OP doesn’t have the capacity to evaluate everything, so there are things they don’t fund that are still quite good.
Also OP seems to prefer to evaluate things that have a track record, so taking bets on people to be able to get more of a track record to then apply to OP would be pretty helpful.
I also think orgs generally should have donor diversity and more independence, so giving more funding to the orgs that OP funds is sometimes good.
OP doesn’t have the capacity to evaluate everything, so there are things they don’t fund that are still quite good.
Also OP seems to prefer to evaluate things that have a track record, so taking bets on people to be able to get more of a track record to then apply to OP would be pretty helpful.
IMO, these both seem like reasons for more people to work at OP on technical grant making more than reasons for Neel to work part time on grant making with his money.
Why not both? I assume OP is fixing their capacity issues as fast as they can, but there still will be capacity issues remaining. IMO Neel still would add something here that is worth his marginal time, especially given Neel’s significant involvement, expertise, and networks.
I think it’s worth considering. My guess is that doing so would not necessarily be very time consuming. Could also be interested for them to pool donations to limit the number of people who need to do it, form a giving circle, or donate to a fund (e.g., EA Funds).
I also think orgs generally should have donor diversity and more independence, so giving more funding to the orgs that OP funds is sometimes good.
I’d be curious to hear more about this—naively, if I’m funding an org, and then OpenPhil stops funding that org, that’s a fairly strong signal to me that I should also stop funding it, knowing nothing more. (since it implies OpenPhil put in enough effort to evaluate the org, and decided to deviate from the path of least resistance)
Agreed re funding things without a track record, that seems clearly good for small donors to do, eg funding people to do independent research or start a small new research group, if you believe they’re promising
OP doesn’t have the capacity to evaluate everything, so there are things they don’t fund that are still quite good.
Also OP seems to prefer to evaluate things that have a track record, so taking bets on people to be able to get more of a track record to then apply to OP would be pretty helpful.
I also think orgs generally should have donor diversity and more independence, so giving more funding to the orgs that OP funds is sometimes good.
Maybe there should be some way for OP to publicize what they don’t evaluate, so others can avoid the adverse selection.
IMO, these both seem like reasons for more people to work at OP on technical grant making more than reasons for Neel to work part time on grant making with his money.
Why not both? I assume OP is fixing their capacity issues as fast as they can, but there still will be capacity issues remaining. IMO Neel still would add something here that is worth his marginal time, especially given Neel’s significant involvement, expertise, and networks.
The underlying claim is that many people with technical expertise should do part time grant making?
This seems possible to me, but a bit unlikely.
I think it’s worth considering. My guess is that doing so would not necessarily be very time consuming. Could also be interested for them to pool donations to limit the number of people who need to do it, form a giving circle, or donate to a fund (e.g., EA Funds).
I’d be curious to hear more about this—naively, if I’m funding an org, and then OpenPhil stops funding that org, that’s a fairly strong signal to me that I should also stop funding it, knowing nothing more. (since it implies OpenPhil put in enough effort to evaluate the org, and decided to deviate from the path of least resistance)
Agreed re funding things without a track record, that seems clearly good for small donors to do, eg funding people to do independent research or start a small new research group, if you believe they’re promising