I hadn’t donated for the last couple years despite having taken the GWWC pledge. This is because:
It started to seem like I have sufficiently good judgement, domain knowledge, and connectedness* that my money would be most useful for making opportunities I have special knowledge of happen quickly, rather than donating to large existing opportunities
I didn’t happen to stumble upon anything especially good
I kind-of procrastinated / got busy (without reducing willingness to give; I still planned to “catch up” on this giving)
The downfall of FTX and resignation of the Future Fund team make me think now is a good time for me to catch up on this backlog of giving, and maybe also do some of my coming years’ giving at the same time. So I’ve reached out to ~6 (former) FTX regrantors I know to let them know I’m potentially open to donating to things they think are especially promising or urgent.
*My evidence for this included being offered a role on the EA Infrastructure Fund, among other things.
I would be keen to hear examples from you and Michael about what this looks like in practice! Can’t conceptualise the kinds of projects you mean so examples would be very useful.
Giving seed funding to researchers I find promising (x4).
Seed funding for prediction market plays or for incentivizing markets (too time consuming, not doing this as much).
Paying an engineer friend of mine to estimate the cost of various large infrastructure projects (upcoming, may not happen).
Now, in practice, I’ve been using other people’s money for this, e.g., from QURI, the now-defunct FTX Foundation and its regrantor programme, SlateStarCodex grants, etc. But I do see a clear line between the amount of resources I control and the amount of things that I am able to make happen, and getting a higher salary seems like a straightforward way to increase resources.
You can also see a list of projects that Vipul Naik has sponsored.
I hadn’t donated for the last couple years despite having taken the GWWC pledge. This is because:
It started to seem like I have sufficiently good judgement, domain knowledge, and connectedness* that my money would be most useful for making opportunities I have special knowledge of happen quickly, rather than donating to large existing opportunities
I didn’t happen to stumble upon anything especially good
I kind-of procrastinated / got busy (without reducing willingness to give; I still planned to “catch up” on this giving)
The downfall of FTX and resignation of the Future Fund team make me think now is a good time for me to catch up on this backlog of giving, and maybe also do some of my coming years’ giving at the same time. So I’ve reached out to ~6 (former) FTX regrantors I know to let them know I’m potentially open to donating to things they think are especially promising or urgent.
*My evidence for this included being offered a role on the EA Infrastructure Fund, among other things.
This is something I’ve also be thinking about. What are your thoughts on pushing for a higher salary (within a nonprofit, e.g. RP), for this purpose?
I would be keen to hear examples from you and Michael about what this looks like in practice! Can’t conceptualise the kinds of projects you mean so examples would be very useful.
The last few for me were:
Paying someone to update the Big List of Cause Candidates.
Paying someone to update Metaforecast.
Giving seed funding to researchers I find promising (x4).
Seed funding for prediction market plays or for incentivizing markets (too time consuming, not doing this as much).
Paying an engineer friend of mine to estimate the cost of various large infrastructure projects (upcoming, may not happen).
Now, in practice, I’ve been using other people’s money for this, e.g., from QURI, the now-defunct FTX Foundation and its regrantor programme, SlateStarCodex grants, etc. But I do see a clear line between the amount of resources I control and the amount of things that I am able to make happen, and getting a higher salary seems like a straightforward way to increase resources.
You can also see a list of projects that Vipul Naik has sponsored.