One might want to consider how quickly one can get a job if grant funding was to run out. In my experience, the emotional resistance to relying on short-term grants was not rational. I have 2 kids and have always been a full-time employee. When recently I contemplated working directly on EA causes via a grant, I felt lots of fear. However, I get incoming LinkedIn messages quite frequently with job offers and I am >90% confident that I could within a week or two after a grant would run out, get some full-time position, e.g. at a consultancy, with enough money to cover my portion of my family’s expenses (another data point is that I have been asked to come back to former employers a few times). Therefore, if your situation is similar to mine in terms of ease of getting a job, I would recommend putting fear aside and emphasize ambition and rationality. If you do not know how attractive you are on the job market, perhaps there are ways to find out? That said, I recognize that many potential grantees might not be able to as quickly find a job as me, and in those cases my advice does not apply. Another option is to ask for a sabbatical from your current employer—if they grant you this at least you have a strong indication that you can come back to your current job if subsequent grant funding dries up.
One might want to consider how quickly one can get a job if grant funding was to run out. In my experience, the emotional resistance to relying on short-term grants was not rational. I have 2 kids and have always been a full-time employee. When recently I contemplated working directly on EA causes via a grant, I felt lots of fear. However, I get incoming LinkedIn messages quite frequently with job offers and I am >90% confident that I could within a week or two after a grant would run out, get some full-time position, e.g. at a consultancy, with enough money to cover my portion of my family’s expenses (another data point is that I have been asked to come back to former employers a few times). Therefore, if your situation is similar to mine in terms of ease of getting a job, I would recommend putting fear aside and emphasize ambition and rationality. If you do not know how attractive you are on the job market, perhaps there are ways to find out? That said, I recognize that many potential grantees might not be able to as quickly find a job as me, and in those cases my advice does not apply. Another option is to ask for a sabbatical from your current employer—if they grant you this at least you have a strong indication that you can come back to your current job if subsequent grant funding dries up.