Who Was the Funder that Counterfactually Resulted in LEEP Starting?
Lead Exposure Elimination Project (LEEP) is an outstanding Charity Entrepreneurship-incubated charity recognized externally for its impactful work by RP, Founders Pledge, Schmidt Futures, and Open Philanthropy. It’s one of the clearest cases of new charities having a profound impact on the world. However, everything is clear in hindsight; it now seems obvious that this was a great idea and team to fund, but who funded LEEP at the earliest stage? Before any of the aforementioned bodies would have considered or looked at them, who provided funding when $60k made the difference between launching and not existing?
The CE Seed Network, so far, has been a rather well-kept secret. They are the first people to see each new batch of CE-incubated charities and make a decision on whether and how much to support them. A handful of donors supported LEEP in its earliest days, culminating in the excellent charity we see today. Some of them donated anonymously, never seeking credit or the limelight, just quietly making a significant impact. Others engaged deeply and regularly with the team, eventually becoming trusted board members. Historically, the Seed Network has been a small group (~30) of primarily E2G-focused EAs, invited by the CE team or alumni from the CE program to join. However, now we are opening it up for expressions of interest for those who might want to join in future rounds. Our charity production has doubled (from 5 to 10 charities a year) and although our Seed Network has grown, there is still room for more members to join to support our next batches of charities.
We have now created a website to describe how it works. On that website, there’s an application form for those who might be a good fit to be a member in the future. It’s not a great fit for everyone as it focuses on the CE (near-termist) cause areas and donors who could donate over $10k a year to new charities and can make a decision on whether and whom to fund with how much in a short period of time when we send out the newest project proposals (~9 days). But for those who fit, we think it’s one of the most impactful ways to donate.
Do you think it’s worth organisations like this offering to sell their impact? I find it hard to think about. But it seems like if people are retroactively funding (as they are) then they might be willing to purchase LEEP impact from Seed Network?
So far have not seen this work well for many projects but open to the idea in theory.
I guess in theory by RP, Founders Pledge, Schmidt Futures, Open Philanthropy and the CE Seed Network and current donors would have to agree on how they split their impact.
If that were possible can you think of any bottlenecks to CE selling impact on, say Manifund?