It sounds like maybe you’re saying you think there’s fundamentally a conflict of interest in having someone from OP on the EVF board, because OP is the funds a lot of things at EVF and what’s best for EVF could be different from what OP wants?
Yeah, that sounds right. When you’re a senior staff member at an organisation you are, in some sense, supposed to be optimising for the health of that org. On this understanding you’re the senior staff member at multiple orgs you’re then supposed to be optimising for multiple variables, which isn’t logically possible.
Obviously you can optimise for some function of the two, but this involves a lot more subjective judgement, so a) could more easily go wrong without any bad faith, and b) it can obfuscate genuinely bad faith decisions (such as prioritising support for an org with which you’re associated because it gives you greater social status) - even to the people making them.
I don’t assert (or think) anyone at EVF is acting in seriously bad faith, but as I’ve said elsewhere, I think we should assume a) non-0 probability that they sometimes do so in minor ways and b) that if they continue to stay in a position that incentivises them to do so the risk will continue to increase.
This misses why OP would want to have one of their employees on the EVF board: they are providing so much funding to EVF I expect they want someone to formally represent them internally.
It doesn’t ‘miss’ it. I understand there are other considerations—they’re discussed everywhere; I’m just stating that there exists this downside which isn’t discussed nearly as much, and doesn’t seem to be acknowledged by the people it applies to.
I guess I could see it that way, but this is a pretty non-central CoI. My understanding is EVF took on an OP staff member as a board member because both EVF and OP wanted to be more closely aligned. They understand that the orgs have somewhat different interests, and by putting someone in a position to embody both they’re pulling the two orgs closer together.
Yeah, that sounds right. When you’re a senior staff member at an organisation you are, in some sense, supposed to be optimising for the health of that org. On this understanding you’re the senior staff member at multiple orgs you’re then supposed to be optimising for multiple variables, which isn’t logically possible.
Obviously you can optimise for some function of the two, but this involves a lot more subjective judgement, so a) could more easily go wrong without any bad faith, and b) it can obfuscate genuinely bad faith decisions (such as prioritising support for an org with which you’re associated because it gives you greater social status) - even to the people making them.
I don’t assert (or think) anyone at EVF is acting in seriously bad faith, but as I’ve said elsewhere, I think we should assume a) non-0 probability that they sometimes do so in minor ways and b) that if they continue to stay in a position that incentivises them to do so the risk will continue to increase.
It doesn’t ‘miss’ it. I understand there are other considerations—they’re discussed everywhere; I’m just stating that there exists this downside which isn’t discussed nearly as much, and doesn’t seem to be acknowledged by the people it applies to.
I guess I could see it that way, but this is a pretty non-central CoI. My understanding is EVF took on an OP staff member as a board member because both EVF and OP wanted to be more closely aligned. They understand that the orgs have somewhat different interests, and by putting someone in a position to embody both they’re pulling the two orgs closer together.