Fortitude, collaboration, and humility: lessons from an EA-aligned charity startup

Abstract

When GiveWell wrote that they were looking for charities to work on micronutrient fortification, Fortify Health rose to the challenge. With help from a $300,000 GiveWell grant, they began to work on wheat flour fortification, hoping to reduce India’s rate of iron deficiency. In this talk, co-founder Brendan Eappen discusses the charity’s story and crucial decisions they faced along the way. He also offers advice to members of the effective altruism community interested in pursuing similar work in the field of global development.Below is a transcript of Brendan’s talk, which has been lightly edited for clarity. You can also watch it on YouTube and read it on effectivealtruism.org. I want to talk about what we’re doing at Fortify Health, and then, more broadly, about some of the central tensions [I’ve experienced] as someone who started an effective altruism [EA]-aligned charity startup in a world of other global health actors.  . . Our goal at Fortify Health is to improve population health by addressing widespread iron-deficiency anemia and neural tube defects in India. We’re doing that through fortification (i.e., adding vitamins and minerals like iron, folic acid, and vitamin B12 to the foods that people already eat).