The Massachusetts Bail Fund, on the other hand, seems less centrally EA-recommended. It is working in the area of criminal justice reform, and posting bail is an effective-seeming intervention that I do like, but I haven’t seen any analysis of its effectiveness or strong hints of non-public trust placed in it by informed donors (e.g. it has not received any OpenPhil grants; though note that it is listed in the Double Up Drive and the 2017 REG Matching Challenge).
I’d like to know more about the latter two from an EA perspective because they’re both working on fairly shiny and high-status issues, which means that it would be quite easy for me to get my college’s SU to make a large grant to them from the charity fund.
Is there any other EA-aligned information on this charity (and also on IRAP and StrongMinds, since the more the merrier)?
Open Phil has made multiple grants to the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, which seems to do similar work to the MA Bail Fund (and was included in Dan Smith’s 2017 match). I don’t know why MA is still here and Brooklyn isn’t, but it may have something to do with room for more funding or a switch in one of the orgs’ priorities.
You’ve probably seen this, but Michael Plant included StrongMinds in his mental health writeup on the Forum.
The Double Up Drive, an EA donation matching campaign (highly recommended) has, in one group of charities that it’s matching donations to:
StrongMinds
International Refugee Assistance Project
Massachusetts Bail Fund
StrongMinds is quite prominent in EA as the mental health charity; most recently, Founders Pledge recommends it in their report on mental health.
The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) works in immigration reform, and is a recipient of grants from OpenPhilanthropy as well as recommended for individual donors by an OpenPhil member of staff.
The Massachusetts Bail Fund, on the other hand, seems less centrally EA-recommended. It is working in the area of criminal justice reform, and posting bail is an effective-seeming intervention that I do like, but I haven’t seen any analysis of its effectiveness or strong hints of non-public trust placed in it by informed donors (e.g. it has not received any OpenPhil grants; though note that it is listed in the Double Up Drive and the 2017 REG Matching Challenge).
I’d like to know more about the latter two from an EA perspective because they’re both working on fairly shiny and high-status issues, which means that it would be quite easy for me to get my college’s SU to make a large grant to them from the charity fund.
Is there any other EA-aligned information on this charity (and also on IRAP and StrongMinds, since the more the merrier)?
Open Phil has made multiple grants to the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, which seems to do similar work to the MA Bail Fund (and was included in Dan Smith’s 2017 match). I don’t know why MA is still here and Brooklyn isn’t, but it may have something to do with room for more funding or a switch in one of the orgs’ priorities.
You’ve probably seen this, but Michael Plant included StrongMinds in his mental health writeup on the Forum.