Executive summary: This evidence-based analysis from the 2024 EA Survey explores which factors most help people have a positive impact and form valuable personal connections in the EA community, finding that personal contact, 80,000 Hours resources, and EA events are consistently influential—though engagement level, gender, and racial/ethnic identity shape which sources matter most.
Key points:
Top impact sources: The most influential factors for helping people have an impact were personal contact with other EAs (42.3%), 80,000 Hours content (34.1%), and EA Global/EAGx events (22.9%).
New connections: Most new personal connections came from EA Global/EAGx (31.6%), personal contacts (30.8%), and local EA groups (28.2%), though 30.6% selected “None of these,” up from 19% in 2022.
Cohort trends: Newer EAs rely more on 80,000 Hours and virtual programs, while older cohorts report more value from personal connections, local groups, and GiveWell.
Demographic variation: Women and non-white respondents are more likely to value 80,000 Hours (especially the website and job board), virtual programs, and newsletters; white respondents more often cite personal contact and GiveWell.
Engagement differences: Highly engaged EAs benefit more from personal contact, in-person events, and EA Forum discussions, while low-engagement EAs lean on more accessible sources like GiveWell, articles, and Astral Codex Ten—and are much more likely to report no recent new connections.
Long-term trends: Despite some changes in question format over the years, the core drivers of impact and connection—especially interpersonal contact and key EA organizations—remain relatively stable across surveys.
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.
Executive summary: This evidence-based analysis from the 2024 EA Survey explores which factors most help people have a positive impact and form valuable personal connections in the EA community, finding that personal contact, 80,000 Hours resources, and EA events are consistently influential—though engagement level, gender, and racial/ethnic identity shape which sources matter most.
Key points:
Top impact sources: The most influential factors for helping people have an impact were personal contact with other EAs (42.3%), 80,000 Hours content (34.1%), and EA Global/EAGx events (22.9%).
New connections: Most new personal connections came from EA Global/EAGx (31.6%), personal contacts (30.8%), and local EA groups (28.2%), though 30.6% selected “None of these,” up from 19% in 2022.
Cohort trends: Newer EAs rely more on 80,000 Hours and virtual programs, while older cohorts report more value from personal connections, local groups, and GiveWell.
Demographic variation: Women and non-white respondents are more likely to value 80,000 Hours (especially the website and job board), virtual programs, and newsletters; white respondents more often cite personal contact and GiveWell.
Engagement differences: Highly engaged EAs benefit more from personal contact, in-person events, and EA Forum discussions, while low-engagement EAs lean on more accessible sources like GiveWell, articles, and Astral Codex Ten—and are much more likely to report no recent new connections.
Long-term trends: Despite some changes in question format over the years, the core drivers of impact and connection—especially interpersonal contact and key EA organizations—remain relatively stable across surveys.
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.