I imagine it’s complicated to release details about projects that aren’t selected to receive a grant. Presumably there are reasons the project wasn’t selected. If EA Grants wanted to publicize their rejects, seems like they have two main options:
1) Make the project public without explaining their reasons for rejecting it. In this case, EA Grants might be making it more likely that a bad project is funded, by bringing it to the attention of other funders without warning them of possible pitfalls.
2) Make the project public AND explain their reasons. This might work, but takes up more time and social capital. EA Grants would have to spend time figuring out how to phrase their reasons diplomatically, so that a) their rejects weren’t too discouraged or angry, b) other excellent candidates aren’t discouraged from applying, c) other funders are appropriately warned, etc. It’s hard to balance all of this. CEA also wouldn’t be able to disclose confidential information that their decision might rely on, making it even trickier.
In summary: I think this is a lot harder than it might initially appear. (That said, there might still be good ways to do it?)
Thanks for engaging with this itty. I agree that option (2) would be onerous for EA grants.
However I don’t see how option (1) makes things worse? They could simply publish the grant applications without endorsement or indeed any comment beyond the fact that those projects didn’t make the cut.
If they don’t do this, funders like me are simply left to find funding opportunities on their own.
I imagine it’s complicated to release details about projects that aren’t selected to receive a grant. Presumably there are reasons the project wasn’t selected. If EA Grants wanted to publicize their rejects, seems like they have two main options:
1) Make the project public without explaining their reasons for rejecting it. In this case, EA Grants might be making it more likely that a bad project is funded, by bringing it to the attention of other funders without warning them of possible pitfalls.
2) Make the project public AND explain their reasons. This might work, but takes up more time and social capital. EA Grants would have to spend time figuring out how to phrase their reasons diplomatically, so that a) their rejects weren’t too discouraged or angry, b) other excellent candidates aren’t discouraged from applying, c) other funders are appropriately warned, etc. It’s hard to balance all of this. CEA also wouldn’t be able to disclose confidential information that their decision might rely on, making it even trickier.
In summary: I think this is a lot harder than it might initially appear. (That said, there might still be good ways to do it?)
Thanks for engaging with this itty. I agree that option (2) would be onerous for EA grants.
However I don’t see how option (1) makes things worse? They could simply publish the grant applications without endorsement or indeed any comment beyond the fact that those projects didn’t make the cut.
If they don’t do this, funders like me are simply left to find funding opportunities on their own.