I’d like to devote my career to serving the world and its inhabitants. Currently working to reduce the suffering of farmed animals. I’m interested in many EA topics in general and always happy to connect to like-minded and non-like minded individuals ;)
SofiaBalderson
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What We Learned Spinning Out a Project (From Hive to Sentient Futures)
How I learn languages: A practical guide from someone who has done it six times
Lessons from My First Year as an Executive Director
I agree, I was speaking to @Jordan Pieters 🔸 about this and I think it’s often unclear whether an EAG or an EAGx is valuable for animal advocates as you can’t see the talks or attendees (I appreciate attendees provide most value at such networking events and it’s hard to see who is going before people have committed to going). Since there are now many more animal welfare-only conferences, I think it’s easier for people to just go to those rather than attend EAGs if they are not sure that it will be relevant for them. To be clear, I think most EAGs will have enough animal welfare attendees for you to meet, but it’s not immediately clear when the conferences are advertised, and it’s also harder to calculate the value of the attending the conference without this knowledge.
Hive’s 2025 in Review and 2026 Plans and Funding Needs
Nice post, thanks for writing it Michelle. Speaking to multiple referees is a good tip.
I especially appreciate the advice to speak to learn about the org you will be joining and the people you will be working with. Very underrated advice. Usually people are so happy to accept the offer, while they should really try to jump on calls with some future collaborators and speak to former employees (which as you said is doubly effective as these people usually have nothing to hold back).
I’d say do mention this when applying for early stage orgs (e.g. AIM or AIM incubated charities) and they really value this attitude. For orgs which don’t have a budget or have a very small budget, it would make a huge difference to hire someone who is good and doesn’t cost too much. Also it may mean that in some cases you will be hired over some people simply because you are the best in that range of pay (assuming you are).
I’d say that for bigger, more established orgs it shouldn’t make a difference, as 30-50k probably don’t matter to them as much as hiring the very best person, especially for harder to hire roles, so they are more likely to choose someone a bit better than you even if they have to pay them a fully salary. I probably won’t mention this until the interview, where I’d ask them what salary sacrifice or payroll donation options they have because that’s something that you’d like to do.
Also should you get a job where you end up getting paid a lot less than everyone else, ideally give your employer plenty of notice (e.g. 3-6 months), because once they start relying on you, it may take them ages to not just find someone to replace you but to also fundraise for the normal salary, assuming they don’t have it in the budget. And for a small org it can be very stressful. Sure it’s the leadership responsibility to account for that ideally, but it can be very helpful to plan, especially considering some smaller non-profits don’t have long runways.
On a personal note, I’m unsure what your financial situation is, but I’d also consider making sure that you have enough savings to last you should you lose your impactful job (e.g. 12-24 months of expenses), as it can take ages to find a new one even if you have more experience. You can also use this time to volunteer as I personally found it invaluable for my org when people who are well-off financially could volunteer 20-40h. It made a huge difference to us in the first few years.
I agree with Rebecca, and I also really appreciated the thoughtful points from Julia Wise and DenkerBerger.
I wanted to add a few personal reflections, replying to your post and your comment.
In practice, I don’t think EA funders are likely to provide ongoing grants to people whose productivity has significantly declined. Funding is usually tied to impact, not years of service. That’s why I think it’s our personal responsibility to prepare for retirement, rather than expecting the movement to support us later in life.
I used to think similarly to you — that climate change or other global risks might make saving for retirement pointless. But when I looked more closely at the data, I realised that’s not certain at all. I started contributing to a pension and found it can actually be very tax-efficient (in the UK, it can save up to nearly 50% of what you’d otherwise pay in tax).
If you start early, you don’t need to contribute much — even 3–5% can make a big difference over time, plus your workplace is likely to match it, so it’s “free money”. I regret not starting sooner because now I have to contribute more to catch up.
I also agree with Julia that life can change a lot as you age. You may want to help a family member or do an unpaid project you are passionate about. Also, when you’re older, health issues or other needs may come up more often. My father-in-law recently needed a £16k hip replacement and had to remortgage his house to pay for it. Having savings for unexpected expenses like that can be life-changing.
Another reason I want to be financially stable in later life is that it gives me more freedom to choose how to make an impact — for example, mentoring younger people, helping a new charity get started, or volunteering on my own terms.
I know it can feel discouraging to think about aging or being less productive, but many people find new ways to contribute meaningfully later in life. Having some financial security can make that easier and less stressful.
Some people may be able to rely on family support or inheritance, but for most of us, starting early with small pension contributions may be a good choice.
