An organiser from Stanford EA asked me today how community building grants could be made more attractive. I have two reactions:
Specialised career pathways. To the extent that this can be done without compromising effectiveness, community-builders should be allowed to build field-specialisations, rather than just geographic ones. Currently, community-builders might hope to work at general outreach orgs like CEA and 80k. But general orgs will only offer so many jobs. Casting the net a bit wider, many activities of Forethought Foundation, SERI, LPP, and FLI are field-specific outreach. If community-builders take on some semi-specialised kinds of work in AI, or policy, or econ, (in connection with these orgs or independently) then this would aid their prospects of working for such orgs or returning to a more mainstream pathway.
“Owning it”.To the extent that community building does not offer a specialised career pathway, the fact that it’s a bold move should be incorporated into the branding. The Thiel Fellowship offers $100k to ~2 dozen students per year, to drop out of their programs to work on a startup that might change the world. Not everyone will like it, but it’s bold, it’s a round, and reasonably-sized number, with a name attached, and a dedicated website. Imagine a “Macaskill fellowship” that offers $100k for a student from a top university to pause their studies and spend one year focusing on promoting prioritisation and long-term thinking—it’d be a more attractive path.
Making community-building grants more attractive
An organiser from Stanford EA asked me today how community building grants could be made more attractive. I have two reactions:
Specialised career pathways. To the extent that this can be done without compromising effectiveness, community-builders should be allowed to build field-specialisations, rather than just geographic ones. Currently, community-builders might hope to work at general outreach orgs like CEA and 80k. But general orgs will only offer so many jobs. Casting the net a bit wider, many activities of Forethought Foundation, SERI, LPP, and FLI are field-specific outreach. If community-builders take on some semi-specialised kinds of work in AI, or policy, or econ, (in connection with these orgs or independently) then this would aid their prospects of working for such orgs or returning to a more mainstream pathway.
“Owning it”. To the extent that community building does not offer a specialised career pathway, the fact that it’s a bold move should be incorporated into the branding. The Thiel Fellowship offers $100k to ~2 dozen students per year, to drop out of their programs to work on a startup that might change the world. Not everyone will like it, but it’s bold, it’s a round, and reasonably-sized number, with a name attached, and a dedicated website. Imagine a “Macaskill fellowship” that offers $100k for a student from a top university to pause their studies and spend one year focusing on promoting prioritisation and long-term thinking—it’d be a more attractive path.