I joined the EA and AI Safety community while living in Berlin, and Teamwork was instrumental in getting me to see myself as someone who can contribute to important causes, by providing a meeting place for the AI Safety meetup me and a friend started in 2022.
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Teamwork - professional EA co-working space in Berlin
Project summary
Funding for our 2025 operational budget to maintain and manage Teamwork - a professional EA co-working space in Berlin, Germany. Providing around 22 desks, 2 meeting rooms (one of them can also be used as social events space), 4 phone booths, and a community kitchen. With this funding, we would be able to continue to provide the space for free to the EA professional to work and for hosting events. More about Teamwork can be found here:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/SqZgzKdYrmgKqLyYA/an-invitation-to-the-berlin-ea-co-working-space-teamwork
What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?
Offer a co-working space and community hub for a thriving EA professional community in Germany as well as for international visitors. We would offer:
a highly productive work environment (the space was renovated in 2023 mainly to improve acoustics and soundproofing) for EA professionals living in Berlin
a place for networking within the EA community through events, during our joint community lunch, over coffee breaks etc.
a "go-to" place / office for EAs visiting Berlin (and there have been many in the last 12 months, e.g. from AIM, CEA, EA Germany, Founders Pledge, FWI, Open Philanthropy, Rethink Priorities, Training for Good - just to name a few) and we are super excited about this)
a professional setting for productive team meetings and client workshops as well as for EA (adjacent) meet-ups
All this is managed by an office manager (0.5 FTE) to ensure a clean and professional space, seamless desk booking and member approval.
How will this funding be used?
Mainly, to cover part of the rent beyond the space that we as Effektiv Spenden are using, the office manager, and our weekly expenses to keep the space clean and provide free coffee / tea / snacks.
Compared to other office spaces, the current location is particularly cheap compared to other EA co-working spaces and also in Berlin. We have just extended the lease until 2027.
Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?
Sebastian Schwiecker, the co-founder of Effektiv Spenden, started Teamwork in 2021 with the idea to provide a space for the professional EA community and allow for networking / productive co-working / valuable feedback. More here:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/NnrHvJALEKH4Ykzyt/introducing-teamwork-an-ea-coworking-space-in-berlin
Johanna Schröder, our office manager, doing a very professional job since she started in the beginning of 2023.
We have been running the space since 2021, renovated it in 2023 based on members’ feedback, and are currently seeing a rising number of members, guests, and teams booking the space. Policies and processes have been professionalized since we have a dedicated office manager.
What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?
We will need to cover the costs out of our operational budget as Effektiv Spenden. Or, charge rent again which would come with additional administrative effort (sub-tenant agreements etc.) and would add 19% VAT.
What other funding are you or your project getting?
We consider applying to the EA Infrastructure Fund, cover the annual budget out of our operational budget, or charge rent again.
donated $50
donated $40
donated $100
Neel Nanda
3 months ago
I haven't used Teamwork myself, but I think co-working spaces are valuable, and it seems like you do good work at impressively cheap rates!
donated $500
🐹
Jack Lewars
3 months ago
I work there! And it's full of wonderful people and everyone chats to each other a lot, so great potential for collaboration and knowledge-sharing.
donated $100
Neel Nanda
3 months ago
How long a time period would the 45K requested cover? I'm very surprised you can pay 0.5 FTE and rent a decently sized office space for so little, what's the breakdown here?
And what kind of people (eg what roles/working for which orgs) work out of the space at the moment, or in the expected future?
🦋
anne schulze
3 months ago
@NeelNanda It would cover 50% of our operational expenses in 2025 as we (Effektiv Spenden) would need an office anyways and occupy two offices at Teamwork. Berlin is rather cheap in terms of rent and our office is particularly cheap. It definitively has a much more frugal approach than some other co-working spaces.
Besides my 5 colleagues from Effektiv Spenden, we have one more organization based at Teamwork working in the AI as well as climate policy space. Furthermore, it's mostly EA professionals working remotely in research or operations across several cause areas (GHD, animal welfare, GCR, and climate) as well as effective giving / philantrophic advisory.