Effective Altruism Foundation

What Effective Altruism Foundation does

The Effective Altruism Foundation (EAF) was a non-profit project incubator founded in 2012 and registered in Basel, Switzerland (Stiftung für Effektiven Altruismus) with a parallel German registered association based in Berlin (Stiftung für Effektiven Altruismus e.V.) and a UK office in London. Operating at the intersection of science and ethics, EAF implemented and spun off projects aimed at reducing evidence-based suffering across global poverty, animal welfare, and long-term AI risk. Core program lines included the Center on Long-Term Risk (founded 2013, spun off late 2021), Raising for Effective Giving (REG, founded 2014, raising $14M+ from poker professionals at a 29:1 fundraising ratio), Sentience Politics and Sentience Institute (both spun off in 2017), the Wild Animal Initiative (formed 2019 from a merger), tax-deductible donation facilitation across CHE/DEU/NLD (raising over €19M for effective charities between 2014 and 2021), seven policy papers published between 2013 and 2019, and the 2016 Zurich ballot initiative that in November 2019 secured a 70% approval vote to roughly triple Zurich's annual development cooperation budget.

EAF's business model was that of a charitable foundation and project incubator: it did not charge for services or sell products, instead facilitating tax-deductible donations for donors in Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands via partnerships with Effektiv Spenden and Giving What We Can, and processing payments through GoCardless, Stripe, and PayPal. The foundation employed 101–250 staff and operated with a community-led go-to-market approach, relying on 30+ local EA groups across the DACH region, EAGx conferences (Basel 2015, Berlin 2016 and 2017), earned media (150+ German-speaking press appearances between 2014 and 2019), policy papers, and partnerships with the Centre for Effective Altruism and the German Effective Altruism Network. Governance was vested in a Foundation Council led by President Ruairi Donnelly and Vice President Lukas Gloor, with David Althaus serving as President of EAF Switzerland during the wind-down.

As of 16 December 2024 EAF Switzerland is in formal liquidation under liquidator Daniel Kestenholz, and EAF Germany is no longer active as of 2025; the Center on Long-Term Risk now carries forward a similar mission as an independent UK-based charity, with the German EA Network and Centre for Effective Altruism continuing regional outreach.

Name

Effective Altruism Foundation

Legal name

Stiftung für Effektiven Altruismus (Effective Altruism Foundation)

Website

https://ea-foundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Effective Altruism Foundation was a Basel-based non-profit project incubator (founded 2012, now in liquidation) that ran evidence-based programs to reduce global poverty, animal suffering, and AI-related long-term risks, facilitating over €19M in tax-deductible donations and spinning off projects including the Center on Long-Term Risk and Raising for Effective Giving.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Non-profit Foundation and Charitable Giving Facilitation

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB), Social Justice & Human Rights Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAN)

Keywords

• Nonprofit project incubation
• Evidence-based philanthropy
• Donation facilitation services
• Suffering reduction research
• Effective altruism community

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

The Effective Altruism Foundation operated as a non-profit project incubator that implemented and spun off evidence-based projects aimed at reducing suffering. Its core offerings were the facilitation of tax-deductible donations to highly-effective charities (over €19 million between 2014 and 2021), career and donation advice for individuals in the effective altruism community, fundraising initiatives targeting poker professionals (REG), and incubation of independent research projects on AI long-term risk and animal welfare.

Product overview

The Effective Altruism Foundation was a project incubator focused on reducing suffering through evidence-based approaches. It operated as a family of non-profit organizations that implemented and spun off various projects including the Center on Long-Term Risk (AI safety research), Raising for Effective Giving (fundraising platform), policy papers on global issues, and support for animal welfare initiatives. EAF also facilitated tax-deductible donations across multiple countries. The organization is no longer active as of 2025, with its mission carried forward by the Center on Long-Term Risk.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Tax-Deductible Donation Facilitation Service enabling donors from Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands to support effective charities globally with tax benefits. Raised over €19 million for highly-effective charities between 2014 and 2021. The service processed payments via Stripe, GoCardless, and PayPal and issued annual tax receipts in compliance with each jurisdiction's requirements.
• Raising for Effective Giving (REG) Fundraising initiative that spread effective giving among poker professionals, including notable donors such as 2014 poker world champion Martin Jacobson and corporate partner PokerStars. Since inception, advised over 500 donors and raised over $14 million for effective charities with project expenses of just over $500,000.
• Career and Donation Advice Personalized coaching and advice service for individuals in the effective altruism community, including career planning for students and donation advice for high-net-worth individuals. Over 80 coaching sessions were conducted in 2018 and 2019, resulting in 66 expected impact-adjusted significant plan changes.

