I'm pretty sure this is not effective altruism. From skimming this guy's website, it doesn't seem like the work he's been doing is even close to high-impact enough to make it worth supporting over many many other charitable causes.

I feel for the guy, but it seems fairly clear that the support he's been getting from the nerd community is mostly about helping out one of their own tribe, a pretty textbook case of purchasing warm fuzzies rather than utilons.