I agree that 5 (accepting OP-dominated balance sheets) seems like the best solution.
I think a different but related point is that an org that can fundraise outside of EA is that much more valuable than an org producing identical outputs but fundraising from within EA. The big example of this of course is GiveWell—using EA principles but getting money from a far wider set of people. Raising $1 from OP (and even more so other EA sources) has pretty direct opportunity costs for other high-impact projects, but raising $1 from someone else mainly trades off against that donor’s consumption or their other donations which we (putatively) think are a lot less impactful.
I agree, raising money from non-EA sources is hard but extremely valuable for multiple reasons; the counterfactual probably isn’t as charitable, it grows the EA pie, it might bring them into more effective giving, etc.
I agree overall but I want to add that becoming dependent on non-EA donors could put you under pressure to do more non-EA things /​ less EA things—either party could pull the other towards themselves.
I agree that 5 (accepting OP-dominated balance sheets) seems like the best solution.
I think a different but related point is that an org that can fundraise outside of EA is that much more valuable than an org producing identical outputs but fundraising from within EA. The big example of this of course is GiveWell—using EA principles but getting money from a far wider set of people. Raising $1 from OP (and even more so other EA sources) has pretty direct opportunity costs for other high-impact projects, but raising $1 from someone else mainly trades off against that donor’s consumption or their other donations which we (putatively) think are a lot less impactful.
I agree, raising money from non-EA sources is hard but extremely valuable for multiple reasons; the counterfactual probably isn’t as charitable, it grows the EA pie, it might bring them into more effective giving, etc.
I agree overall but I want to add that becoming dependent on non-EA donors could put you under pressure to do more non-EA things /​ less EA things—either party could pull the other towards themselves.
Another good point. It’s amazing how much donors can influence priorities, even subconsciously