Thanks for sharing—I think it’s really important that there are easy to communicate summaries available to share, especially given the pace of rapid advancements that are taking place and the resulting significant gap in comprehension for many who haven’t even used/engaged with AI at all. There’s a recent Rutger Bregman video that also feels sharable with non technical / non AI focused audiences—but the comments section still highlights how people are using the current (or even are already out of date) status of what AI can achieve, and missing, as you point out, the trend.
Bec Cutter
Karma: 3
Hi Emily, I’m a fractional CFO (in Australia) and mostly work with high impact organisations—in fact, I scale my hourly rate accordingly, with the theory that at least I donate 10% (via GWWC pledge) of my income so one way or another I’m having an impact. Fortunately, I’ve been lucky enough to work with really great high impact orgs (paid work with non AI but EA-aligned org, and volunteer Board role with AI safety org) so haven’t felt like I’ve been compromising too much there.
In asnwer to your questions
Could you do freelance work if you wanted to? I already do—but hadn’t been aware of Freelancing for Good, in fact I was looking for a resource like this when I first started out on my self employed journey!
Does the country you live in make it easy to try out freelancing? Yes (Australia)
Would you be open to freelance work? Yes, although I prefer ongoing regular monthly support, rather than project based freelance work, as it takes time to get to know the organisation properly, and also that fits with what they were looking for.
Could your work (e.g. in operations, communications) be projectised? Some work—for example developing a marketing strategy, building a website, providing PR advice, is where the organisation I’m working with is looking for contractors to provide this.
Does your role need a lot of org-specific context? Not really—certainly nothing insurmountable that can’t be learned quickly on the job, but the more I know the organisation and field in general, the easier to add value.
What worries would you have in taking on freelance work? I’m lucky that I’m deliberately looking for flexible work as I wear a few different hats, so this is the only type of work I could do.
In general regarding using freelance / ‘fractional’ resources directory, it has been important and relevant for the organisations I work with to know that I am values-aligned, and better understand the EA mindset for want of a better term (i.e. has completed various EA or bluedot courses etc) rather than just finding a contractor via a typical freelance jobs board, where everyone is competing on rate. These roles came through direct relationships (we met in person at an EAGX event, and had been virtually introduced prior to that), but I believe work would be given preferentially to freelances/fractional people that are focussed on high impact work—mainly because I think it would be assumed that those people would ‘get’ the mission, want to be bloody good/effective at their job, and not waste the company’s time (because wasted time/money = foregone impact)!
Not sure if this helps you—but happy to talk more if you wanted to reach out.
I’d be doing less good with my life if I hadn’t heard of effective altruism, as it has encouraged me to challenge how much I’m capable of comfortably giving (10% pledged) and what constitutes as effective vs just giving for emotional reasons
Also—to add, if you’re UK based, not sure if Impact Ops would consider taking on freelancers to support their consulting offerings to clients, but that could be another avenue.