WANBAM

Effective Altruism is about answering the question, "How can we use our resources to help others the most?" We believe that to solve this question, we need incredible people with a diversity of skills and perspectives.

We started WANBAM because we identified an opportunity for a high-leverage, positive impact. In 2019, 71% of respondents to the EA Survey reported their gender as male. Additionally, the survey found women twice as likely to cite a lack of diversity or welcomingness as a barrier to greater involvement in EA. Personal contact was overwhelmingly the most important factor for retention, especially for women. This pointed toward the value of mentorship to complement and support EA community-building efforts in attracting and retaining dedicated, talented people.

WANBAM was founded with the aim of inspiring and supporting women, trans people of any gender, and non-binary people pursuing high-impact career paths. Since late 2019, we have matched and facilitated the mentoring of over 230 people. Our mentor base has quickly grown to over 90 people from a diversity of organizations. You can find out more about our successes, challenges, and opportunities for impact in Kathryn, our CEO’s talk at EAGX Asia Pacific, below.