space, EA or not) so you can more happily work remotely for an EA org from Israel.
Iām already talking to a very senior developer (20+ years of experience) whoās done a lot of work with Animals Now and is interested to do more in the same/āsimilar area (also climate change, if you hear about something! I have another eager developer for that too!), so if weāll find a good opportunity, heād probably be the first to take it, I think.
Also, working on animal welfare is less close to my heart than meta/ārationality/āsystematic causes. I know this might sound strange. But itās how my brain is wired, and I think thereās an advantage in working on things that come easily to me.
Projects that are already funded
I agree this would be good, but Iāll say this this happens not to be a limitation for me. I think I might even have an edge in being able to start early stage unfunded projects, without being dependent on grant makers having the capacity to evaluate them first.
The way I really think about this is like a startup, where I expect to show actual impressive relevant metrics before I go fundraising.
But maybe Iām mistaken. Maybe I should already fundraise for āEffective Developersā? Maybe it would at least elicit some unfiltered feedback from people who often evaluate such initiatives?
What the EA Funds are looking to make grants to support
Going over their list:
Animal welfare
See the āanimal groupsā title above.
Infrastructure: Access to talent
This would be a good fit for me, but it seems like a lot of people are starting to work on it, and Iām somewhat involved in part of it (Iām very grateful for the people approaching me about this! This is close to my heart).
Iām considering focusing on a smaller niche where I think I have some extra good fit: Startups and Software Developers.
Global health and development
Not accepting applications.
Also, there are other reasons I probably wouldnāt start a project here (such as, I could just work for Wave), unless it would be starting a mental health app with a specific approach that I donāt understand why nobody else is doing (disclaimer: I didnāt actually research this).
I tried this when I was a freelancer. Note Iām an extroverted person who wears colorful cat shirts and who probably shares many common interests with the other founders and developers over there, but still the atmosphere was mostly each person has their own space. I did meet some nice people, but orders of magnitude less than I do in a regular job that has an office.
EA workspace
TL;DR: HELL YES!
I proposed this [Hebrew link] ~3 months ago and there seems to be interest, I wonder if our community manager would be interested in pursuing this project, theyād probably be good at it.
I think this has the potential to free up Israelis to work remotely on way more impactful projects, if itās done right. And once we have a critical mass (which is the hard part), more and more people could join easily.
Iām not sure I could pull this off, the temptation to work at home ājust todayā, everyday, would exist for everyone.
Based on your preferences, it seems like working on EA projects funded by grants might be your best bet, since you donāt need to found a whole company or charity, and it can be done with a local team in Israel. Maybe there are existing EA charities with people working from Israel you could join, although I donāt know the situation there well. I only know of EA Israel, and some animal groups like Animals Now (ACE review, EA Israel review) and plant-based or cultured meat startups.
You could check out what the EA Funds are looking to make grants to support (also see past grants), and apply with a project in their scope. Maybe you can ask the managers if they have any fairly specific projects theyād like to fund, and apply with one such project.
I would also consider setting up an EA co-working space in Israel (or join an existing co-working space, EA or not) so you can more happily work remotely for an EA org from Israel.
Working on EA projects funded by grants
TL;DR: Yes. (Which?)
Animal groups
Iām already talking to a very senior developer (20+ years of experience) whoās done a lot of work with Animals Now and is interested to do more in the same/āsimilar area (also climate change, if you hear about something! I have another eager developer for that too!), so if weāll find a good opportunity, heād probably be the first to take it, I think.
Also, working on animal welfare is less close to my heart than meta/ārationality/āsystematic causes. I know this might sound strange. But itās how my brain is wired, and I think thereās an advantage in working on things that come easily to me.
Projects that are already funded
I agree this would be good, but Iāll say this this happens not to be a limitation for me. I think I might even have an edge in being able to start early stage unfunded projects, without being dependent on grant makers having the capacity to evaluate them first.
The way I really think about this is like a startup, where I expect to show actual impressive relevant metrics before I go fundraising.
But maybe Iām mistaken. Maybe I should already fundraise for āEffective Developersā? Maybe it would at least elicit some unfiltered feedback from people who often evaluate such initiatives?
What the EA Funds are looking to make grants to support
Going over their list:
Animal welfare
See the āanimal groupsā title above.
Infrastructure: Access to talent
This would be a good fit for me, but it seems like a lot of people are starting to work on it, and Iām somewhat involved in part of it (Iām very grateful for the people approaching me about this! This is close to my heart).
Iām considering focusing on a smaller niche where I think I have some extra good fit: Startups and Software Developers.
Global health and development
Not accepting applications.
Also, there are other reasons I probably wouldnāt start a project here (such as, I could just work for Wave), unless it would be starting a mental health app with a specific approach that I donāt understand why nobody else is doing (disclaimer: I didnāt actually research this).
Longtermism
See this section.
Co working space in Israel
Non EA workspace, like WeWork
TL;DR: Not so good
I tried this when I was a freelancer. Note Iām an extroverted person who wears colorful cat shirts and who probably shares many common interests with the other founders and developers over there, but still the atmosphere was mostly each person has their own space. I did meet some nice people, but orders of magnitude less than I do in a regular job that has an office.
EA workspace
TL;DR: HELL YES!
I proposed this [Hebrew link] ~3 months ago and there seems to be interest, I wonder if our community manager would be interested in pursuing this project, theyād probably be good at it.
I think this has the potential to free up Israelis to work remotely on way more impactful projects, if itās done right. And once we have a critical mass (which is the hard part), more and more people could join easily.
Iām not sure I could pull this off, the temptation to work at home ājust todayā, everyday, would exist for everyone.
I wonder if
Someone has already tried this
Some org would sponsor an experiment