Simon FLINT

Main Cause Areas of Interest in EA:

• Global health & development

Interested in almost all other EA cause areas and attempting to learn more.

How did you first get involved with the EA community?

Having wondered for years “why has no one created a movement to express Peter Singer’s ideas?”, I found Wanyi Zeng, Kyle Tan and co through facebook, and a later meet-up in 2016.

How has Effective Altruism influenced you in your journey of trying to do the most good?

Initially, I signed the GWWC pledge, and switched my passive giving from large established global development charities to Against Malaria Foundation, etc. I Reconciled myself to “earning to give”.

Later I thought “why not try to apply these principles to giving in Asia?”, which became especially important when I joined the Asia Philanthropy Circle (APC). This led to founding the APC’s 1000-Days Fund with fellow members, and co-founding a separate local NGO, the 1000-Days Fund.

What interests you the most about being a part of the EA community?

It’s inspiring to be part of a movement - meeting and learning from great/kind people like Wanyi Zeng, Xuan, Kyle, Pooja, Will MacAskill, Luke Ding, etc.

EA is a source of excellent idea & principles in health and development work.

I’m also interested in helping to introduce EA ideas to the Asia Philanthropy Circle.

What would you like to see more in your EA community?

Greater understanding of the importance of means as well as ends. Too often I feel that people/personal relationships are considered subservient to a greater EA agenda (at a senior EA level, not locally). This is uncomfortable and this seems counter-productive in the cause of wider acceptance of EA.

Can you share your own giving journey with us?

Prior to joining EA, I gave a random percentage of my earnings to (fairly) random causes. I gave time to volunteer as a teacher, hospital visitor. This was awesome, but…

… after joining EA I resolved to give away ~50% of my wealth, and target to more effective global health causes. I gave my time to helping the 1000-days fund NGOs in Indonesia, as it was closer to EA ideals and is my comparative advantage.

What would you advise someone who is keen on giving more effectively?

Start out by giving 50% of your targeted giving sum to EA causes, but also allow yourself to give away to things that grab you more emotionally.

If you have the time, get involved in the day-to-day running/volunteering at an NGO. It’s useful to know what works in practise and in specific contexts as well as the theory.

Can you share one (random) fact which you think most people would not know about?

I was happiest working on Hindi-film sets in the late-80s, not following the birth of my children (my daughter is watching me type this).