“Oliver, I, and potentially other LTFF staff will participate in the first round, so routing this money through the Commons means the remaining LTFF balance is still allocated in part by the judgement of the LTFF fund managers at the time the donors made their donation. To avoid any perception of conflict of interest, Lightcone has agreed to waive its administrative fees on this transaction, so the 3% platform fee and 2% evaluator fee will not be charged on the LTFF contribution.”
I think this is a good move, but I think there will remain many genuine conflicts of interests in these grants (which is both inevitable and OK as long as its recognised). Conflict of interest is about more than admin fees—more importantly its about bias towards where money gets allocated. Given how small the field is I’m sure many who get allocated money will be friends and former colleagues of those given the money, whether its former LTFF or Lightcone staff who are giving the money.
“Oliver, I, and potentially other LTFF staff will participate in the first round, so routing this money through the Commons means the remaining LTFF balance is still allocated in part by the judgement of the LTFF fund managers at the time the donors made their donation. To avoid any perception of conflict of interest, Lightcone has agreed to waive its administrative fees on this transaction, so the 3% platform fee and 2% evaluator fee will not be charged on the LTFF contribution.”
I think this is a good move, but I think there will remain many genuine conflicts of interests in these grants (which is both inevitable and OK as long as its recognised). Conflict of interest is about more than admin fees—more importantly its about bias towards where money gets allocated. Given how small the field is I’m sure many who get allocated money will be friends and former colleagues of those given the money, whether its former LTFF or Lightcone staff who are giving the money.