Getting Books for Members

Using Books in Your Group

Books can be a great way to encourage members to dig more deeply into effective altruism. Here are a few ways you can make use of books in your group.

• Create a small library with a variety of EA-related physical books. These books can be loaned out to group members and returned to your members or others in the community. The process of asking for the book back and asking for the member’s impression of the book can be new ways to prompt a one-on-one conversation with a newer group member. CEA is usually able to provide funding for a small library.

• Giving or loaning books as part of structured extended discussion events, e.g. Reading groups over multiple weeks (Doing Good Better and The Precipice are the most common books used); or Fellowships that have books, or large sections of books, as part of the curriculum. CEA is usually able to provide books for these structured extended events. You can be flexible about the return of loaned books - if group members want to read the book again or pass it on to friends then it is okay to have them keep the book.

• Giving away books outside of discussion events. CEA may be able to fund these books too, but this usually depends on which group of people you plan to give the books to.

Note: There are pdf copies of published books available, however, they usually break copyright rules, so CEA would prefer that any required books be purchased legally.

Applying for Funding for Books

Before applying for funding, we recommend asking your local or university library if they'll buy the books for their e-book library. Brown EA did this successfully, so it is probably worth a try.

If this doesn't work, you can apply for Group Support Funding and buy the books using the funds.

Note: Most groups with a Community Building Grant should use their CBG activity funding to buy books for their group members to use. Get in touch with Catherine (catherine@centreforeffectivealtruism.org or on the EA Groups Slack) if you are unsure what to do.

• Choose the type of group support funding

  • For an extended reading group or fellowship choose “Fellowship."

  • For a small library choose “General Funding.” Feel free to add any other expenses you expect into the same application.

• If you are following one of the standard fellowship curricula or running a reading group on a popular EA book (e.g. The Precipice or Doing Good Better) your application can be very brief. Please choose "urgent" if you need the money quickly.

• If you are unsure about the number of books you’ll need, choose a number slightly higher than your best guess. If you need more funding, we can put through more money quickly, and if you don’t need all the money you can reimburse us, or roll the unused funds over to the group’s next application for funding.

Buying Books

If you are running a book club or fellowship, you can ask participants to choose which format they'd prefer. Make sure it is very easy for the fellows to make their choice. Alternatively, you can choose to offer just choose one format, which may reduce logistical complications on your end.

EA Books Direct can send physical books to participants in multiple locations for a low rate. This might be a good option if you expect to send large numbers of books. Groups can ask for the book cost to be charged directly to CEA’s Group Support Funding. If you want to use this option please email groups@centreforeffectivealtruism.org to confirm funding in advance.

EA Groups often offer to provide some or all of the following book formats:

1. Physical copies. These work best if you can easily get the books to participants, the participants prefer physical books, and/or if you want to ask the participants to merely borrow the books over the course of the reading group (however, if people want to hold on to the book to read it again or lend it to others then feel free to let people keep the book).

   • If you're interested in physical copies, we recommend:

     • Ordering in bulk through a local bookstore or Amazon, if you're able to get books to hand to people in person.

     • Ordering through EA Books Direct to ship to participants in multiple locations.

       • Note: EA Books Direct usually has fast books delivery for the US and some European countries. It may be very slow for other places. You can email EA Books Direct at ed@eaoxford.com to be sure.

     • Shipping through Amazon to ship to multiple locations. This might be a good option if you need the books especially quickly (e.g. for an upcoming reading group). Note that you'll need delivery details, a phone number of the recipient, and in some countries, a form of ID.

     • You can also allow the participants to buy the book themselves and get reimbursed if they prefer, but we recommend not making this the default option.

   • eBooks. eBooks are one of the cheaper options available, and can be least difficult to ship, but note that many participants may be less likely to read an eBook rather than a physical book or an audiobook.

     • A few ways you can gift ebooks for participants:

       • Kindle: This generally only works for people with Amazon US accounts.

       • eBooks.com: eBooks.com provides recipients with a voucher that they can redeem for an ePub, PDF, or access to the book in eBooks.com's own online reader. Some books aren’t available to buy from all countries due to publisher restrictions.

       • Google Play: You can buy an ebook ‘as a gift’ and email it to the participants. This only works if they are in the same country as you.

   • Audiobooks. While Audiobooks are more expensive than eBooks, we generally recommend buying them for participants who prefer this format.

     • Audible: More on how to give audiobooks as gifts.

     • If Audible doesn't work, you can gift a book on audiobooks.com. Gifts on audiobooks.com cover a monthly subscription that can be used on any book, so we generally recommend Audible when possible to avoid recipients redeeming the subscription on the wrong book.