First of all, Greg_Colbourn, very impressed with all the thought that’s gone into this. I was already super impressed that you were doing the project in the first place, but this was a good read. Criticism tends to hit people harder than praise, so good on you for continuing to engage with that too.
vollmer, thanks for the time you’re putting into the discussion here. I think a lot of your worries have less force if you think of the Hotel as a stepping stone / gap-filler / early incubator / refuge / safety net. If you don’t have a lot of savings, you can’t dedicate a focused chunk of time to:
earning the trust of other EAs who can then fund or at least vouch for you (this seems to be an important part of funding decisions, especially for new projects/orgs)
making a career move (the number of people I’ve known stuck in jobs they don’t want to be in because they don’t have the time to research, try out and apply for what they want to do next, and can’t afford to to quit first and then figure it out...)
general reading/thinking/discussion around EA/rationality/self-improvement, without knowing where it might take you (I’d love to see EA Grants accept a funding proposal for “Sitting on a beach and reading whatever seems useful for a few months...maybe I’ll start with the sequences, maybe I won’t, who knows lol”)
coming up with project proposals to take to the more official EA funding streams
recovering from burn-out or another knock (I know Greg_Colbourn hasn’t mentioned this here and it’s quite different from the others, so maybe I’m really straying into general “EA Hotels and Low-cost Living” territory now)
There’s a two-year limit. It’s not meant to be a long-term lifestyle for an EA. I think it’s meant to give less financially comfortable EAs a bit of freedom and breathing space between projects/careers.
I think this gap exists. The funder who says, “I know you don’t have the time or energy to make a grant-proposal-standard case for why I should support you yet. And that’s why I’m going to.” Maybe I’m wrong. But hey, let’s build it and see if they come :-)
I also think that often the way in which funding is offered is important. In my case, if I started to struggle financially, I’d be excited and proud to move into the EA Hotel. On the other hand, I’d feel somewhat embarrassed and burdensome to move back in with my parents, I’ve turned down financial support from three close EA friends because of what it might do to our relationship (and accepted very gratefully from two other less close EA friends <3), and I hate the thought of people questioning my motives as a community organiser if I accept a higher salary at EA London. I can also imagine people treating the EA Hotel as a last resort because e.g. future employers might think it looks like a cult. My point is more that it’s a different kind of option, and people have all sorts of reasons for not wanting to accept funding that they need. (Note that the personal, somewhat emotional relevance probably makes me slightly biased in favour of this project overall.)
Then again, maybe I’m being too blase. I have no idea how many EA project ideas aren’t getting funded due to lack of coordination / management time / funds in a particular area, and how many aren’t getting funded because funders think they shouldn’t be funded. The term “crucial considerations” makes me immediately think, “Ah. Yes. Yes, it’s very easy to do well-intentioned harm.” And actually I think I place an unusually high value on private research relative to action (publicising research can be pretty action-y), which might warrant a small group of community leaders withholding a lot of funding without much explanation until they’ve done a lot more research...Unfortunately, I also think it makes sense to be pretty suspicious of that approach.
No conclusions. Just some considerations for y’all.
(Incidentally, rejection is usually at least a bit hurtful. I wouldn’t be surprised if all the job/funding rejections in our community—especially alongside all the headhunting, careers advice, talent gap talk, “EA’s not funding-constrained” talk, pressure to reach relentlessly higher and reprioritise every 5 minutes etc. - was driving a lot of the enthusiasm for funders with more relaxed standards, including the upvotes on this article relative to the Charity Entrepreneurship one.)
First of all, Greg_Colbourn, very impressed with all the thought that’s gone into this. I was already super impressed that you were doing the project in the first place, but this was a good read. Criticism tends to hit people harder than praise, so good on you for continuing to engage with that too.
vollmer, thanks for the time you’re putting into the discussion here. I think a lot of your worries have less force if you think of the Hotel as a stepping stone / gap-filler / early incubator / refuge / safety net. If you don’t have a lot of savings, you can’t dedicate a focused chunk of time to:
earning the trust of other EAs who can then fund or at least vouch for you (this seems to be an important part of funding decisions, especially for new projects/orgs)
making a career move (the number of people I’ve known stuck in jobs they don’t want to be in because they don’t have the time to research, try out and apply for what they want to do next, and can’t afford to to quit first and then figure it out...)
general reading/thinking/discussion around EA/rationality/self-improvement, without knowing where it might take you (I’d love to see EA Grants accept a funding proposal for “Sitting on a beach and reading whatever seems useful for a few months...maybe I’ll start with the sequences, maybe I won’t, who knows lol”)
coming up with project proposals to take to the more official EA funding streams
recovering from burn-out or another knock (I know Greg_Colbourn hasn’t mentioned this here and it’s quite different from the others, so maybe I’m really straying into general “EA Hotels and Low-cost Living” territory now)
Put another way—if we want to invoke the Argument From 80k Authority again—Greg_Colbourn has just provided a free personal runway community insurance scheme.
There’s a two-year limit. It’s not meant to be a long-term lifestyle for an EA. I think it’s meant to give less financially comfortable EAs a bit of freedom and breathing space between projects/careers.
I think this gap exists. The funder who says, “I know you don’t have the time or energy to make a grant-proposal-standard case for why I should support you yet. And that’s why I’m going to.” Maybe I’m wrong. But hey, let’s build it and see if they come :-)
I also think that often the way in which funding is offered is important. In my case, if I started to struggle financially, I’d be excited and proud to move into the EA Hotel. On the other hand, I’d feel somewhat embarrassed and burdensome to move back in with my parents, I’ve turned down financial support from three close EA friends because of what it might do to our relationship (and accepted very gratefully from two other less close EA friends <3), and I hate the thought of people questioning my motives as a community organiser if I accept a higher salary at EA London. I can also imagine people treating the EA Hotel as a last resort because e.g. future employers might think it looks like a cult. My point is more that it’s a different kind of option, and people have all sorts of reasons for not wanting to accept funding that they need. (Note that the personal, somewhat emotional relevance probably makes me slightly biased in favour of this project overall.)
Then again, maybe I’m being too blase. I have no idea how many EA project ideas aren’t getting funded due to lack of coordination / management time / funds in a particular area, and how many aren’t getting funded because funders think they shouldn’t be funded. The term “crucial considerations” makes me immediately think, “Ah. Yes. Yes, it’s very easy to do well-intentioned harm.” And actually I think I place an unusually high value on private research relative to action (publicising research can be pretty action-y), which might warrant a small group of community leaders withholding a lot of funding without much explanation until they’ve done a lot more research...Unfortunately, I also think it makes sense to be pretty suspicious of that approach.
No conclusions. Just some considerations for y’all.
(Incidentally, rejection is usually at least a bit hurtful. I wouldn’t be surprised if all the job/funding rejections in our community—especially alongside all the headhunting, careers advice, talent gap talk, “EA’s not funding-constrained” talk, pressure to reach relentlessly higher and reprioritise every 5 minutes etc. - was driving a lot of the enthusiasm for funders with more relaxed standards, including the upvotes on this article relative to the Charity Entrepreneurship one.)