That’s a useful post! It’s an interesting idea. There could be some funging between Open Phil and other EA animal donors—like, if Open Phil is handling the welfare reforms, then other donors don’t have to and can donate more to non-welfare stuff. OTOH, the fact that a high-status funder like Open Phil does welfare reforms makes it more likely that other EAs follow suit.
Another thing I’d worry about is that if Open Phil’s preferred animal charities have less RFMF, then maybe Open Phil would allocate less of its funds to animal welfare in general, leaving more available for other cause areas. Some of those cause areas, like biorisk reduction, plausibly increase expected suffering. From the perspective of this worry, it may be safest to give to small charities that Open Phil would be unlikely to consider or charities that Open Phil doesn’t find promising enough for some reason.
That’s a useful post! It’s an interesting idea. There could be some funging between Open Phil and other EA animal donors—like, if Open Phil is handling the welfare reforms, then other donors don’t have to and can donate more to non-welfare stuff. OTOH, the fact that a high-status funder like Open Phil does welfare reforms makes it more likely that other EAs follow suit.
Another thing I’d worry about is that if Open Phil’s preferred animal charities have less RFMF, then maybe Open Phil would allocate less of its funds to animal welfare in general, leaving more available for other cause areas. Some of those cause areas, like biorisk reduction, plausibly increase expected suffering. From the perspective of this worry, it may be safest to give to small charities that Open Phil would be unlikely to consider or charities that Open Phil doesn’t find promising enough for some reason.