Cross-posted from: https://www.jamesnorris.org/history-of-effective-altruism/
Concurrent movements that predate effective altruism (EA) with the most overlap:
Social return on investment
Randomistas
Strategic philanthropy
Effective philanthropy
Effective giving
Applied rationality
Utilitarianism
Social innovation
Transhumanism
Futurism
Key organizations and publications that led to the rise and growth of EA:
Pre-EA
“An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation” book – 1780
“Famine, Affluence, and Morality” article – 1971
“Animal Liberation” book – 1975
“Reasons and Persons” book – 1984
Early EA
Extropy Institute – 1991
World “World Bank’s Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries” report – 1993
“Living High and Letting Die” book – 1996
The Center for What Works – 1997
Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) – 1997
World Transhumanist Association – 1998 → Humanity+ – 2002 (renamed)
EA Foundations
The Roberts Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) social return on investment paradigm – late 90s/2000
Shock Level 4 (SL4) – 2000
Campbell Collaboration – 2000
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – 2000
Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI) – 2000 → Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) – 2013 (renamed)
The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) – 2001
The Center for Global Development (CGD) – 2001
Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) – 2002
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) – 2003
Astronomical Waste: The Opportunity Cost of Delayed Technological Development paper – 2003
“EffectiveAltruism” article – 2003 (first use of “effective altruism” online)
Copenhagen Consensus – 2004
Future of Humanity Institute (FHI) – 2005
Mission Measurement – 2005
Center for High Impact Philanthropy – 2006
Utilitarian Essays – 2006
Overcoming Bias – 2006
LessWrong – 2006 / 2009
Felicifia Forum – 2006 / 2008 (archive, history)
Charity International – 2007 → Global Happiness Organization (2011)
GiveWell – 2007
Philanthropedia – 2008
“Money Well Spent: A Strategic Plan for Smart Philanthropy” book – 2008
Giving What We Can (GWWC) – 2009
The Life You Can Save (TLYCS) – 2009
HOPE Consulting’s “Money for Good: The US Market for Impact Investments and Charitable Gifts from Individual Donors and Investors” report – 2010
Back of the Envelope Guide to Philanthropy – 2011 (original)
Global Catastrophic Risk Institute (GCRI) – 2011
Leverage Research – 2011
Good Ventures – 2011
EA Formalization
“The history of the term ‘effective altruism’” article – 2011
80,000 Hours (80K) – 2011
“A Name for a Movement?” article – 2012
Good Ventures – 2012
Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) – 2012
Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR) – 2012
Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) – 2012
Effective Animal Advocacy – 2012 / Animal Charity Evaluators – 2014 (renamed)
The High Impact Network (THINK) – 2012
.impact – 2013
Evidence Action – 2013
Effective Altruism Summit – 2013 (run by Leverage Research – 2011)
“The Life You Can Save” book – 2013
“Four Focus Areas of Effective Altruism” article – 2013
“The Why and How of Effective Altruism” TED Talk – 2013
“Facing the Intelligence Explosion” website – 2013
Foundational Research Institute (FRI) & Effective Altruism Foundation (EAF) – 2013 → Center on Long-term Risk (CLR) – 2020 (renamed, history)
Good Done Right – 2014 (history)
Impact Genome – 2014
Charity Science – 2014 (history)
Effective Altruism Ventures (EAV) – 2014 → Effective Altruism Grants (2017)
1fortheWorld – 2014
Raising for Effective Giving – 2014
“Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies” book – 2014
Effective Altruism Forum – 2014
“Doing Good Better” book – 2015
Effective Altruism Global (EAG) – 2015 (run by Self Spark – 2010 → Upgradable – 2018 (renamed))
Impact Matters – 2015
“Effective Altruism Handbook” – 2015
EA Growth
Lots of new organizations and initiatives (not included for brevity)
EA Decline
FTX collapse – 2022
EA Future
Yet to be written
EA’s Key Originators
Bill Gates & Melinda Gates
Bjorn Lomborg
Dean Karlan, Esther Duflo, Abhijit Banerjee & Sendhil Mullainathan
Derek Parfit
Eliezer Yudkowsky & Luke Muehlhauser
Geoff Anders
Gordon Irlam (biographical article)
Holden Karnofsky & Elie Hassenfeld
Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill & Henry Sidgwick
Nick Bostrom
Peter Singer
Peter Unger
Seth Baum
William Crouch (William MacAskill), Toby Ord & Nick Beckstead
Yew-Kwang Ng (biographical summary)
Other EA Histories
Timeline of effective altruism
Effective Altruism and the strategic ambiguity of ‘doing good’ – Section 2.1
Effective altruism – Wikipedia – History
History of effective altruism – EA Forum
When Did EA Start?
Why I don’t write as much as I used to – Growth and professionalism of effective altruism section
Opening Keynote | Toby Ord & Will MacAskill | EA Global: San Francisco 2016
Some Early History of Effective Altruism
Requiem for an Effective Altruism
On the results of Oxford-style effective altruism, existential risk, and longtermism – Simon Knutsson
Before There Was Effective Altruism, There Was Effective Philanthropy — EA Forum (partial history)
Timeline of nonprofit evaluation
EA’s Historical Context
Is Effective Altruism New?