Thanks for posting about this Julia. This was very nice to read when I got ill recently before a conference. It felt like I was the only one who was struggling and missing out on my normal attendance, and then when I shared I wasn’t at 100%, people also shared how they had all kinds of health issues, had to leave the conference early, or have been struggling for a while and how it affected their work and life. I think it’s easy to feel like you’re the only one and thus feel lonely in your struggles, while we are all human and the vast majority of us will go through human problems. In the end I attended the conference but had to ask for help/some accommodation to my needs and everyone was so kind, understanding and helpful. I think sharing, as much as you can and feel is appropriate, can help you feel less alone and let others help you if possible.
Important point RE volunteers! I can be much faster to just do things yourself than to train a completely new person. With volunteers it can be hit and miss, but sometimes you can stumble upon a reliable volunteer, especially for short-term projects!
Hey Jacob, thanks a lot for reading and your comment!
I relate to your answers, especially about the person signalling that it’s ok to come to them with certain questions or ask for help. My own favourite is “Have a low bar for reaching out” which has worked in some cases.
And also funny that people don’t give that great of advice! I have found that it’s worth asking for advice sometimes just to see if there is anything you don’t know, and if you keep hearing the same advice from experts it means you may have heard most of what you need to know.
Can totally relate to asking your partner for help, I find that my husband has great judgement even on work things even though he doesn’t work in the movement and doesn’t have a similar job.
Definitely! I also thought that the drawback of these houses is that they are not very accessible to people with families, so it may put some experienced professionals off.
Another lighter version of this idea is for these people to find a job that pays their bills with working 20h a week and dedicate 20h for exploration (or another allocation, e.g. 10h a week).
Maybe ask for help more?
As a thought experiment I really like this idea. Practically the way it’s currently described I’m unsure how this could compete with existing projects, especially in cause areas like animal welfare where funding is super limited.
I fall into the category of people you described (probably like the majority of people?): I can’t just drop everything and not work for 5 years to focus on a project that funders wouldn’t fund. In fact, I actually decided not to work on my project (Hive) back in 2022 when it was only a side project because I didn’t get funding for it, and then I was offered another (paid) job which was already in an impactful charity and just worked there. So Hive could have started a year sooner and maybe if we did, we would have made more impact, but maybe I did a better job a year later because I had more experience… Not sure.
RE idea: As far as I’m aware, some funders already offer this kind of funding but it’s shorter term than what you’re talking about (e.g. a year to just experiment on projects), and it’s definitely not an open application or even an invite-only application, and it’s based on getting on the radar of those funders (which I appreciate can also be due to privilege).
I think a more feasible version of your idea would be funding and promoting spaces like CEEALAR and Pause house where accommodation and food is paid for. People literally get “a room of one’s own”. Some places even offer a small stipend for expenses. Because of their cost-effective model, it’s not that expensive to fund a person for a few years as paying them a full-time salary. The only problem is Blackpool is not exactly an international hub, and you do have to share a living and working space with others, but I guess for the purposes of your idea, they can just retreat and focus on experimenting with various projects.
Thanks for writing and cross posting it Max, I think feedback giving in an underrated skill in the movement which we all should practice more. In my previous jobs I found that I almost never heard from my manager what they thought about my work overall apart from the annual performance review time, and I can imagine that reading the general assessment on a weekly basis can make you feel more confident especially if you made a mistake that week. I think many managers think that the reports can “read their minds” but making “the implicit explicit” and separating local and global feedback can be very beneficial to ensure the report has a chance to improve or has confidence they are doing great work.
I will follow your Substack and hope you cross post more!
I’ve been using DoneThat for a few months and it was amazing to see an accurate picture of how many hours I work and what I did, and how often I switch between tasks. All that without having to track time! I realised I work too many hours so it helped me to work more sustainably. Also really nice to see how long each task took, sometimes I think “oh I think that was an two-hour task” and then I look at DoneThat and it shows as a 3 or 4 hour task because of other smaller sessions, which is useful to know.
I am not Asian but fit the other criteria and I really relate. It’s half the battle to recognise it in yourself and then another one to do something (like more self-care, boundaries) to actually address is which is not easy! Thanks for posting about this Angel!
Solid advice, concisely put!
I think you may have chosen this title for emphasis, but I would say that applying for jobs can still work and I wouldn’t recommend people to just stop completely, but I agree it’s longer timelines and much lower chances. If I were looking for a job now, I think I would spend 10% applying for jobs and all the rest of the time increasing my surface area for serendipity and doing directly what you’re talking about.