I’m currently a co-director at EA Netherlands (with Marieke de Visscher). We’re working to build and strengthen the EA community here.
Before this, I worked as a consultant on urban socioeconomic development projects and programmes funded by the EU. Before that, I studied liberal arts (in the UK) and then philosophy (in the Netherlands).
Hit me up if you wanna find out about the Dutch EA community! :)
Yeah they’re definitely not (currently) promoting E2G. In fact, IIRC, the chapter that explicitly discusses EA is quite negative about E2G-flavoured EA (primarily because of FTX).
Thanks for writing this Patrick!
While working on EA Netherlands’ annual report I wrote a small section about Rutger Bregman, the School for Moral Ambition, and how I now see EAN’s role in the Netherlands.
It’s been shared with other national organisers and with a few people in CEA, but I thought I’d post an edited version here in case it’s helpful to more people.
TL;DR: SMA is a more mainstream, career-focused offshoot: ~20 staff, three programs (outreach, community, fellowships), and an expanding audience. EA Netherlands is the nerdier cousin.
The last couple of years have seen some important changes in our operating environment, perhaps more so than in other countries. In 2022, there was a lot of hype around EA (both internationally and domestically). It was particularly big in the Netherlands because one of the country’s most prominent public intellectuals, Rutger Bregman, was beginning to advocate for it. He wrote several well-read articles for De Correspondent, discussed EA on his popular podcast, and spoke at several large events (including EAGxRotterdam).
However, this changed with the FTX scandal. By the middle of 2023, Bregman had withdrawn his wholehearted endorsement of the EA movement and had started work on his new initiative, the School for Moral Ambition (SMA). SMA launched in the Netherlands in 2024 and, while it clearly takes some inspiration from EA (alongside other movements), and several of the early key players have strong connections to EA, SMA has made significant efforts to distance itself from EA.
This has resulted in articles with headlines such as “Effective altruism is stumbling. Can ‘moral ambition’ replace it?”. On X, Bregman likens EA to the Quakers: very weird, but also very right about some of the most fundamental issues of our time. In his view, if EAs are the Quakers of the 21st century, SMAs are the Evangelicals: a movement that is broader and more ‘normie’.
In mid-2022, we thought Bregman might launch something that would result in a big spike in interest in EA in the Netherlands. By the end of the year, we no longer thought this was likely but we were unsure what exactly SMA would mean for the EA movement. This uncertainty continued throughout 2023. However, by the time we were making plans for 2024, we knew SMA wouldn’t focus on GCRs in the near future, so we made this one of our key priorities for 2024.
With SMA’s launch in 2024, we now have a more accurate picture. SMA has approximately 20 employees and three main programmes: outreach, community, and fellowships. Below is a brief description of each.
First, outreach. The accompanying book caused a big stir in the Netherlands, has already launched in Germany, and is launching in the US and UK in 2025. To give an idea of numbers, in one year they’ve gone from zero LinkedIn followers to 40,000. The book has been supplemented with marketing campaigns, media appearances, a podcast, etc. Their target audience is conventionally successful professionals: “You have a neat resume and a great job. You’re what people commonly call ‘successful.’ And yet, something gnaws at you. Does your work really make a difference? Are you using your talents for a good cause? Or has the world not really become a better place when you’ve checked off your to-do lists?”.
Second, community. This consists of an online platform, ‘Circles’, and events. A Circle is a group of six to eight people that help each other to explore how they can make the greatest impact through their work. They do so by going through the Circle programme (hosted on SMA’s website) together for 16 weeks and 8 sessions. Last I heard, 3,500 people have joined their online platform and approximately 700 people have taken part in a circle, with over 100 people taking a pledge to change their careers.
Third, fellowships. Modelled on Training for Good’s EU Tech Policy Fellowship, they’ve launched two fellowships. One combats the tobacco industry, the other aims to facilitate the transition to sustainable proteins.
So, what do I think this means for EA Netherlands?
While the School for Moral Ambition shares our commitment to prioritisation, impartial altruism, and open truthseeking, it (currently) remains limited to career guidance and does not focus on more unconvential issues such as GCR, wild animal welfare, digital sentience, etc. It is also more focused on professionals.Given this context, I now see EA Netherlands as the slightly weird and nerdy cousin of SMA (in a positive sense!). We provide a community for people who want to more rigorously explore how they can best contribute to highly neglected and sometimes unconventional causes with their careers, donations, and organising skills.
Right, I see how it can sound circular: ‘SMA isn’t EA because EA isn’t decentralised—yet SMA’s existence makes EA more decentralised, so SMA is now EA’. I’d say it’s less of a strict logical loop and more of a feedback thing. SMA can help broaden EA, but that process doesn’t instantly fold SMA into EA overnight.
