Rethink’s cost per published research report that is not majority funded by “institutional support”
Our AI work, XST work, and our GHD work were entirely funded by institutions. Our animal welfare work was mostly funded by institutions. However, our survey work and WIT work were >90% covered by individual donors, so let’s zoom in on that.
The survey department and WIT department produced 31 outputs in 2023 against a spending of $2,055,048.78 across both departments including all relevant management and operations. This is $66,291.90 per report.
Are there slightly more precise estimated costs for some of the specific items listed in your post? As an example smaller individual donor, there is a real big difference between $1K and $10K—the former would be pretty doable on my own if there were a report I had particular interest in, the latter is a nonstarter, and values in the middle could be achievable if 1-2 other people wanted to go in with me.
[2024 is an off year for my donations due to tax strategy, so don’t invest any time into this on my account specifically.]
Rather than give a price tag for each (as there’s many), maybe you or other donors could flag the ones you’re most interested in and I could let you know? (Also this may be helpful for our internal prioritization even if there weren’t any money on the line.)
Our AI work, XST work, and our GHD work were entirely funded by institutions. Our animal welfare work was mostly funded by institutions. However, our survey work and WIT work were >90% covered by individual donors, so let’s zoom in on that.
The survey department and WIT department produced 31 outputs in 2023 against a spending of $2,055,048.78 across both departments including all relevant management and operations. This is $66,291.90 per report.
Notably we’ve separately estimated that some existing reports could be published publicly for a marginal ~$1K to $10K each, so there’s definitely an opportunity for leverage there for a private donor that wants to see more of our results become public. A lot of our work becomes public on the EA Forum thanks to support from individual donors, as our institutional clients typically don’t allocate budget for that.
Are there slightly more precise estimated costs for some of the specific items listed in your post? As an example smaller individual donor, there is a real big difference between $1K and $10K—the former would be pretty doable on my own if there were a report I had particular interest in, the latter is a nonstarter, and values in the middle could be achievable if 1-2 other people wanted to go in with me.
[2024 is an off year for my donations due to tax strategy, so don’t invest any time into this on my account specifically.]
Rather than give a price tag for each (as there’s many), maybe you or other donors could flag the ones you’re most interested in and I could let you know? (Also this may be helpful for our internal prioritization even if there weren’t any money on the line.)