I could be getting this completely wrong, and please correct me if I am, but EV is the ultimate decision maker in the sense that they bought and will be running the building—Owen Cotton-Baratt brought EVF a proposal and a donor to do something, and they accepted to do it and are now doing it. Owen or the donor did not buy the building, will not be running the programs out of it—EVF will, if not directly then as a project run within the legal entity of EVF (the statement that they will employing staff to work makes me believe its the former) much like CEA. I’m truly very confused as to how EVF is not the decision maker here and would greatly appreciate an explanation.
Ah. I don’t have much inside knowledge here, but my understanding was that Owen (and other people on his team) is the one running the project—organising what programs run (or coordinating with the external groups organising them), making strategic decisions for the space, etc. And that EVF are only involved for some logistical things where you need a fiscal sponsor, but not actually running the project.
I believe EVF have historically had similar relationships with a bunch of other orgs, eg EA Funds or Giving What We Can (this may no longer be true). My understanding is that EVF specialises in giving the necessary kind of logistical/legal support to projects, which otherwise basically run themselves (including having their own ops staff dealing with day-to-day things)
Thank you for the explanation, I understand your point of view better now. That being said, the way you explained still reads to me more as Owen and his team running a project (albeit with a high degree of autonomy) for EVF than EVF acting a facilitator. But in either case, EVF was ultimate decision maker and they are the organization that bought the building. I don’t think the degree of separation is significant enough to say that this was not an EVF decision or that EVF is not responsible for it.
I agree with your points about EVF micromanaging the projects of its subsidiaries under threat of pulling out being undesirable, but I don’t think they apply very well here. This is because a) the decision was not whether org X’s action was a cost effective ot reasonable one but whether this action should be taken under the stewardship and sponsorship of EVF in the first place, b) because it was a very high stakes decision simply in terms of initial and ongoing costs, and c) the degree of involvement that EVF will have seems to be enough that this should be treated as an EVF project regardless. The last point is the one I’m most unsure about and is based on a lot of comments in this thread justifying the choice of Oxford as a venue because of the convenience for CEA staff, although I’m unclear how much of that is based on actual information about how the venue will be used versus speculation from commenters.
Additionally, if this is a situation where the Abbey is going to be run independently from EVF and with a dedicated team, I think further justification of Oxford should be necessary, both because of the high cost of the area and because if how difficult it is to get UK visas (which would arguably diminish the expected value as it limits the use and the range of activities- I’ll admit to some bias here because I’ve had a number of friends and colleagues get rejected for UK visas for legitimate work and education travel for workshops and conferences over the past couple months and I’m not certain how common that it is. Still, it seems like selecting somewhere in the Schengen zone or Eastern Europe where you can still have the “pleasant surroundings” for a cheaper price and with less economic and time costs involved in being able to actually get there might have been a good thing to consider)
I could be getting this completely wrong, and please correct me if I am, but EV is the ultimate decision maker in the sense that they bought and will be running the building—Owen Cotton-Baratt brought EVF a proposal and a donor to do something, and they accepted to do it and are now doing it. Owen or the donor did not buy the building, will not be running the programs out of it—EVF will, if not directly then as a project run within the legal entity of EVF (the statement that they will employing staff to work makes me believe its the former) much like CEA. I’m truly very confused as to how EVF is not the decision maker here and would greatly appreciate an explanation.
Ah. I don’t have much inside knowledge here, but my understanding was that Owen (and other people on his team) is the one running the project—organising what programs run (or coordinating with the external groups organising them), making strategic decisions for the space, etc. And that EVF are only involved for some logistical things where you need a fiscal sponsor, but not actually running the project.
I believe EVF have historically had similar relationships with a bunch of other orgs, eg EA Funds or Giving What We Can (this may no longer be true). My understanding is that EVF specialises in giving the necessary kind of logistical/legal support to projects, which otherwise basically run themselves (including having their own ops staff dealing with day-to-day things)
Thank you for the explanation, I understand your point of view better now. That being said, the way you explained still reads to me more as Owen and his team running a project (albeit with a high degree of autonomy) for EVF than EVF acting a facilitator. But in either case, EVF was ultimate decision maker and they are the organization that bought the building. I don’t think the degree of separation is significant enough to say that this was not an EVF decision or that EVF is not responsible for it.
I agree with your points about EVF micromanaging the projects of its subsidiaries under threat of pulling out being undesirable, but I don’t think they apply very well here. This is because a) the decision was not whether org X’s action was a cost effective ot reasonable one but whether this action should be taken under the stewardship and sponsorship of EVF in the first place, b) because it was a very high stakes decision simply in terms of initial and ongoing costs, and c) the degree of involvement that EVF will have seems to be enough that this should be treated as an EVF project regardless. The last point is the one I’m most unsure about and is based on a lot of comments in this thread justifying the choice of Oxford as a venue because of the convenience for CEA staff, although I’m unclear how much of that is based on actual information about how the venue will be used versus speculation from commenters.
Additionally, if this is a situation where the Abbey is going to be run independently from EVF and with a dedicated team, I think further justification of Oxford should be necessary, both because of the high cost of the area and because if how difficult it is to get UK visas (which would arguably diminish the expected value as it limits the use and the range of activities- I’ll admit to some bias here because I’ve had a number of friends and colleagues get rejected for UK visas for legitimate work and education travel for workshops and conferences over the past couple months and I’m not certain how common that it is. Still, it seems like selecting somewhere in the Schengen zone or Eastern Europe where you can still have the “pleasant surroundings” for a cheaper price and with less economic and time costs involved in being able to actually get there might have been a good thing to consider)