Hey Alex, as I wrote to Jamie with the AWF AMA, I don’t have a directed question but I deeply appreciate this level of transparency and hope it exerts pressure to raise the water level on grant making transparency more broadly
Thanks for the kind words Tee! Agreed and hopeful. I do also think that it’s very valuable for some pots of funding to not be very public as there are some bad incentives and restrictions caused by public work.
E.g., I’m (currently) quite happy currently that EA Grants doesn’t have to justify each grant publicly. This allows them to take gut-calls on early stage projects and to fund lots of small things without having to hire a large number of staff.
Whatever level of transparency each grant making body decides is appropriate for their strategy, in general I think more of the benefits of grant making (and research in general) compound when done publicly and transparently. I’m just glad that there are some pots of capital coming together that can make quick decisions and back lots of early stage projects.
This said, I’m of course not all that confident in this view.
I do also think that it’s very valuable for some pots of funding to not be very public as there are some bad incentives and restrictions caused by public work.
Yep, I think that’s right. We (entities within the community) can improve from historical examples of simply not declaring anything on this front or the reasoning behind it.
E.g., I’m (currently) quite happy currently that EA Grants doesn’t have to justify each grant publicly.
+1 though our post-decision feedback could be better in some ways.
Hey Alex, as I wrote to Jamie with the AWF AMA, I don’t have a directed question but I deeply appreciate this level of transparency and hope it exerts pressure to raise the water level on grant making transparency more broadly
Thanks for the kind words Tee! Agreed and hopeful. I do also think that it’s very valuable for some pots of funding to not be very public as there are some bad incentives and restrictions caused by public work.
E.g., I’m (currently) quite happy currently that EA Grants doesn’t have to justify each grant publicly. This allows them to take gut-calls on early stage projects and to fund lots of small things without having to hire a large number of staff.
Whatever level of transparency each grant making body decides is appropriate for their strategy, in general I think more of the benefits of grant making (and research in general) compound when done publicly and transparently. I’m just glad that there are some pots of capital coming together that can make quick decisions and back lots of early stage projects.
This said, I’m of course not all that confident in this view.
Yep, I think that’s right. We (entities within the community) can improve from historical examples of simply not declaring anything on this front or the reasoning behind it.
+1 though our post-decision feedback could be better in some ways.