The Introductory EA Program

Learn the core ideas of Effective Altruism

Through this online course, you'll learn the key ideas of EA with a small group of like-minded people.

Guided by a facilitator, you'll gain access to curated materials and practical exercises to help you have a greater impact.

8 weeks

No fees

29 April - 23 June 2024

Online

Global Time Zone

Apply here by Sunday, April 7th! Apply here by Sunday, April 7th!

Improve the lives of others

Increase your impact

Learn new concepts, frameworks and counter intuitive ideas to help you have more impact in your career, donations and other projects.

Connect with people focused on impact

Meet like-minded people

Discuss a curated curriculum with other people who care deeply about improving the lives of others in the most effective ways they can.

How it works

The Introductory EA Program is a free online program open for anyone around the world to join.

8 week program
4-8 participants

You'll have weekly 1.5-hour discussions with a cohort of 4-8 participants and one facilitator.

1400 alumni in online group

Access a slack group with others who care about maximising their impact.

3.5 hours per week
2 hours prep

Before attending each discussion, you’ll spend roughly 2 hours completing a set of readings, podcasts or videos (and sometimes a brief written exercise).

1.5 hour discussions

Discuss the ideas you've read with your seminar and facilitator over video call.

Topics Covered

Questions You'll Explore

  • Who should we care about helping?
  • How much better are the best options to do good?
  • What can we do to prevent the next pandemic?
  • How can we make better decisions together?
  • How does climate change compare to other risks?

Curriculum

Week 1

The Effectiveness Mindset

We’ll explore why it's important to think carefully about how you spend your time and money to help others, and why a "scout mindset" is critical to finding the best opportunities.

Week 2

Differences in Impact

Some efforts to help appear to be much more effective than others. We'll share a tool for estimating impact, and look into one promising focus area: reducing global poverty.

Week 3

Radical Empathy

Should we care about the suffering of non-human animals, as well as humans? Alongside this question, we'll explain the ideas of expected value and impartial altruism.

The Introductory EA Program

Learn the core ideas of Effective Altruism

8 weeks

No fees

29 April - 23 June 2024

Online

Global Time Zone

Apply here by Sunday, April 7th! Apply here by Sunday, April 7th!

Alumni

See how people around the world are taking action after learning more about Effective Altruism.

Luca, Founder & Content Creator at School Of Thinking

Received grant to build longtermist community in Italy

Received a grant to leave management consultant job and work as a content creator full time with his project: School of Thinking.

Vlad, Robotics Mechanical Engineer at NASA

Started a workplace group at NASA

Founded an EA group at NASA to help colleagues have more impact through donations, volunteering, and project choices.

Denisse, Software Engineer at Meta in Zurich, Switzerland

Volunteered for ‘Effective Institutions’

Earning to give at Meta, organized “Giving Month” project raising more than $40k. Also volunteering opportunity with “Effective Institutions Project.”

Sydney, Stanford junior studying biomedical computation

Launched workshops on longtermism

Sydney started a summer program to find talented high school students and help them tackle existential risks.

Michael, Stanford studying CS and Earth Systems

Founded the Stanford Alternative Protein Project

Michael founded a student group dedicated to advancing products with the potential to make factory farming obsolete.

Buhle, University of Cape Town graduate and intern at Vodafone

Advocated to improve food fortification in South Africa

Organised various EA events and began an advocacy project to improve food fortification in South Africa (in collaboration with FFI).

Find out about the latest opportunities

We’ll send a monthly update with the available programs and application deadlines.

Join a global
network

1000+

Learners

50+

Countries

The Introductory EA Program

Learn the core ideas of Effective Altruism

8 weeks

No fees

29 April - 23 June 2024

Online

Global Time Zone

Apply here by Sunday, April 7th! Apply here by Sunday, April 7th!