Once you’ve decided to try and develop a great, impactful career, it can help to do it alongside others. Being part of an active community with similar goals can be a great source of motivation, insight, as well as potential career opportunities.
Most of the communities we list below are part of effective altruism – a social movement that uses evidence and reason to identify the most effective ways to help others.
You don’t need to be a part of any specific community to have a highly impactful and fulfilling career. But if you’re interested in meeting others with similar goals, effective altruism’s focus on positive impact means there’s quite a lot of people you can meet to help you in your journey.
Local effective altruism groups
One of the best ways to get involved with effective altruism is to join a local group near you, whether that’s in your country, city, or university. There are hundreds of these groups all over the world, full of other people trying to have a greater impact with their careers and charitable donations.
Check out this list to find a group near you!
Communities by cause area
The world is full of important problems you might tackle with your career. Here are a few communities that focus on specific cause areas.
Hive
Hive runs an active Slack channel for thousands of people working in animal advocacy. It’s great for people looking for both advice and opportunities to grow their network within animal welfare.
Effective Environmentalism
Alongside various resources, this organization runs a LinkedIn group for people interested in taking cost-effective action to solve climate change.
The Progress Forum
The Progress Forum is an online discussion board for people interested in how we can improve society in beneficial ways.
AI Alignment Forum
The AI Alignment Forum is a discussion board for many matters related to AI safety. It’s open to anyone and has frequent activity from high-profile professionals in the field.
PauseAI
PauseAI is a community of advocates pushing to halt the development of potentially dangerous AI technology.
Communities by profession
These communities are for people in specific professional fields who want to have a greater impact within them.
High Impact Medicine
A community that empowers medical students and doctors to maximize their positive impact alongside clinical practice through local chapters, fellowships, podcasts, and career advice.
Impactful Government Careers
Impactful Government Careers is run by civil servants to support skilled, impact-motivated individuals to help UK government institutions deliver positive outcomes. They have hub groups for various cause areas, as well as 1-1 advising services and seminars.
Consultants for Impact
A professional network helping prospective, current, and former consultants optimize their careers and donations by matching them with high-impact roles in policy, charity entrepreneurship, leadership, and beyond.
Psychology for Effective Altruism
A community inspired by how Psychology and Behavioral Sciences contribute to effective altruism cause areas, such as Global Mental Health Interventions, Community and Individual Wellbeing, and Meta-EA – interventions specifically for other effective altruists worldwide.
Data Science for Good
This is a Facebook group for people interested in using data science for positive impact. You can also check out the EA Data Science Slack group.
Effective Altruism Finance
A community of people working in finance who care about increasing their positive impact. They have meetups in London, New York and at EA Global conferences.
High Impact Engineers
This community provides resources to help people with engineering backgrounds use their skills to tackle important global issues. They have a network of other engineers with altruistic ambitions.
EA Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Community
This group is designed to bring together people interested in or working in Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning in the EA community.
Communities by affiliations
There are also several effective altruism groups that exist for people affiliated with different faiths, geographic backgrounds, and those from underrepresented demographics.
Magnify Mentoring
Magnify Mentoring connects and supports people, specifically those from underrepresented backgrounds, who are ambitious and rigorous in their altruism, to have a positive impact with their careers and lives. Their main offering is a mentorship program, and they also have a Slack community.
Altruismo Eficaz
This is an Effective Altruism subcommunity for Spanish speakers. They have various local groups and run a Slack.
Effective Altruism for Christians
Effective Altruism for Christians is a community of Christians engaged in effective altruism. They run events and discussion groups, and have an active Facebook group.
EA for Jews
EA for Jews is a group of people committed to sharing the ideas of effective altruism in the Jewish community and building a community of Jewish effective altruists.
Other impact-focused communities
These are other communities with a broad focus for people interested in impact.
The School for Moral Ambition
An organization that helps people who want to have a large, transformative, positive impact. They run a community platform as well as various fellowships.
Giving What We Can
Giving What We Can researches the most impactful organizations to donate to, runs a popular 10% Pledge, and hosts a Slack community for people who want to make their donations more impactful.
Ambitious impact
Ambitious Impact runs multiple programs for people who want to accelerate their career impact. Their programs include ones focused on nonprofit entrepreneurship, for-profit entrepreneurship, grantmaking, and high-impact research.
One for the World
One for the World is a nonprofit that encourages effective charitable giving and hosts a 1% income pledge towards effective charities working in global health and development.