Quantifiable outcome

• Raised over €19 million for effective charities (2014-2021)
• +3 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• Wild Animal InitiativemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Result of 2019 merger between Utility Farm and Wild Animal Suffering Research (an EAF project); focuses on reducing suffering of animals in natural ecosystems
• Sentience InstitutemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Research division spun off from Sentience Politics in 2017; EAF provided initial funding; researches strategies to expand humanity's moral circle
• Raising for Effective Giving (REG)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Founded by EAF in 2014 to spread effective giving among poker professionals; raised over $14 million for effective charities
• Center on Long-Term Risk (CLR)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013Founded by EAF in 2013; became independent in late 2021; EAF continues to provide support by collecting donations and conducting activities on its behalf; CLR focuses on reducing risks of astronomical suffering (s-risks) from advanced AI
• Sentience PoliticsmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013Launched by EAF in 2013 as a political think tank focused on reducing suffering for non-human animals; became independent in 2017; launched several successful ballot initiatives on animal welfare
• 1PasswordminorOthersProvided free or discounted services to EAF as acknowledged in their imprint page
• GoCardlesscoreTechnology or IntegrationPayment processor used for direct debit donations; fees are low and they can track payments with less effort
• GoogleminorOthersProvided free or discounted services to EAF as acknowledged in their imprint page
• SlackminorOthersProvided free or discounted services to EAF as acknowledged in their imprint page
• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationPayment processor used for credit card donations
• PayPalcoreTechnology or IntegrationPayment processor option for donations
• PipedriveminorOthersProvided free or discounted services to EAF as acknowledged in their imprint page
• Effektiv SpendencoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorManages tax-deductible donations for Swiss and German taxpayers; EAF redirected donations to this platform as of November 2021
• Giving What We CancoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPlatform enabling tax-deductible donations for donors in USA and Netherlands; EAF project CLR is listed on their platform
• Centre for Effective AltruismcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerContinues outreach activities in German-speaking area after EAF's closure
• German Effective Altruism NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerContinues outreach activities in German-speaking area after EAF's closure

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• GiveWell: Non-profit focused on identifying and recommending highly cost-effective charities for donors — the most direct peer to EAF's evidence-based donation facilitation work and the de facto standard for effective giving research that EAF's infrastructure helped channel donations toward.
• Animal Charity Evaluators: EA-focused charity evaluator for animal welfare organizations — directly comparable to EAF's Sentience Politics and Wild Animal Initiative work on evidence-based animal welfare grantmaking.
• Open Philanthropy: Large EA-aligned grantmaking foundation making hundreds of millions in grants across global health, animal welfare, and AI safety — the same cause portfolio EAF incubated, and a natural co-funder of the projects EAF spun off.
• 80,000 Hours: EA-focused career advisory organization that provides the type of one-on-one career coaching EAF offered (66 impact-adjusted significant plan changes from 80+ sessions). Highly comparable mission around evidence-based career decisions for impact.
• Founders Pledge: Non-profit encouraging tech entrepreneurs and high-earners to pledge a portion of their income or proceeds to effective charities. Closely comparable to EAF's REG project in targeting high-earning professionals (poker, tech) for high-leverage giving.
• Giving What We Can: EA community of donors pledging to give a portion of income to effective charities and a tax-deductible donation platform partner that EAF explicitly used to route US and Netherlands donations for the CLR project.
• Centre for Effective Altruism: Global hub organization for the effective altruism community, explicitly noted as continuing EAF's outreach activities in the German-speaking region after EAF's closure. Closely overlaps on community building, conferences (EAGx), and donor education.
• Center on Long-Term Risk: Research charity founded by EAF in 2013, now operating independently and carrying forward a similar mission per EAF's own website. Direct successor on AI safety and s-risks research — the primary active inheritor of EAF's work.
• Sentience Institute: Think tank researching strategies to expand humanity's moral circle, originally spun off from EAF's Sentience Politics in 2017 and now operating independently. Same research agenda on long-termist animal advocacy.

Broad incumbents

• Machine Intelligence Research Institute: Established AI safety research organization in the EA ecosystem focused on technical alignment research. Comparable cause area to CLR (EAF's AI safety spinoff) and overlapping funder base, though MIRI focuses specifically on mathematical alignment rather than s-risks.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/EA_Stiftung

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Effective Altruism Foundation