Executive summary: EA group organizers and organization staff should be cautious when interacting with political campaigns to avoid legal risks and risks of polarization, while still considering the potentially high impact of political work.
Key points:
Charities and organizations funded by charities face legal constraints on political activities, which vary by country. Violating these rules could lead to loss of charity status.
Risks of political engagement include EA becoming associated with specific parties, issues becoming polarized, degradation of EA epistemics and reasoning standards, and creating suspicion about EA motives.
EA group organizers and org staff can campaign as private citizens, but should clearly separate this from their EA roles and avoid using EA resources or platforms.
EA groups should keep political discussions nonpartisan, invite speakers from multiple parties, and avoid advertising events as EA-affiliated if primarily about a candidate or party.
The EA Forum allows some political content, with restrictions based on relevance to EA cause areas and level of candidate advocacy.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: EA group organizers and organization staff should be cautious when interacting with political campaigns to avoid legal risks and risks of polarization, while still considering the potentially high impact of political work.
Key points:
Charities and organizations funded by charities face legal constraints on political activities, which vary by country. Violating these rules could lead to loss of charity status.
Risks of political engagement include EA becoming associated with specific parties, issues becoming polarized, degradation of EA epistemics and reasoning standards, and creating suspicion about EA motives.
EA group organizers and org staff can campaign as private citizens, but should clearly separate this from their EA roles and avoid using EA resources or platforms.
EA groups should keep political discussions nonpartisan, invite speakers from multiple parties, and avoid advertising events as EA-affiliated if primarily about a candidate or party.
The EA Forum allows some political content, with restrictions based on relevance to EA cause areas and level of candidate advocacy.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.