Open Philanthropy University Organizer Fellowship

University Organizer Fellowship

Apply here if you’re organizing a group and want funding for your time spent organizing, university group expenses, and (if you’re a group leader) other organizers working 10 hours per week or less.

• If you’re a new organizer, we recommend you use this form to apply for funding for the first time.

Request for university group funding

Apply here if you just want funding for group expenses, and (if you’re a group leader) other organizers working 10 hours per week or less.

• If you’re an organizer we’ve already funded, we recommend you use this form if you want additional funding for your group.

General application for university projects

Apply here if you want funding for a university student-focused project that doesn’t fit cleanly into the categories above.

This fellowship provides funding for individuals (both students and non-students), who want to work part or full-time directing or supporting university student groups focused on topics relevant to improving the long-term future, including effective altruism, longtermism, rationality, or specific cause areas. Individuals are eligible for funding at any college or university and may apply without a particular university in mind. 

You can find more of our thinking on this program — including why we’re running the program, details on the program’s scope, and how we’re thinking about evaluating organizers — in this post and comment section on the Effective Altruism Forum.

Fellows receive:

• Funding starting in the following ranges for full-time organizers, pro-rated for part-time organizers:
  • In the US: $45,000 – $80,000 per year for undergraduates, and $60,000 – $95,000 per year for non-undergraduates (including those no longer at university).
  • In the UK: £31,800 – £47,800 per year for undergraduates, and £35,800 – £55,900 per year for non-undergraduates.
  • Funding amounts in other countries will be set according to cost-of-living and other location-specific factors.Exact funding amounts will depend on a number of factors, including city-specific cost-of-living, role, track record, and university.

• Dedicated funding for group expenses, commonly ranging from $5,000 to $100,000+ per year, depending on the group’s funding needs.
• (For organizers working 15 hours per week or more:) $3,000 per year to spend on personal productivity improvements and travel to relevant conferences and workshops. We may adjust this number for locations outside of the US and UK.

Fellows working full-time in the US will additionally receive a $14,050 annual health insurance stipend.¹

Apply here for the university organizer fellowship. If you would like to request additional funding for your group without applying for the fellowship, please fill out this shorter form.

Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis.

If you have any questions, email us.

If you have any feedback about this page or this program, we’re really interested in hearing it– let us know (anonymously, if you want) on this short feedback form.

This fellowship supports both students and non-students who want to work part- or full-time supporting university groups.

We are interested in supporting work on a wide variety of student groups, including those focused on:

• Effective altruism
• Longtermism
• Existential risk reduction
• Rationality
• Slate Star Codex / Astral Codex Ten
• Forecasting
• Specific cause areas or career paths, including biosecurity, potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence, and transformative technology policy.
• Others similar or related to the above

Candidates may indicate general interest in directing or supporting university groups without having a particular location in mind; we can suggest and discuss potential options during our evaluation process.

Applicants starting new effective altruism groups may be interested in applying for the University Group Accelerator Program, a remote program run by the Centre for Effective Altruism that can help people transition from “a couple of interested organizers” to “a mid-sized EA group”.

Applicants may also be interested in looking at the EA Student Groups Handbook and EA Groups Resource Centre for existing resources on running university groups.

Apply here for the full fellowship, and here for additional university group funding only (available to fellows or non-fellows).

Group leaders may ask for funding for organizers working less than 10 hours per week using either form above, rather than having those organizers fill out a separate application.

The fellowship application asks for:

• Background information about you
• How many hours you expect to work per week (minimum 10 hours total over the course of the semester)
• Ideal funding duration
• If you are interested in a specific group:
  • What group you would like to work on
  • A brief description of the role or activities you expect to perform
  • Any past experience relevant to your role above
  • (Optional) If you’re a group leader, whether you want to ask for funding for group organizers working less than 10 hours per week
  • (Optional) How much additional funding your group could use and what you would use it for
• If you are not interested in a specific group:
  • Your preferences over groups to work with
  • Your ideal role(s) in a group
  • Any past experience relevant to your ideal roles above
• (Optional) References

If you pass our initial screen, we will follow up with next steps, which may include requests for written or video answers to application questions, or an invitation to have an interview with an Open Philanthropy staff member.

We expect to make final decisions on most applicants within three weeks of receiving their applications, with some applications taking up to six weeks. We are able to make decisions more quickly for applicants who indicate time-sensitivity on their applications. We generally expect the evaluation process to be significantly shorter and faster for applicants with past experience doing university organizing for the kinds of groups funded by this fellowship.

Can I apply to this fellowship if I don’t want to work on my university group full-time?

Yes! Most of the grants we make are to individuals (largely students) working 15 hours per week or less.

How many organizers are you willing to fund per group?

We’re happy to fund any number of organizers per group (as long as each person is working more than 10 hours total over the course of the semester).

If I apply and get rejected, is there a “freezing period” where I can’t apply again?

We don’t have an official freezing period, but we generally won’t spend time reevaluating someone within 3 months of when they last applied, unless they indicate on the application that something significant has changed in that time.If you’re considering applying, we encourage you to not to wait; in the vast majority of cases, we think it won’t make a difference whether someone applies now or a month from now.

Should I have prior experience doing group organizing or running relevant projects before applying?

No – prior experience can be a plus, but it’s definitely not necessary, and it’s generally not the main factor in deciding whether or not to fund someone.

See answers to more commonly asked questions in our “Ask Me Anything” post.