it concerns me that entry level positions in EA are now being advertised at what would be CEO-level salaries at other nonprofits
Suppose there was no existing nonprofit sector, or perhaps that everyone who worked there was an unpaid volunteer, so the only comparison was to the private sector. Do you think that the optimal level of compensation would differ significantly in this world?
In general I’m skeptical that the existence of a poorly paid fairly dysfunctional group of organisations should inspire us to copy them, rather than the much larger group of very effective orgs who do practice competitive, merit based compensation.
Non-profits are different from for-profits in that their aim isn’t profit. But putting that aside, what should effective altruist charities be more similar to: for-profits or non-EA non-profits?
71% of the responding EAs thought that EA charities should be more like for-profits.
59% of the responding non-EAs took the same view. (Though this group was small.)
Obviously this poll isn’t representative so should be taken with a grain of salt.
Suppose there was no existing nonprofit sector, or perhaps that everyone who worked there was an unpaid volunteer, so the only comparison was to the private sector. Do you think that the optimal level of compensation would differ significantly in this world?
In general I’m skeptical that the existence of a poorly paid fairly dysfunctional group of organisations should inspire us to copy them, rather than the much larger group of very effective orgs who do practice competitive, merit based compensation.
I was struck by this argument so ran a Twitter poll.
71% of the responding EAs thought that EA charities should be more like for-profits.
59% of the responding non-EAs took the same view. (Though this group was small.)
Obviously this poll isn’t representative so should be taken with a grain of salt.