I’m trying to decide if I think there is a class of COIs that can be waived only publicly, or if I think that any COI of that magnitude is just non-waivable.
While I wouldn’t suggest a general publication of relationships, questions from the public about whether e.g., Employee X recuses from grant decisions about Person Y would sometimes seem appropriate (although they should be generally asked in a private manner). Although the organization doesn’t need to explain the basic for a recusal, the answer still provides some information about Employee X.
On this page, we disclose the following sorts of relationships:
Social, romantic, family or financial relationships between (a) GiveWell staff and (b) people at our top charities, former top charities, former standout charities, or other grant recipients.
Romantic, family or financial relationships between (a) GiveWell Board members and (b) GiveWell staff.
Social relationships between (a) GiveWell Board members and (b) GiveWell’s Chief Executive Officer that pre-dated GiveWell-based relationships between same. (For example, people who were friends with GiveWell’s Chief Executive Officer prior to joining GiveWell’s Board.)
Other relationships we feel are worth disclosing.
As with most things around transparency, though, we should probably view GiveWell’s approach as being towards the upper end of where we could get the broader EA community to.
I’m trying to decide if I think there is a class of COIs that can be waived only publicly, or if I think that any COI of that magnitude is just non-waivable.
While I wouldn’t suggest a general publication of relationships, questions from the public about whether e.g., Employee X recuses from grant decisions about Person Y would sometimes seem appropriate (although they should be generally asked in a private manner). Although the organization doesn’t need to explain the basic for a recusal, the answer still provides some information about Employee X.
I like GiveWell’s Relationship Disclosures page:
As with most things around transparency, though, we should probably view GiveWell’s approach as being towards the upper end of where we could get the broader EA community to.