Because the EAIF is aiming to grow the overall resources and capacity for improving the world, one model is simply “is the growth rate greater than zero?” Some of the projects we don’t fund to me look like they have a negative growth rate (i.e., in expectation, they won’t achieve much, and the money and time spent on them will be wasted), and these should obviously not be funded. Beyond that, I don’t think it’s easy to specify a ‘minimum absolute bar’.
Furthermore, one straightforward way to increase the EA community’s resources is through financial investments, and any EA projects should beat that bar in addition to returning more than they cost. (I don’t think this matters much in practice, as we’re hoping for growth rates much greater than typical in financial markets.)
Because the EAIF is aiming to grow the overall resources and capacity for improving the world, one model is simply “is the growth rate greater than zero?” Some of the projects we don’t fund to me look like they have a negative growth rate (i.e., in expectation, they won’t achieve much, and the money and time spent on them will be wasted), and these should obviously not be funded. Beyond that, I don’t think it’s easy to specify a ‘minimum absolute bar’.
Furthermore, one straightforward way to increase the EA community’s resources is through financial investments, and any EA projects should beat that bar in addition to returning more than they cost. (I don’t think this matters much in practice, as we’re hoping for growth rates much greater than typical in financial markets.)