I’ve always thought the name “fellowship” was misleading. But that seems like an argument to change the name, not really to pay people.
You do lay out some plausible arguments for how paying fellows could be good. As Michael mentions in another thread, Penn EA paid their fellows last term. I think the most useful evidence for or against this idea would be a writeup from them about how well it worked and what kind of people it attracted.
Also, this is definitely the kind of thing that you should preclear with funders prior to trying; it is not included in CEA’s list of common expenses.
I agree with you, and with Issa that insofar as it’s just a series of readings and discussions, “fellowship” is misleading.
And I agree with the OP that it’s good to fund people, to incentivise students to learn and contribute. But I think paying reading group attendees is a weird place to start. Better to pay tutors, offer prizes, fund people if they recruit people to EA jobs, and so on.
Agree with the name being misleading! I suspect ‘fellowship’ was chosen to improve marketability but then it runs the risk of risk 1.3. I know some university groups have rebranded the fellowships to be ‘Seminar Programs’ - I wonder if perhaps that should be the new norm?
In general, I agree with all related comments in this comment thread.
Semi-relatedly: I’d love to create a more involved, further-down-the-pipeline program that more closely resembles a fellowship. UChicago has various ‘career programs,’ including in Policy + Social Impact, Social Sector, and Business (which is competitive and highly sought-after).
I’ve always thought the name “fellowship” was misleading. But that seems like an argument to change the name, not really to pay people.
You do lay out some plausible arguments for how paying fellows could be good. As Michael mentions in another thread, Penn EA paid their fellows last term. I think the most useful evidence for or against this idea would be a writeup from them about how well it worked and what kind of people it attracted.
Also, this is definitely the kind of thing that you should preclear with funders prior to trying; it is not included in CEA’s list of common expenses.
I agree with you, and with Issa that insofar as it’s just a series of readings and discussions, “fellowship” is misleading.
And I agree with the OP that it’s good to fund people, to incentivise students to learn and contribute. But I think paying reading group attendees is a weird place to start. Better to pay tutors, offer prizes, fund people if they recruit people to EA jobs, and so on.
Yes, this simply isn’t an example of a fellowship—it’s a free series of seminars. There’s no need to pay people to complete it.
Agree with the name being misleading! I suspect ‘fellowship’ was chosen to improve marketability but then it runs the risk of risk 1.3. I know some university groups have rebranded the fellowships to be ‘Seminar Programs’ - I wonder if perhaps that should be the new norm?
In general, I agree with all related comments in this comment thread.
Semi-relatedly: I’d love to create a more involved, further-down-the-pipeline program that more closely resembles a fellowship. UChicago has various ‘career programs,’ including in Policy + Social Impact, Social Sector, and Business (which is competitive and highly sought-after).