Arthropoda treasurer here—pretty much option 2. We are hoping to increase our expenditure next year to run an extra grants round, add a contractor to help manage some things (currently we’re almost entirely volunteer), add a bit to our strategic reserve (to carry us through donation fluctuations without needing to pause grant-making), and a few other small bits and pieces. A good chunk of this expansion can be covered by our reserves + some existing donor commitments, and 55k is about what’s left.
We have actually a much higher room for more funding in theory, up to several million to run a couple of targeted programs we have in mind. These activities would require hiring someone to run them as a program manager as well as a lot more in grants. But we’re not really expecting EA Forum readers to fill that gap unless they happen to run a large foundation :)
A possibly naive question — does this mean:
Arthropoda needs $55k to remain at the same level of funding (inflation-adjusted) as 2025?
Or that Arthropoda needs $55k to fulfil its 2026 plan, which may involve an increase (or decrease) in funding?
Or is $55k the overall “room for more funding” in some other sense?
Arthropoda treasurer here—pretty much option 2. We are hoping to increase our expenditure next year to run an extra grants round, add a contractor to help manage some things (currently we’re almost entirely volunteer), add a bit to our strategic reserve (to carry us through donation fluctuations without needing to pause grant-making), and a few other small bits and pieces. A good chunk of this expansion can be covered by our reserves + some existing donor commitments, and 55k is about what’s left.
We have actually a much higher room for more funding in theory, up to several million to run a couple of targeted programs we have in mind. These activities would require hiring someone to run them as a program manager as well as a lot more in grants. But we’re not really expecting EA Forum readers to fill that gap unless they happen to run a large foundation :)
In the interest of clarity, I’ve updated the original post in response to @Hugh P’s helpful question.