I coached Gergo on people leadership and project management for 6 months and can personally vouch for his dedication and transparency.
From my current work at Successif (supporting mid-career professionals transitioning into AI risk reduction roles), I see Amplify’s work as complementary to the broader ecosystem… addressing the top of the funnel (getting talented people aware of and engaged with EA/AIS) while organizations like ours work further down the pipeline on career transitions.
+1 on the catch-22 @David_Moss describes. But might framing this as a “catch-22” unintentionally make the problem seem static and unsolvable? Bridgespan’s research on field-building across 30+ fields identifies ‘infrastructure’ (i.e. connective tissue) as one of five critical characteristics for achieving population-level change and that these mature over 3 distinct phases. Perhaps what we’re witnessing is a growing pain as the EA/AIS field transitions from the ‘Forming’ phase towards ‘Evolving & Sustaining’...where the field has developed strong actors, a strong knowledge-base, and a (somewhat) shared agenda, but the funding mechanisms haven’t yet matured to reliably support the intermediary infrastructure that enables coordination at scale.
A systems thinking approach might help with breakthroughs: What are the feedback loops keeping this pattern stuck? (e.g. funders see marketing as “not meeting the bar” → groups don’t build marketing capacity → marketing continues to underperform → reinforcing funders’ initial assessment). What leverage points could shift this? In the tobacco cessation field, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids received sustained funding precisely because funders recognized infrastructure’s multiplier effect across the entire field, not just individual programs.
Wishing you success with this funding round, Gergo, and/or with the rich learnings harvested along the way.
I coached Gergo on people leadership and project management for 6 months and can personally vouch for his dedication and transparency.
From my current work at Successif (supporting mid-career professionals transitioning into AI risk reduction roles), I see Amplify’s work as complementary to the broader ecosystem… addressing the top of the funnel (getting talented people aware of and engaged with EA/AIS) while organizations like ours work further down the pipeline on career transitions.
+1 on the catch-22 @David_Moss describes. But might framing this as a “catch-22” unintentionally make the problem seem static and unsolvable? Bridgespan’s research on field-building across 30+ fields identifies ‘infrastructure’ (i.e. connective tissue) as one of five critical characteristics for achieving population-level change and that these mature over 3 distinct phases. Perhaps what we’re witnessing is a growing pain as the EA/AIS field transitions from the ‘Forming’ phase towards ‘Evolving & Sustaining’...where the field has developed strong actors, a strong knowledge-base, and a (somewhat) shared agenda, but the funding mechanisms haven’t yet matured to reliably support the intermediary infrastructure that enables coordination at scale.
A systems thinking approach might help with breakthroughs: What are the feedback loops keeping this pattern stuck? (e.g. funders see marketing as “not meeting the bar” → groups don’t build marketing capacity → marketing continues to underperform → reinforcing funders’ initial assessment). What leverage points could shift this? In the tobacco cessation field, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids received sustained funding precisely because funders recognized infrastructure’s multiplier effect across the entire field, not just individual programs.
Wishing you success with this funding round, Gergo, and/or with the rich learnings harvested along the way.
Thanks for the kind words, Moneer, and it was a pleasure to be working with you during those 6 months!:)