Why can’t EAs set up a fee-paying society? People could pay annual membership fees and in exchange be part of a body that provided advice for donations, news about popular cause areas and the EA community, a forum, annual meetings, etc. Leadership positions could be decided by elections. I’m just spitballing here.
The math suggests that the meta would look much different in this world. CEA’s proposed budget for 2024 is $31.4MM by itself, about half for events (mostly EAG), about a quarter for groups. There are of course other parts of the meta. There were 3567 respondents to the EA Survey 2022, which could be an overcount or undercount of the number of people who might join a fee-paying society. Only about 60% were full-time employed or self-employed; most of the remainder were students.
Maybe a leaner, more democratic meta would be a good thing—I don’t have a firm opinion on that.
The math suggests that the meta would look much different in this world. CEA’s proposed budget for 2024 is $31.4MM by itself, about half for events (mostly EAG), about a quarter for groups. There are of course other parts of the meta. There were 3567 respondents to the EA Survey 2022, which could be an overcount or undercount of the number of people who might join a fee-paying society. Only about 60% were full-time employed or self-employed; most of the remainder were students.
Maybe a leaner, more democratic meta would be a good thing—I don’t have a firm opinion on that.