I went through and allocated funds[1] to projects. I was more influenced by concepts like affirmation and encouragement than I expected.
I had previously been a micrograntor for the ACX impact certificates program. Compared to that project pool, these projects are more likely to seek small sums to amplify the impact of existing volunteer work. So they tended to score well on two evaluation criteria I consider: sweat equity / skin in the game as a signal, and the potential for relatively small amounts of money to serve as an enzyme multiplying the effect of volunteer-labor and other non-financial inputs already present.
I suggest in this comment that providing very modest amounts of funding to volunteer-led projects has a degree of signaling value—not enough to justify throwing a few hundred dollars at everything willy-nilly, but enough to factor into the calculus at the lowest funding levels.[2] Receiving funding from other community members sends messages like: “We believe in the value of what you’re doing,” “Your contributions are noticed and appreciated,” and “You belong.”[3] For better or worse, I think this meaning is more prominent in EA culture than many other movement subcultures. And I think it may be particularly valuable for those on the geographical and cultural periphery, far from San Fran and London. A number of the projects currently fundraising in the EACC initiative are led by people from LMICs.
I want to be careful to avoid the Dodo bird verdict, under which everyone has won and all must win prizes. Funding allocation is even more about tradeoffs and saying no to good things than the median activity in life. But the significant majority of projects are things I’m happy to see funded, and I’m not convinced that other community funding mechanisms are in a good position to consider the funding needs of many of the smaller projects. So I gave some consideration to the signaling value of funding and sometimes erred on the side of ensuring that a project got at least some funding—Manifund sets a minimum of $500 for operational reasons, although a project can set a higher one.[4]
Whether this is a sign that I’m getting soft in my old age (just turned 42) or something is left as an exercise to the reader and/or commenter.
I had been too late to claim any EACC funds, which ran out within hours. But I had funds on Manifund that someone else had given me. So I had somewhat more money available for use, although it was not restricted to EACC projects.
I speculate that the signaling value scales only weakly with the dollar amount beyond a fairly low floor, so its relative importance will be higher in small-dollar decisions.
Most of these projects involve people with non-EA jobs volunteering based on opportunities they have seen arise in their context. The counterfactual to them performing their current labors may well be them doing ordinary things. Therefore, I am less concerned about the possibility of sending these messages when the person would be better off working on a different project.
In some cases, providing minimal levels of funding may not allow a project to launch or continue. But this is less likely for projects seeking small sums as an enzyme to multiply the effects of other inputs.
I went through and allocated funds[1] to projects. I was more influenced by concepts like affirmation and encouragement than I expected.
I had previously been a micrograntor for the ACX impact certificates program. Compared to that project pool, these projects are more likely to seek small sums to amplify the impact of existing volunteer work. So they tended to score well on two evaluation criteria I consider: sweat equity / skin in the game as a signal, and the potential for relatively small amounts of money to serve as an enzyme multiplying the effect of volunteer-labor and other non-financial inputs already present.
I suggest in this comment that providing very modest amounts of funding to volunteer-led projects has a degree of signaling value—not enough to justify throwing a few hundred dollars at everything willy-nilly, but enough to factor into the calculus at the lowest funding levels.[2] Receiving funding from other community members sends messages like: “We believe in the value of what you’re doing,” “Your contributions are noticed and appreciated,” and “You belong.”[3] For better or worse, I think this meaning is more prominent in EA culture than many other movement subcultures. And I think it may be particularly valuable for those on the geographical and cultural periphery, far from San Fran and London. A number of the projects currently fundraising in the EACC initiative are led by people from LMICs.
I want to be careful to avoid the Dodo bird verdict, under which everyone has won and all must win prizes. Funding allocation is even more about tradeoffs and saying no to good things than the median activity in life. But the significant majority of projects are things I’m happy to see funded, and I’m not convinced that other community funding mechanisms are in a good position to consider the funding needs of many of the smaller projects. So I gave some consideration to the signaling value of funding and sometimes erred on the side of ensuring that a project got at least some funding—Manifund sets a minimum of $500 for operational reasons, although a project can set a higher one.[4]
Whether this is a sign that I’m getting soft in my old age (just turned 42) or something is left as an exercise to the reader and/or commenter.
I had been too late to claim any EACC funds, which ran out within hours. But I had funds on Manifund that someone else had given me. So I had somewhat more money available for use, although it was not restricted to EACC projects.
I speculate that the signaling value scales only weakly with the dollar amount beyond a fairly low floor, so its relative importance will be higher in small-dollar decisions.
Most of these projects involve people with non-EA jobs volunteering based on opportunities they have seen arise in their context. The counterfactual to them performing their current labors may well be them doing ordinary things. Therefore, I am less concerned about the possibility of sending these messages when the person would be better off working on a different project.
In some cases, providing minimal levels of funding may not allow a project to launch or continue. But this is less likely for projects seeking small sums as an enzyme to multiply the effects of other inputs.