I’ve only skimmed this post, but I think this I agree with all of the main points. I would prefer EA meta orgs that provide benefits to people with money charged for some of their services. I do think the situation is significantly more complicated with orgs that receive substantial institutional funding so I think the original post applies a bit less to orgs like CEA, and more to specific EA groups or small-scale projects (including projects that the EAIF funds).
I suggested to various regional EA groups that they should try and cover some fraction of their costs from members, but there was quite a lot of negative push back (e.g. fundraising distracting them from their main jobs).[1]
EAIF is most interested in funding projects that shouldn’t be funded via regular markets, or might not be noticed as being especially valuable (e.g. many public goods in the nonexcludable and nonrivalrous sense).
@Harri Besceli feel free to push back on any of this if it conflicts with your impression of how the EAIF does/should work.
FWIW I completely agree that EA uni groups should be able to fund themselves a fair bit like most other uni groups and societies do. Definitely worth having ‘scholarship’ options for those who request it, but the default should be that these EA uni groups do whatever is ‘normal’ for socialites at their university. I also think that this would go some way to make EA seems less weird.
I do think the situation is significantly more complicated with orgs that receive substantial institutional funding so I think the original post applies a bit less to orgs like CEA, and more to specific EA groups or small-scale projects (including projects that the EAIF funds).
Agree
I suggested to various regional EA groups that they should try and cover some fraction of their costs from members, but there was quite a lot of negative push back (e.g. fundraising distracting them from their main jobs).[1]
That’s a shame. I think we’re in a strange situation if non-profits / charitable projects don’t think fundraising should be at least a non-trivial portion of their time. I also think fundraising forces projects to more clearly define their vision, goals, funding needs etc.
Perhaps I’d feel differently if they were several funders fighting over who gets to fund each EA Group, but that doesn’t seem to be the case (at least not any more).
I’ve only skimmed this post, but I think this I agree with all of the main points. I would prefer EA meta orgs that provide benefits to people with money charged for some of their services. I do think the situation is significantly more complicated with orgs that receive substantial institutional funding so I think the original post applies a bit less to orgs like CEA, and more to specific EA groups or small-scale projects (including projects that the EAIF funds).
I suggested to various regional EA groups that they should try and cover some fraction of their costs from members, but there was quite a lot of negative push back (e.g. fundraising distracting them from their main jobs).[1]
EAIF is most interested in funding projects that shouldn’t be funded via regular markets, or might not be noticed as being especially valuable (e.g. many public goods in the nonexcludable and nonrivalrous sense).
@Harri Besceli feel free to push back on any of this if it conflicts with your impression of how the EAIF does/should work.
I still think some version of this is workable but it’s not a priority for the EAIF to figure out right now.
FWIW I completely agree that EA uni groups should be able to fund themselves a fair bit like most other uni groups and societies do. Definitely worth having ‘scholarship’ options for those who request it, but the default should be that these EA uni groups do whatever is ‘normal’ for socialites at their university. I also think that this would go some way to make EA seems less weird.
Agree
That’s a shame. I think we’re in a strange situation if non-profits / charitable projects don’t think fundraising should be at least a non-trivial portion of their time. I also think fundraising forces projects to more clearly define their vision, goals, funding needs etc.
Perhaps I’d feel differently if they were several funders fighting over who gets to fund each EA Group, but that doesn’t seem to be the case (at least not any more).