These sorts of worries apply much less to GiveWell when it’s donating to developing-world health charities than to CEA when it’s donating to EA start-ups who are good friends with the staff.
Part of the reason that CEA staff themselves are not fund managers is to help with this kind of conflict. I think that regardless of who we choose as fund managers, there is potential for recipients to develop personal connects with the fund managers and use that to their advantage. This seems true in almost any funding scheme were evaluating the people in charge is part of the selection process. Do you think EA Funds will make this worse somehow?
Will EA Fund managers be committed to producing the sorts of detailed explanations and justifications we see from GiveWell and Open Phil, at least after adjusting for donation size?
We will definitely require some level of reporting from fund managers although we haven’t yet determined how much and in what level of detail. As I mentioned in a different comment, I’d be interested in learning more about what people would like to see.
How will the conflicts of interest be managed and documented with such a tightly interlinked community?
Having Nick as a fund manager is a good test case since there’s a conflict given that he’s a CEA trustee. Our plan so far has been to make sure that we make the presence of this conflict well known. Do you think this is a good long term plan or would you prefer something else?
Part of the reason that CEA staff themselves are not fund managers is to help with this kind of conflict. I think that regardless of who we choose as fund managers, there is potential for recipients to develop personal connects with the fund managers and use that to their advantage. This seems true in almost any funding scheme were evaluating the people in charge is part of the selection process. Do you think EA Funds will make this worse somehow?
We will definitely require some level of reporting from fund managers although we haven’t yet determined how much and in what level of detail. As I mentioned in a different comment, I’d be interested in learning more about what people would like to see.
Having Nick as a fund manager is a good test case since there’s a conflict given that he’s a CEA trustee. Our plan so far has been to make sure that we make the presence of this conflict well known. Do you think this is a good long term plan or would you prefer something else?