CEA’s work on diversity, equity, and belonging

Posted 12 July, 2020 (updated 12 July, 2020)

We want to share updates about our work at CEA to support diversity, equity, and belonging in the EA community.

We recognize that work for racial justice and the Black Lives Matter movement have been underway around the world for years. The recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others drew the world's attention, but the problems of racism and white supremacy are historical and ongoing, not ones that come and go with the news cycle. Yet the current moment in the racial justice movement has also been a time when we have engaged more deeply with some of the painful realities of our society, and we've been moved to see others doing the same.

In June, we affirmed that "CEA is committed to building an EA community where racism is unacceptable, and where Black community members belong and are valued and respected. This is a commitment we make to community members from around the world, and a commitment that we recognize is both ongoing and no small task." In this context, CEA staff are continuing and growing our efforts to support diversity, equity, and belonging in the effective altruism community, at all levels of the movement.

We'd like to point readers to a few of our resources on related topics:

A message to community members, in light of global protests for racial justice
While CEA does not conduct research on donation opportunities or specific cause areas, we appreciate the research being done by partner organizations like Open Philanthropy and grantees, highlighted here and here
EAGxVirtual 2020 presentation: Building a diverse and inclusive movement
CEA's stance on diversity, equity, & belonging --- this is where you can see updates and more details on steps we've been taking

In January, our leadership team began working on CEA's diversity strategy with our staff, and in May we were joined by a consultant to explore effective approaches for increasing diversity, equity, and belonging in our community. We believe this work is important to the long-term health and success of effective altruism. As always, we are focused on impact and a global perspective, so we value developing our ideas carefully and thoughtfully. Currently, we are prioritizing our strategic planning process and identifying possible pilot projects. We believe this can lead us to substantive and impactful actions on an ongoing basis. This work remains a top focus for our organization, and a personal commitment for CEA's leadership.

While we focus on this strategic review process with advisors and staff, we aren't yet at the stage of soliciting additional external feedback, but we expect to solicit such feedback later on. If you are reviewing our work and have thoughts or questions you'd like to share in the meantime, please contact us here.