Gemma 🔸

Karma: 1,367

London GWWC group co-lead: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/london

Organiser of the EY Effective Altruism workplace group and EA London Quarterly Review coworking sessions.

Original EA Taskmaster https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/9qcnrRD3ZHSwibtBC/ea-taskmaster-game

In my day job, I’m an accountant turned product person in tax technology.

Gemma 🔸 2 May 2026 15:11 UTC
3 points
0 ∶ 0
on: People really care about something they call nature
Excited to read this series!
Anecdotally, I’ve had a few conversations with folks that had been put off EA because of its lack of concern for Nature/Biodiversity.
I personally don’t feel strongly about it so I struggled to empathize. I’m looking forward to learning more

Gemma 🔸 25 Apr 2026 12:28 UTC
66 points
6 ∶ 0
on: Gemma Paterson’s Quick takes
I just loved this from @Kelsey Piper on Twitter 🥺🥺 it’s so true and I never appreciated it before EA.
I really appreciate you all 🙏🏻
https://x.com/KelseyTuoc/status/2031989126522945761?s=20
--
My ancestors buried half their children. All mine are alive. My ancestors’ house had a dirt floor. Mine is wood. I have indoor plumbing, I have hot water, I have never in my life hauled a full bucket half a mile and I probably never will. Do you know how rare it is, in human history, for small children to wear shoes? Mine have multiple pairs. I can speak to my relatives who live thousands of miles away, for free, at any time. Video, if we want video. With machine translation, if we speak different languages.
The original Library of Congress had 740 books in it. I have more than that. If I run out of books in my home my local public library has 350,000. If I want to take a hundred books with me on vacation, they all fit on a device that fits in my purse.
I have heat in the winter and AC in the summer and a washing machine and I have never, ever, ever had to scrub a dress clean by hand in the stream. I can look up recipes from more than a hundred different countries and I’ve tried dozens of them. I ride a clean and modern train across my city for $4, or take a robot taxi if I’m out too late for the train. I donate $40,000 every year to the cause of getting healthcare to the world’s poorest people and even after the donations I never have to think about whether I can afford a book, or a pair of shoes, or a cup of coffee.
There is a great deal more to fight for, of course. I hope that our descendants will look back on our lives and list a thousand ways they’re richer. Maybe we ourselves will do that, if some of the crazier stuff comes true.
But the abundance is all around you and to a significant degree you aren’t feeling it only because fish don’t notice water.

Announcing the new Director of EA UK

Jessica Wen 🔸12 Feb 2026 12:26 UTC

104 points

9 comments1 min readEA link

Gemma 🔸 11 Feb 2026 11:07 UTC
4 points
0 ∶ 0
on: Some angel-on-the-shoulder AI tools
This is really cool—in particular, this reminds me of the resources that are provided by accountancy professional bodies, their codes of ethics and their professional support helpline. Being able to chat through a complex scenario would be helpful.

If someone is interested in building a POC and wants a preexisting set of existing professional standards, here the ICAS Code of Ethics, rules and helpsheets

Gemma 🔸 23 Jan 2026 16:48 UTC
6 points
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on: Gemma Paterson’s Quick takes
Reminder: claim tax relief on charitable donations (UK PAYE taxpayers)
If you:
1. Pay the higher rate of tax in the UK (earn over £50,271 or £43,663 in Scotland)
2. Don’t fill in a Self Assessment tax return (you pay tax automatically via PAYE)
3. Made donations that you claimed Gift Aid on in this or any of the previous 4 tax years
You can use this HMRC link to tell HMRC how much you’ve donated excluding Gift Aid and claim back the difference. More details in this evergreen post.
Practical tip
I set my Giving What We Can pledge tracking to run from 6 April to 5 April, which matches the UK tax year. That makes it easy to report the correct annual figure to HMRC.
Important notes / assumptions
- This does not apply if you donate through Give As You Earn (the relief is already applied).
- If you’re claiming relief on £10,000 or more of donations, you must also tell HMRC:
  - the date(s) of the donation(s)
  - which charity you donated to

Write your “Why I Donate” post | London Coworking

Gemma 🔸12 Dec 2025 12:32 UTC

18 points

0 comments1 min readEA link

Gemma 🔸 22 Oct 2025 16:20 UTC
9 points
0 ∶ 0
on: The First Global Accounting Standard for Nonprofits Just Launched — And It Might Actually Matter
Thanks for sharing—this was super helpful! It’s exciting that this is progressing!

Here’s a link to the full implementation guidance (for those that don’t want to share your email address).

I’d be curious what EA grantmakers and charity evaluators think of the harmonised grant reporting format? How does it compare to the existing reporting you request?

Gemma 🔸 5 Oct 2025 8:47 UTC
2 points
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on: EA Quarterly Review Coworking Q4 FY25
Hi folks, apologies I forgot to cancel this. I’ve moved to Glasgow and can’t host in London. I won’t be available to let people into LEAH.
As a consolation, I’m happy to host a virtual co-working session this afternoon at 2pm on the EA Gather town

Gemma 🔸 8 Sep 2025 20:08 UTC
3 points
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on: EA as Antichrist: Understanding Peter Thiel
Really interesting and unexpected read! Thanks for writing!
This made me giggle:
I sent a draft of this post to Thiel, who (reasonably) did not respond; probably some errors remain.

Gemma 🔸 4 Jul 2025 13:33 UTC
2 points
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on: EA Quarterly Review Coworking Q3 FY25
Due to the good weather, and following the principle that work expands to fill the time we give it, I’m shortening this event to run from 10:30am to 1pm.
My plan is that we’ll do four 25-minute Pomodoros during this time.

Looking forward to it folks!

Gemma 🔸 22 May 2025 17:50 UTC
2 points
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in reply to: Toby Tremlett🔹’s comment on: Introducing EA in a non-EA nonprofit
Hi both,
Yes I have attempted this at my former workplace and in the effective giving context—varying levels of success but I do have thoughts.
@Jeltsje Boersma I’d be happy to have a quick call about it—feel free to DM me on here

Gemma 🔸 2 Apr 2025 9:45 UTC
55 points
8 ∶ 2
on: Centre for Effective Altruism Is No Longer “Effective Altruism”-Related
“It’s like keeping all the benefits of a community while refusing to contribute to its future development or taking responsibility for its challenges. Win-win!”

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