Project summary

There are currently official 13 members in the EA Latvia community. It is probably much less than the number of people in Latvia that could be interested in EA ideas, because the total population of Latvia is 1.9M people. As a member of the European Union, Latvia provides high economic mobility to its citizens, therefore it could be useful to increase outreach among Latvians, especially students.

However, at the moment we are strained by volunteer time as all our efforts are volunteer based. Without any funding  no one has a possibility to work full-time or even part-time on the outreach. Thus a first step could be to perform some simpler outreach tasks and increase participant number in the EA Latvia to grow the size of the community for it to become self-sustaining. It is also necessary to simultaneously continue regular activities and discussions among existing members, to keep the community thriving and exciting to attend. Since the EA Latvia is currently very small, even miniscule increase in funding will make a difference!

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

Goal 1: Introduction of new members

Projects: Two introductory lectures (September and January)

KPI: 10 new members of EA Latvia NGO by the summer of 2025

Goal 2: Increasing the participation and motivation of existing and new members

Projects:
a. Support regular EA Latvia meetups
b. Retreat with neighboring EA Estonia community in September 2024

KPI: Regular participation in events increased to 10+ people per event. Event satisfaction rate 8+. 

Goal 3: Popularize effective donations in Latvia

Project: Create a donation platform

KPI: 5+ donations through our donation platform in 2024

How will this funding be used?

The precise distribution of funding between goals is not clear yet, only approximate estimates can be given.

Goal 1: Introduction of new members

Advertising of introductory lectures in universities and Riga city: 200 EUR

Renting a place for introductory lectures: 200 EUR

Hackathon to remake EA Latvia website (joint event with donation platform hackathon): 100 EUR

Goal 2: Increasing the motivation of existing and new members
Providing snacks for the regular meetups: 10x20 = 200 EUR

Renting a place for a retreat with Estonian EA community: 100 EUR

Goal 3: Popularize effective donations in Latvia
Hackathon to develop donation platform (joint event with website hackathon) 100 EUR

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

Kirils Surovovs - PhD in physics, works in the Institute of Numerical Modelling, University of Latvia. He volunteers in EA Latvia, translates and prepares EA materials in Latvian. Has prepared and presented introductory lectures.

Rota Kalnina - board member of EA Latvia, works in an EA aligned global NGO as a design researcher. Has vast experience in web design and research both professionally and voluntarily.

Arturs Kanepajs - an AI governance researcher, chairman of the board of EA Latvia, board member of Dzivnieku briviba - animal rights NGO in Latvia with a track record of successful policy campaigns and other outcomes and impacts.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

Intro lectures: We are planning to do at least one introductory lecture in any case. However, if the project fails, then we will not have enough funding to rent an auditorium in the university (which is a more convenient place for students) or do quality outreach.

Motivation and participation of members: hard to measure adverse effects.

Web development: the time it would take to make donation platform and redo website will be extended to 6 months as time would be spent on workday evenings, not just one weekend.

What other funding are you or your project getting?

Currently EA Latvia funding consists only of membership fees (recommended 60 EUR/year per member) and small private donations. Since a membership fee is voluntary, not everyone pays it, and planning bigger expenses becomes complicated.