Nice ideas here Sebastian. I wanted to clarify what you mean by professional core groups, the example you gave of EA London’s finance community sounds like a professional group within a local group. In my view the current challenge is that many cities don’t even have community groups at all much less the ability to subdivide based on profession.
I think it makes sense for EA to build community both along the lines of geography but also in professions (without respect to geography) e.g. EA’s in Healthcare. Of these two I think the priority should be the former because it gives people a far stronger sense of engagement and community.
You correctly identified the difficulty in building sustainable local groups is that no one is responsible for maintaining them. EA should move towards setting up professional community builders in key cities to keep EA’s spiritually tied to the movement even if they aren’t working in the top orgs. I imagine a lot of people are hesitant at this idea because they view it as wasted resources but I suspect that’s wrong and that these groups will become net financial contributors to the movement.
I love all the self-reflection that has been happened in EA recently regarding what should everyone be doing. I agree that earning to give shouldn’t be the person’s primary involvement in EA.
I think EA needs to further develop cause areas to encompass wider domains e.g. as a resident in SF I want to know what are the most effective causes and solutions for the USA, for California, and for my city. I think having these domains will both grow the tent of people in EA and also opportunities to contribute. Things like global catastrophic risk is probably always going to be a niche field for direct work.
Such a structure would also form a natural hierarchy from localized issues → universal issues.