I think policy is a domain where there are still many opportunities for spotting and funding projects early, and having more impact than donating to the EA Funds. As mentioned it may be very hard for the EA Funds to do this kind of work.
That said I think this only applies if if you have (or know and trust someone) with relevant expertise. There are risks and I think plenty of the projects I have come across I thought, this should not to be funded.
(I had planned to write a whole post on this and on how to do active grant-making well as a small donor – not sure if I will have time but maybe)
I had planned to write a whole post on this and on how to do active grant-making well as a small donor – not sure if I will have time but maybe
I would love to read this post (especially any insights that might transfer to someone with AI Safety expertise, but not much in other areas of EA!). Do you think there’s much value in small donors giving to areas they don’t know much about? Especially in areas with potential high downside risk like policy. Eg, is the average value of the marginal “not fully funded” policy project obviously positive or negative?
I think policy is a domain where there are still many opportunities for spotting and funding projects early, and having more impact than donating to the EA Funds. As mentioned it may be very hard for the EA Funds to do this kind of work.
That said I think this only applies if if you have (or know and trust someone) with relevant expertise. There are risks and I think plenty of the projects I have come across I thought, this should not to be funded.
(I had planned to write a whole post on this and on how to do active grant-making well as a small donor – not sure if I will have time but maybe)
I would love to read this post (especially any insights that might transfer to someone with AI Safety expertise, but not much in other areas of EA!). Do you think there’s much value in small donors giving to areas they don’t know much about? Especially in areas with potential high downside risk like policy. Eg, is the average value of the marginal “not fully funded” policy project obviously positive or negative?
Hey Neel. It doesn’t add much (still not had time for a top level post) but in case helpful a bit more of my reasoning is set out here.