About Effective Altruism Netherlands

Mission

Our mission is to build a community of and for effective altruists in the Netherlands.

Vision

Our vision is of a Netherlands where all of those who are interested in effective altruism have access to the people and the resources they need to maximise the social impact they achieve through their careers, projects, and donations.

A notebook with a note on it that says "make it happen".

How we approach it

Build Local Communities

Seeding and supporting effective altruism groups and initiatives throughout the Netherlands

Connect Members

Connecting community members with one another and fostering engagement with the international community

National Presence

Creating and maintaining an active online and offline presence at the national level

Educational Programs

Running events and educational programmes accessible to everyone in the Netherlands

Career Impact

Helping people embark on high impact careers and maximize their potential for positive change

Dutch Resources

Coordinating the translation of key effective altruism materials into Dutch

Why we do it

Ultimately, we want to help build a radically better world. A world where humanity has solved pressing global problems – like global poverty, factory farming, and existential risk – and is prepared to face the challenges of tomorrow. We believe effective altruism has enormous potential to contribute to this (see our introductory essay for why we think this). Because of this, we think there is a strong case for taking the indirect approach of building the effective altruism community itself, rather than simply working directly on one of these pressing problems. This is for three reasons: the multiplier effect, flexibility, and neglectedness.

The multiplier effect

How could you double your lifetime impact? Consider the following two options: Embark on a highly impactful career with an effective charity. Embark on a highly impactful career with an effective charity, and help a friend do the same. The second path does more good – probably about twice as much – and this illustrates the power of promoting important ideas. By promoting effective altruism we can multiply our social impact because we will have increased the number of people who take effective actions to help others.

Flexibility

We don't know which global problems will be the most pressing in the future, or which interventions will best solve them. So, if we commit to something today, we might be wrong, and therefore have less impact in the long-term. Instead, it's useful to keep our options open. Building the effective altruism community is one way of doing this.

Highly neglected

The ideas of effective altruism only coalesced in the 21st century, and the term was only coined in 2012. It's currently highly neglected, and very few people know about it.

Leadership

James Herbert

Co-Director

James is originally from the United Kingdom and now lives in Amsterdam. Previously, he worked as a financial consultant for urban socio-economic development projects and programmes across Europe. He holds a bachelor's degree in liberal arts and a master's in philosophy.

Marieke de Visscher

Co-Director

Before joining EAN in this role, Marieke was a volunteer and board member at various foundations (EAN, Doneer Effectief, De Tien Procent Club, and OPIS). Prior to that, she worked as an implementation consultant in healthcare. She completed her secondary education in Singapore and studied Business Administration and Health Sciences in Amsterdam.