I think deciding between capital allocators is a great use of the donor lottery, even as a Plan A. You might say something like: “I would probably give to the Long-Term Future Fund, but I’m not totally sure whether they’re better than the EA Infrastructure Fund or Longview or something I might come up with myself. So I’ll participate in the donor lottery so if I win, I can take more time to read their reports and see which of them seems best.” I think this would be a great decision.
I’d be pretty unhappy if such a donor then felt forced to instead do their own grantmaking despite not having a comparative advantage for doing so (possibly underperforming Open Phil’s last dollar), or didn’t participate in the donor lottery in the first place. I think the above use case is one of the most central one that I hope to address.
I tentatively agree that further diversification of funding sources might be good, but I don’t think the donor lottery is the right tool for that.
I think deciding between capital allocators is a great use of the donor lottery, even as a Plan A. You might say something like: “I would probably give to the Long-Term Future Fund, but I’m not totally sure whether they’re better than the EA Infrastructure Fund or Longview or something I might come up with myself. So I’ll participate in the donor lottery so if I win, I can take more time to read their reports and see which of them seems best.” I think this would be a great decision.
I’d be pretty unhappy if such a donor then felt forced to instead do their own grantmaking despite not having a comparative advantage for doing so (possibly underperforming Open Phil’s last dollar), or didn’t participate in the donor lottery in the first place. I think the above use case is one of the most central one that I hope to address.
I tentatively agree that further diversification of funding sources might be good, but I don’t think the donor lottery is the right tool for that.