€30,000 to The Humane League via Effektiv Spenden (my company set up a campaign page: https://effektiv-spenden.org/knitters-for-animals

A core value of mine is to do good, per EA principles. This means I aim for a sustainable career where my personal fit can have the highest counterfactual impact. This has not been the case in the last few months.

A year ago, I wrote "It's OK to Have Unhappy Holidays" during a time when I wasn’t feeling great about the season myself. That post inspired someone to host an impromptu Christmas Eve dinner, inviting others on short notice. Over vegan food and wine, six people came together to share their feelings about the holidays, reflect on the past year with gratitude, and enjoy a truly magical evening. It’s a moment I’m deeply thankful for. Perhaps this could inspire you this year—to host a gathering or spontaneously reach out to those nearby for a walk, a drink, or a shared meal.

Reflections on Two Years at EA Germany

I'm stepping down this week after two years as co-director of EA Germany. While I deeply valued the team and helped build successful structures, I stayed too long when my core values and personal fit no longer aligned.

When I joined EAD, I approached it like the other organisations I’ve worked with, planning on staying 5-10 years to create stability during growth and change. My co-director, Sarah, and I aimed to grow EAD quickly and sustainably. But the FTX collapse hit just as I started in November 2022, and the dream of expanding the team disappeared.

This wasn’t the only challenge. I treated EAD as a single organisation rather than part of a global ecosystem where impact shouldn’t be geographically contained. I slipped into a “soldier mindset,” focused on proving EAD’s local value instead of prioritising international scalability or considering where I could provide the most impact.

By the end of my first year, I could see that I’d reached the end of what I was best at and passionate about. The organisation was running well, and my full-time input wasn’t needed anymore. But I stayed—because I felt so good with the team, because of my long-term commitment, and because I hoped we’d find a path to grow the organisation within Germany.

Meanwhile, I started consulting for Claire Boine at Successif. When she secured new funding to expand, I joined her team part-time. Instead of using this as a chance to leave EAD, I tried to balance both roles—while still running my company, serving as a trustee at EV UK, and mentoring on the side.

Looking back, this was my biggest mistake: I didn’t recognise that my counterfactual impact at EAD had become the lowest of all my commitments. Instead of staying true to my value of helping solve the most pressing problems as effectively as possible, I acted out of connection and obligation.

This experience has taught me to recognise when to step back and refocus on where my skills, passion, and impact align best.

I’m very grateful for the opportunity to work alongside Sarah Tegeler in building and leading the organisation with the invaluable support of Christiane Ranke and Milena Canzler. I also appreciate the backing of the EAD board, the CEA Groups team, my colleagues in the CBG program, and the many people—both within and outside the EA community—I had the privilege to work with.

Thank you! I like the framing and also having a template for planning concrete next steps, especially at the end of the year. I’ve shared the post in my local group and can imagine continuing to recommend it in future.

Thanks for the question. In 2024, our total annual spending for our core activities (not including Employer of Record, Fiscal Sponsorship, and EAGxBerlin) is expected to be around €360k.

I found the overview in this post useful: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xGqpQKf2FpjvwJe6q/ea-meta-funding-landscape-report

I pushed back the time to 3-5 pm as the conference starts at 5.

Reading RP's work in the last months and the posts for debate week has made me more inclined towards AW funding. 

Congratulations on the new organsations and finding the right people for the new boards. I'm happy to see this happen; all the best to the independent entities!