I expect more quickly diminishing returns within the grantmaking of a given regrantor than I would for a more centralized operation. This is principally because independent regrantors have more limited deal flow, making their early grants look unusually strong.
I think this could become true eventually; but imo currently, most of our small ($50k) budget regrantors could effectively allocate $200-$500k/year budgets. Eg you mentioned earlier that many opportunities of the form “start this great org” require >$50k; also, many regrants on Manifund include a statement like “I would give more here if I could but my budget is limited”.
I also want to note that the overall regranting model can easily scale by adding additional regrantors; we’ve received a lot of inbound interest in becoming regrantors despite little outreach, and many highly-trusted EA folks (even some grantmakers!) appreciate the greater flexibility offered by the regranting model.
Like @MarcusAbramovitch , I’d feel pretty comfortable allocating ~$1m part-time. I mean just on my existing grants I would’ve been happy to donate another ~$150k without thinking more about it! Concrete >$50k grants I had to pass up but would otherwise have wanted to fund total >$200k (extremely rough). So I’m already at >$400k (EDIT: per 5 months!) without even thinking about how my behavior or prospective grantee behavior might have changed if I had a larger pot.
That said, I think there’s a sense in which I hit strongly diminishing returns at ~$10k, albeit still above-bar. The Robert Long grant was by far my best, and I knew from day 0 that I wanted to make it. After that, a bet on me became a bet on my taste, not a bet on my private information, which seems less exciting. (Again I’m optimistic that the past 5 months was an unusually low-private-information period for me, but you see my point.)
And I’m somewhat skeptical that others had $200k-$500k/year of productive grants to make. To me it’s a bad sign that >30% of Manifund funding went to 3 projects (MATS, Apollo, and LTFF) that I wouldn’t think especially benefit from the regranting model.
This is explained by LTFF/Open Philanthropy doing the imho misguided matching. This has the effect of diverting funding from other places for no clear gain. A lump sum would have been a better option
I feel quite able to give >$500k/year. I also think more money would make a lot more “just completely fund the thing” instead of people throwing $1000-2000 for “signal boosting” or hoping others come along to fund the thing.
I feel I could do similar and even larger amounts for the animal welfare space.
I think this could become true eventually; but imo currently, most of our small ($50k) budget regrantors could effectively allocate $200-$500k/year budgets. Eg you mentioned earlier that many opportunities of the form “start this great org” require >$50k; also, many regrants on Manifund include a statement like “I would give more here if I could but my budget is limited”.
I also want to note that the overall regranting model can easily scale by adding additional regrantors; we’ve received a lot of inbound interest in becoming regrantors despite little outreach, and many highly-trusted EA folks (even some grantmakers!) appreciate the greater flexibility offered by the regranting model.
Like @MarcusAbramovitch , I’d feel pretty comfortable allocating ~$1m part-time. I mean just on my existing grants I would’ve been happy to donate another ~$150k without thinking more about it! Concrete >$50k grants I had to pass up but would otherwise have wanted to fund total >$200k (extremely rough). So I’m already at >$400k (EDIT: per 5 months!) without even thinking about how my behavior or prospective grantee behavior might have changed if I had a larger pot.
That said, I think there’s a sense in which I hit strongly diminishing returns at ~$10k, albeit still above-bar. The Robert Long grant was by far my best, and I knew from day 0 that I wanted to make it. After that, a bet on me became a bet on my taste, not a bet on my private information, which seems less exciting. (Again I’m optimistic that the past 5 months was an unusually low-private-information period for me, but you see my point.)
And I’m somewhat skeptical that others had $200k-$500k/year of productive grants to make. To me it’s a bad sign that >30% of Manifund funding went to 3 projects (MATS, Apollo, and LTFF) that I wouldn’t think especially benefit from the regranting model.
This is explained by LTFF/Open Philanthropy doing the imho misguided matching. This has the effect of diverting funding from other places for no clear gain. A lump sum would have been a better option
Fair enough, I agree.
I feel quite able to give >$500k/year. I also think more money would make a lot more “just completely fund the thing” instead of people throwing $1000-2000 for “signal boosting” or hoping others come along to fund the thing.
I feel I could do similar and even larger amounts for the animal welfare space.