Iād just like to say, as a (volunteer) community-builder, thanks for having a āfundraising at the ecosystem levelā strategy involving making effective giving a more visible and accepted part of the movement. There were years when it was considered a totally second-rate, outdated thing to do, and merely mentioning you did it invited controversy at the EA coffee that you werenāt maximising enough. Iām hoping that weāre over that now.
Itās not just āoverdependence on a single funderā thatās the issue, itās the fact that people who give effectively bring huge social and professional networking benefits to EA group meetups that arenāt immediately obvious.
For example, the underlying mental focus on evaluations impartiality and cost-effectiveness brought by an effective giver (as opposed to the āhereās my project proposalā pitch framing often brought by EA workers or jobseekers) is an important part of the social ecosystem of conversations that happen within a group meetup. Without it, you end up with a bunch of people who want to come up with project proposals and nobody who wants to sit down and evaluate them!
Also, effective givers who are established in a career are really valuable sources of non-transactional mentorship and networking type conversations to EAās younger attendees. Theyāre people who give good advice and access to networks while genuinely not personally wanting anything in return (other than for the mentee to do well at improving the world). Thatās really valuable to have around.
Oh, and while Iām here: amazing work getting your EAG ācost per attendeeā numbers down, without sacrificing on quality. Itās great work, and will really help EA scale!
Iād just like to say, as a (volunteer) community-builder, thanks for having a āfundraising at the ecosystem levelā strategy involving making effective giving a more visible and accepted part of the movement. There were years when it was considered a totally second-rate, outdated thing to do, and merely mentioning you did it invited controversy at the EA coffee that you werenāt maximising enough. Iām hoping that weāre over that now.
Itās not just āoverdependence on a single funderā thatās the issue, itās the fact that people who give effectively bring huge social and professional networking benefits to EA group meetups that arenāt immediately obvious.
For example, the underlying mental focus on evaluations impartiality and cost-effectiveness brought by an effective giver (as opposed to the āhereās my project proposalā pitch framing often brought by EA workers or jobseekers) is an important part of the social ecosystem of conversations that happen within a group meetup. Without it, you end up with a bunch of people who want to come up with project proposals and nobody who wants to sit down and evaluate them!
Also, effective givers who are established in a career are really valuable sources of non-transactional mentorship and networking type conversations to EAās younger attendees. Theyāre people who give good advice and access to networks while genuinely not personally wanting anything in return (other than for the mentee to do well at improving the world). Thatās really valuable to have around.
Oh, and while Iām here: amazing work getting your EAG ācost per attendeeā numbers down, without sacrificing on quality. Itās great work, and will really help EA scale!
Thank you for the kind note, and for your work on building the EA community!