Without commenting on the rest of this case or EA Funds more broadly, this stood out to me:
At the EA funds website, they write that they usually grant money within 21 days from sending an application, and that their managers care (no further specification).
I was surprised the OP would request a response within one month when applying for a grant until I saw this truly is emphasized on the EA Funds site. This seems inconsistent with my understanding of many people’s experiences with EA Funds and easy messaging to change to set more realistic expectations. I appreciate EA funders’ efforts toward quick turnaround times, but traditional funders typically take many months to reach a decision, even for comparably sized (i.e. small) grants. This seems like a strong case for “underpromise, overdeliver.”
The Animal Welfare Fund, Long-Term Future Fund and EA Infrastructure Fund aim to respond to all applications in 2 months and most applications in 3 weeks. However, due to an unprecedentedly high load, we are currently unable to achieve our desired speedy turnarounds. If you need to hear back sooner (e.g., within a few weeks), you can let us know in the application form, and we will see what we can do. Please note that:
EA Funds is low on capacity and may not be able to get back to you by either your stated deadline or the above aims—we encourage you to apply to other funders as well if you have a time-sensitive ask.
In other parts of the site we say things like “usually we get a decision within 21 days”. It’s possible that the application form said something different when Igor applied, we edit it fairly regularly though I’m not aware of changing that specific like recently.
Without commenting on the rest of this case or EA Funds more broadly, this stood out to me:
I was surprised the OP would request a response within one month when applying for a grant until I saw this truly is emphasized on the EA Funds site. This seems inconsistent with my understanding of many people’s experiences with EA Funds and easy messaging to change to set more realistic expectations. I appreciate EA funders’ efforts toward quick turnaround times, but traditional funders typically take many months to reach a decision, even for comparably sized (i.e. small) grants. This seems like a strong case for “underpromise, overdeliver.”
I believe our application form says
In other parts of the site we say things like “usually we get a decision within 21 days”. It’s possible that the application form said something different when Igor applied, we edit it fairly regularly though I’m not aware of changing that specific like recently.