Executive summary: CEA is restructuring the Community Building Grants program in 2026 by moving grant evaluation to EA Funds and phasing out non-monetary support while continuing to fund groups, in order to prioritize more scalable initiatives aligned with its strategic goal of reaching and raising EA’s ceiling.
Key points:
CBG grant evaluation is moving from CEA’s Groups team to EA Funds (which became part of CEA in summer 2025) and will be managed alongside but remain distinct from the EA Infrastructure Fund.
Non-monetary support is being phased out or transitioned; grantees have taken ownership of coordination calls and the Slack space, while regular check-ins, new CBG-specific resources, and the grantee retreat in its current form are being wound down.
The restructuring reflects CEA’s strategic shift toward scalable products, as the CBG program’s structure—dependent on diverse group approaches and leadership quality—cannot be replicated across locations.
The authors believe most CBG impact comes through grantmaking and can be preserved by phasing out programmatic support, which has required substantial team resources.
Funding for CBG groups continues with no expected changes to the funding bar; however, grantees will have less regular interaction with grantmakers and less insight into funding decisions.
The authors acknowledge trade-offs including potential loss of valued support for some grantees, possible difficulty recruiting and retaining community builders, reduced cross-group learning opportunities, and increased frustration from less transparent funding decisions.
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Executive summary: CEA is restructuring the Community Building Grants program in 2026 by moving grant evaluation to EA Funds and phasing out non-monetary support while continuing to fund groups, in order to prioritize more scalable initiatives aligned with its strategic goal of reaching and raising EA’s ceiling.
Key points:
CBG grant evaluation is moving from CEA’s Groups team to EA Funds (which became part of CEA in summer 2025) and will be managed alongside but remain distinct from the EA Infrastructure Fund.
Non-monetary support is being phased out or transitioned; grantees have taken ownership of coordination calls and the Slack space, while regular check-ins, new CBG-specific resources, and the grantee retreat in its current form are being wound down.
The restructuring reflects CEA’s strategic shift toward scalable products, as the CBG program’s structure—dependent on diverse group approaches and leadership quality—cannot be replicated across locations.
The authors believe most CBG impact comes through grantmaking and can be preserved by phasing out programmatic support, which has required substantial team resources.
Funding for CBG groups continues with no expected changes to the funding bar; however, grantees will have less regular interaction with grantmakers and less insight into funding decisions.
The authors acknowledge trade-offs including potential loss of valued support for some grantees, possible difficulty recruiting and retaining community builders, reduced cross-group learning opportunities, and increased frustration from less transparent funding decisions.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.