History of Effective Altruism
Cross-posted from: https://www.jamesnorris.org/history-of-effective-altruism/
Concurrent movements that predate effective altruism (EA) with the most overlap:
Social return on investment
Randomistas
Strategic philanthropy
Effective philanthropy
Effective giving
Applied rationality
Utilitarianism
Social innovation
Transhumanism
Futurism
Key organizations and publications that led to the rise and growth of EA:
Pre-EA
“An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation” book – 1780
“Famine, Affluence, and Morality” article – 1971
“Animal Liberation” book – 1975
“Reasons and Persons” book – 1984
Early EA
Extropy Institute – 1991
World “World Bank’s Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries” report – 1993
“Living High and Letting Die” book – 1996
The Center for What Works – 1997
Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) – 1997
World Transhumanist Association – 1998 → Humanity+ – 2002 (renamed)
EA Foundations
The Roberts Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) social return on investment paradigm – late 90s/2000
Shock Level 4 (SL4) – 2000
Campbell Collaboration – 2000
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – 2000
Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI) – 2000 → Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) – 2013 (renamed)
The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) – 2001
The Center for Global Development (CGD) – 2001
Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) – 2002
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) – 2003
Astronomical Waste: The Opportunity Cost of Delayed Technological Development paper – 2003
“EffectiveAltruism” article – 2003 (first use of “effective altruism” online)
Copenhagen Consensus – 2004
Future of Humanity Institute (FHI) – 2005
Mission Measurement – 2005
Center for High Impact Philanthropy – 2006
Utilitarian Essays – 2006
Overcoming Bias – 2006
LessWrong – 2006 / 2009
Felicifia Forum – 2006 / 2008 (archive, history)
Charity International – 2007 → Global Happiness Organization (2011)
GiveWell – 2007
Philanthropedia – 2008
“Money Well Spent: A Strategic Plan for Smart Philanthropy” book – 2008
Giving What We Can (GWWC) – 2009
The Life You Can Save (TLYCS) – 2009
HOPE Consulting’s “Money for Good: The US Market for Impact Investments and Charitable Gifts from Individual Donors and Investors” report – 2010
Back of the Envelope Guide to Philanthropy – 2011 (original)
Global Catastrophic Risk Institute (GCRI) – 2011
Leverage Research – 2011
Good Ventures – 2011
EA Formalization
“The history of the term ‘effective altruism’” article – 2011
80,000 Hours (80K) – 2011
“A Name for a Movement?” article – 2012
Good Ventures – 2012
Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) – 2012
Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR) – 2012
Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) – 2012
Effective Animal Advocacy – 2012 / Animal Charity Evaluators – 2014 (renamed)
The High Impact Network (THINK) – 2012
.impact – 2013
Evidence Action – 2013
Effective Altruism Summit – 2013 (run by Leverage Research – 2011)
“The Life You Can Save” book – 2013
“Four Focus Areas of Effective Altruism” article – 2013
“The Why and How of Effective Altruism” TED Talk – 2013
“Facing the Intelligence Explosion” website – 2013
Foundational Research Institute (FRI) & Effective Altruism Foundation (EAF) – 2013 → Center on Long-term Risk (CLR) – 2020 (renamed, history)
Good Done Right – 2014 (history)
Impact Genome – 2014
Charity Science – 2014 (history)
Effective Altruism Ventures (EAV) – 2014 → Effective Altruism Grants (2017)
1fortheWorld – 2014
Raising for Effective Giving – 2014
“Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies” book – 2014
Effective Altruism Forum – 2014
“Doing Good Better” book – 2015
Effective Altruism Global (EAG) – 2015 (run by Self Spark – 2010 → Upgradable – 2018 (renamed))
Impact Matters – 2015
“Effective Altruism Handbook” – 2015
EA Growth
Lots of new organizations and initiatives (not included for brevity)
EA Decline
FTX collapse – 2022
EA Future
Yet to be written
EA’s Key Originators
Bill Gates & Melinda Gates
Bjorn Lomborg
Dean Karlan, Esther Duflo, Abhijit Banerjee & Sendhil Mullainathan
Derek Parfit
Eliezer Yudkowsky & Luke Muehlhauser
Geoff Anders
Gordon Irlam (biographical article)
Holden Karnofsky & Elie Hassenfeld
Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill & Henry Sidgwick
Nick Bostrom
Peter Singer
Peter Unger
Seth Baum
William Crouch (William MacAskill), Toby Ord & Nick Beckstead
Yew-Kwang Ng (biographical summary)
Other EA Histories
Timeline of effective altruism
Effective Altruism and the strategic ambiguity of ‘doing good’ – Section 2.1
Effective altruism – Wikipedia – History
History of effective altruism – EA Forum
When Did EA Start?
Why I don’t write as much as I used to – Growth and professionalism of effective altruism section
Opening Keynote | Toby Ord & Will MacAskill | EA Global: San Francisco 2016
Some Early History of Effective Altruism
Requiem for an Effective Altruism
On the results of Oxford-style effective altruism, existential risk, and longtermism – Simon Knutsson
Before There Was Effective Altruism, There Was Effective Philanthropy — EA Forum (partial history)
Timeline of nonprofit evaluation
EA’s Historical Context
Is Effective Altruism New?