Earlier this year, I wrote that Open Philanthropy was looking for someone to help us direct funding for our newest cause area:
We are searching for a program officer to help us launch a new grantmaking program. The program would support projects and organizations in the effective altruism community (EA) with a focus on improving global health and wellbeing (GHW) […] We’re looking to hire someone who is very familiar with the EA community, has ideas about how to grow and develop it, and is passionate about supporting projects in global health and wellbeing.
Today, I’m excited to announce that we’ve hired a Program Officer who exemplifies these qualities: James Snowden.
About James
James spent his last 5+ years as a researcher and program officer at GiveWell; in the latter role, he led GiveWell’s work on policy and advocacy. Before GiveWell, he worked at the Centre for Effective Altruism and as a strategy consultant. He holds a B.A. in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University and an M.Sc. in philosophy and economics from the London School of Economics.
You can hear a sample of how James thinks in this podcast interview, and read some of his work on GiveWell’s blog.
What James might work on
We’ve already made a few grants to EA projects that were highly promising from a GHW perspective, including Charity Entrepreneurship (supporting the creation of new animal welfare charities) and Founders Pledge (increasing donations from entrepreneurs to outstanding charities).
Areas of potential interest include:
- Increasing engagement with effective altruism in a broader range of countries
- Encouraging charitable donations to effective organizations working in GHW-related areas
- Incubating new ideas for highly impactful charities
- Creating resources to facilitate impactful career decisions within GHW
We still have a lot of growth ahead of us and will be expanding to start more programs in the coming months and years — check out our jobs page if you’re interested in helping drive that growth!