Oh yes I agree.
Edit: I’ve written more about how I see EA Netherlands in relation to SMA here.
Thanks for sharing your experience! We at EA Netherlands have been thinking about final events lately. Could you share more specific details about what yours looked like? Agenda,vibes, etc.
Thank you for sharing this update! I’m interested in learning more about how you arrived at this decision, as we at EA Netherlands often encounter similar choices. Your insights could be really valuable for us.
Would you mind sharing a bit about your reasoning process?
Thanks again for keeping us informed!
Great articulation of something that’s very true!
FYI the School for Moral Ambition has a career pledge. Participants of their circle programme (like an intro fellowship but self-facilitated) are encouraged to take it at the end. AFAIK, over 100 people have taken it so far. Might be worth reaching out to them to see what they’ve learned? Niki might be a good person to contact. She manages the circle programme and was a volunteer at EA Netherlands before that.
Just to chime in as someone doing professional community building—these surveys are very useful for all of the reasons David just gave.
Yup, I agree. I just don’t want people to see these survey results and go ‘oh, awareness amongst the general pop and elite undergrads is low and, of those who are aware, most are positive, ergo EA doesn’t have a reputational issue’.
By ‘us’ I mean EA Netherlands. I probably shouldn’t say which orgs I’m talking about, sorry.
My sense is that it’s more of an issue in the US amongst the very online (the e/acc part of very online and the woke side of very online).
I believe all of that is true, but at the same time, I’m almost certain we’ve lost significant credibility with key stakeholders, and sometimes I worry this isn’t taken seriously enough. Friendly organisations have explicitly stated they do not want to publicly associate with us due to our EA branding, as the EA brand has become a major drawback among their key stakeholders, particularly in the United States.
Thanks for the boost Jessica!
I agree completely! However, I feel obliged to point out that some EAs I know intentionally play down their EA associations because they think it will harm their careers. Often, these people are thinking of working in government.
I weakly think this is a mistake for two reasons. Firstly, as Mathias said, because EA appears to be generally seen as a positive thing (similar to climate change action, according to this study). Secondly, I think Ord is right when he says we could do with more earnestness and sincerity in EA.
Alix, ex-co-director at EA Switzerland, wrote up some interesting thoughts on this general subject here.
Interesting take! Thanks for sharing :)
Thanks! Yeah, I thought maybe this was what Larks was referring to. Putting to one side the question of whether that was a valuable discussion or not, I wouldn’t put that in the same category as OP’s post. The Manifest discussion was about whether an organisation such as Manifest should give a platform to people with views some people consider racist, OP’s post is an analysis of the policy platform of a leading candidate in what is arguably the world’s most important election. I wouldn’t describe the former discussion as ‘political’ in the same way that I would describe the OP’s post. But perhaps others see it differently?
I think it’s unfortunate that critiques of EA are sometimes dismissed because they seem superficial or misinformed. While this might be true in many cases, it’s still important for us to observe—and perhaps even engage with—these criticisms.
Why?
It’s beneficial for people to have an accurate understanding of what we’re doing.
We are partly responsible for ensuring this is the case.
When critiques are inaccurate, they reveal how others perceive us, giving us an opportunity to improve our communication.
Therefore, reading and considering these critiques can help us refine our approach and better convey our work.
If you’re looking for the meta organisations Ben is talking about, you can see all of the city and national groups funded by the Centre for Effective Altruism’s Community Building Grants programme under the ‘Groups’ tab on this page. This is probably one of the bigger groupings of meta organisations (in terms of longterm stable funding). You also check Marieke’s mindmap for a bunch of other meta organisations.
Bregman is still listed as an ambassador for Doneer Effectief. He used to be heavily involved in the Tien Procent Club, but that’s no longer the case. Of course, you’re likely aware of the GWWC video he participated in. But these are all things that happened in the past.
As for SMA, the only thing they’ve done regarding EG was their collaboration with Doneer Effectief, us, and the Tien Procent Club for the recent sponsored walk. That was quite a big event, and several SMA staff members attended, but SMA didn’t make a particularly large contribution. I don’t think they’ll be involved this year. Beyond that, I don’t believe they engage with EG at all—though perhaps that will change.
Regarding the book, frustratingly, I can’t find my copy at the moment. The only part I recall is the section I mentioned previously on the Forum. That said, I hesitate to say it’s the only reference, as I might simply be more attuned to remembering the negatives.
EDIT: I forgot something! SMA did a podcast episode with the Director of Doneer Effectief, Bram. And whilst googling for that I came across this edition of their newsletter, which talks about EG.