Tom Ash

Your own material

More about me: 

I have worked for several non-profits, and was one of the first three employees of the Centre for Effective Altruism, where I handled the legal and financial setup and built the websites for Effective Animal Activism and Giving What We Can (of which I was an early member). I studied philosophy at Cambridge and then at Oxford, and then worked for openDemocracy and New Internationalist while also helping other organisations and campaigns. I'm currently working on effective altruist projects with Charity Science, including running this very site. For more details on all that see my CV.

I send roughly bimonthly updates on my main EA activities to around a hundred EAs who've asked to get these - if you would too, sign up here.

Your web links: 

• Contact me
• My CV
• My portfolio of work as a freelance web developer
• My writings at openDemocracy - old and of little interest
• My favourite music and ratings of TV shows and movies (these are harsh, to give myself a wide spread and thus maximum information)
• For more, see my 'Elsewhere on the web' section below

Donations

Pre-tax income in 2013: 

£18,800 (living on CAD $10,000/year since 2014 and donating the rest)

How much do you plan to donate?: 

I've pledged to give at least 10% of my income, and also aspire to give everything over £14,000 (~$22,000), the level I've maintained over the past few years

To which causes?: 

Global poverty

For how long?: 

Until I retire

Selected past donations: 

Amount	To	When
£8,750	Against Malaria Foundation	2012
£2,250	Schistosomiasis Control Initiative	2012
£5,842	Schistosomiasis Control Initiative	Late 2011 (start of my GWWC pledge)
£80	.impact fund.
£35.88	.impact fund.
£4,800	Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI)	2013

Donations I've helped influence: 

Amount	To	Donated by	When	Any details
>£5,400	Deworm the World	Donors to my personal Experience Poverty fundraiser	April 2015	<50% counterfactual
USD $20,000	GiveWell distribution	Anonymous	2015	100% counterfactual influence

Elsewhere on the web

Personal website: 

TogBlog

EA Forum: 

http://effective-altruism.com/user/Tom_Ash/

LessWrong: 

http://lesswrong.com/user/tog/overview/

EA Funding Network: 

https://gratipay.com/Tom%20Ash/

Offers and requests on SkillShare: 

http://skillshare.im/users/30

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/tog22

Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/tog22

LinkedIn: 

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/togash

Your views and values

Moral philosophy: 

Consequentialist/utilitarian (or think that this covers the most important considerations)

Causes you think you should devote resources to: 

Global poverty

Meta charities which direct resources to these causes

Actions you're taking to support these causes: 

Donating, EA work

You and EA

Year you first heard the term 'Effective Altruism': 

2012

Groups you're a member of: 

The 'Effective Altruists' Facebook group

Giving What We Can (you've taken the pledge)

LessWrong

The Life You Can Save (you've taken the pledge)

Which factors were important in 'getting you into' Effective Altruism, or altering your actions in its direction?: 

Giving What We Can

Organisations you've volunteered or worked for: 

80,000 Hours

Animal Charity Evaluators (formerly Effective Animal Activism)

Giving What We Can

The Life You Can Save

Number of friends who'd describe themselves as Effective Altruists: 

Over 20 friends

How you first heard about 'Effective Altruism': 

Giving What We Can

Your career

Planned career path: 

Direct charity/non-profit work

Current occupation or career: 

Work for Charity Science

LinkedIn: 

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/togash

Basic information

Highest level of education completed or currently pursuing: 

Master’s degree

Country: 

Canada

City: 

Vancouver

Religious beliefs: 

Atheist, agnostic or non-religious

Political views: 

Centre left

Might you be able to let EAs stay with you at the moment?: 

Yes