In general, do you think transparency about reserves would be good to improve coordination among altruistic actors? I guess yes. So, in the same way organisations have a page on their website presenting their team (thus being transparent with respect to labour), they could also share their reserves (both about how much they have, and why; thus being transparent with respect to capital).
We have conducted shallow investigations of hundreds, likely thousands of charities over the years, and in our experience it’s common for charities to have reserves policies of 3 months or 6 months. A policy of 1 year is not an extreme outlier, but anything above that is.
My sense is that SoGive has mainly assessed large charities, and therefore its experience is more applicable to NTI, which is also large. However, would larger reserves make more sense to early stage organisations, like many recently founded EA-aligned longtermist organisations?
Nice analysis, Sanjay!
In general, do you think transparency about reserves would be good to improve coordination among altruistic actors? I guess yes. So, in the same way organisations have a page on their website presenting their team (thus being transparent with respect to labour), they could also share their reserves (both about how much they have, and why; thus being transparent with respect to capital).
My sense is that SoGive has mainly assessed large charities, and therefore its experience is more applicable to NTI, which is also large. However, would larger reserves make more sense to early stage organisations, like many recently founded EA-aligned longtermist organisations?