Accepting money from an anonymous donor shifts the due diligence of this donor to Manifund, so as a recipient of the funding, you are trusting them to have acted in a way that you would have when you would have decided to accept the money.
This is an interesting and insightful viewpoint, but I’m not sure how it applies at the expected donation size. Although the size of the potential grant one’s organization might receive is unknown, the use of a quadratic funding mechanism and wide eligibility criteria makes me think most potential applicants are looking at an expected value of funding of $10,000 or less. I don’t think it is the current standard of care in the philanthropic sector to generally vet donations of this size (especially to the extent you think they are likely to be one-off). So most orgs would—reasonably! -- just cash a ~$5,000 check that came in without investigating the drawer of the check. The exception would be a donor-identity problem that was obvious on its face; I expect most orgs would investigate and likely shred a check if drawn on the account of one of SBF’s immediate family members! But otherwise, it seems that the amount of due diligence investigation one is arguably “delegating” to Manifund is close to zero.
I expect the amount of due diligence to vary based on funding, project size, and public engagement levels. Even a small amount might be a significant part of the yearly income of a small EA group that might have to deal with increased scrutiny or discussions based on the composition of its existing and potential group members.
This is an interesting and insightful viewpoint, but I’m not sure how it applies at the expected donation size. Although the size of the potential grant one’s organization might receive is unknown, the use of a quadratic funding mechanism and wide eligibility criteria makes me think most potential applicants are looking at an expected value of funding of $10,000 or less. I don’t think it is the current standard of care in the philanthropic sector to generally vet donations of this size (especially to the extent you think they are likely to be one-off). So most orgs would—reasonably! -- just cash a ~$5,000 check that came in without investigating the drawer of the check. The exception would be a donor-identity problem that was obvious on its face; I expect most orgs would investigate and likely shred a check if drawn on the account of one of SBF’s immediate family members! But otherwise, it seems that the amount of due diligence investigation one is arguably “delegating” to Manifund is close to zero.
I expect the amount of due diligence to vary based on funding, project size, and public engagement levels. Even a small amount might be a significant part of the yearly income of a small EA group that might have to deal with increased scrutiny or discussions based on the composition of its existing and potential group members.