Snowman Socrates

Karma: 26

Snowman Socrates 30 Jul 2026 14:33 UTC
1 point
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in reply to: Luke Moore 🔸’s comment on: GWWC’s effective giving ecosystem strategy 2026/27
Ah this makes perfect sense, thank you Luke! I appreciate the thoughtful response.

Snowman Socrates 29 Jul 2026 17:47 UTC
6 points
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on: GWWC’s effective giving ecosystem strategy 2026/27
I want to start my comment by making clear how much I love GWWC and the people working there! The work you do in the space is vital and you’re very thoughtful about how it’s performed. Thank you! I’m sure you’ve thoughtfully considered your role and am very open to my position below being incorrect.

The reason I marked disagree is I believe GWWC should take a much more active role in donor cultivation and stewardship (or in broader high-impact fundraising at large). Countless individuals use GWWC’s tools to split donations to high impact causes, and it would make sense for GWWC to take an active role in cultivating and stewarding these donors (or at least partnering with the high impact orgs so that they can more intentionally cultivate and steward those donors).

One (admittedly very personal/biased example) - I was a donor to two high impact orgs through GWWC’s platform. All I recall receiving were automated receipt emails from GWWC; I did not receive any outreach from the orgs, nor did I receive more personalized communications from GWWC. As a resulted I will transparently share that I discontinued those donations and shifted to another high impact organization directly.

I would argue there is a major opportunity here and that GWWC should play a major role, whether as the primary org or a coordinator for the orgs to whom it regrants money. It seems this could be a very natural extension given that the 10% pledge is a major focus of GWWC.

Snowman Socrates 15 Jul 2026 15:43 UTC
1 point
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on: Let’s taboo the V-word
Strong agree with this post—it’s one of the reasons I was so drawn to FarmKind (and have since become a monthly donor). This post represents so many of my thoughts, and I would dare say it represents many others who will probably never comment for fear of being excoriated by the vegan movement within EA. Thank you lincolnq for thoughtfully posting!

As many other comments have said, I think the framing of making vegan a curse word or not talking about it at all is maybe a bit intense, but my guess is that’s a semi-inflammatory approach to get people engaging with the post and talking about the larger topic in a thoughtful way. I think far more can be done to engage non-vegans who are passionate about animal welfare, especially with the post’s point that ~3% of the world’s population might be vegan.

Snowman Socrates 4 Jun 2026 22:04 UTC
3 points
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on: Philanthropy Needs Ambitious Projects Immediately
Very much second the thoughtful commentary by Marcus. As a professional fundraiser, I would also argue that even if this money becomes available, there is no indication that it would be likely to be funneled into high-impact causes. Speaking quite frankly, I have generally found the EA space to be suboptimal at fundraising—largely because fundraising is fundamentally relationship-driven, while EA is focused on numbers and impact. I might argue that EA needs to ramp up it’s traditional fundraising acumen if it would like to acquire some of these dollars.
P.S. For clarity: I’m not arguing that EA should toss out numbers and impact—that’s the whole point of what we’re doing! I’m simply saying that we have a long way to go in implementing classic fundraising best practices, and that without that, it may be difficult to secure funding from non-EA sources.

Snowman Socrates 2 Mar 2026 19:01 UTC
3 points
1 ∶ 0
on: Rethinking application feedback
Couldn’t agree more, thank you for posting this! I definitely agree that orgs are underestimating time spent on applications, especially high-quality applications.

On sharing data with applicants: there was one EA job I applied to that shared some insightful data, and I wish all orgs would share something like this at each stage: “We received over 1,700 applications for a single role, which is an unprecedented number for our organisation. By progressing to the work test stage, you were in the shortlist of the top 20 applicants.”

Not exactly related, but I would also be grateful if all EA work tests 1.) specified whether time spent reading instructions is included in the allotted time to complete the test; 2.) specified whether it’s permitted to take breaks or must all be completed in one sitting; 3.) were two hours or less to complete.

Snowman Socrates 12 Dec 2025 1:10 UTC
7 points
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on: Is EA prepared for an influx of new, medium-sized donors?
Thank you for asking this question! I definitely agree we should be exploring EAs treatment of mid-size donors and whether we are ready for them (especially in the context of EA fund diversification). I’m not confident that we need more research tools or rankers for such donors—I think there are already many resources for those (ex: Giving What We Can provided a wide range of recommendations across cause areas for such donors, not to mention others like GiveWell, Giving Green, Founders Pledge, ACE, Longview Philanthropy, Ultra Philanthropy, Ark Philanthropy, Ellis Impact, and more).

I think perhaps the more important question for preparing for midlevel donors is does EA have the cultivation and stewardship practices (professionalized fundraising) in place to keep these donors giving and increase their giving. I think this is a massive opportunity within the EA ecosystem.

Snowman Socrates 27 Aug 2025 19:24 UTC
1 point
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on: The anti-fragile culture
WOW! Every organization should read this; what a fantastic summary on creating a solid work culture and navigating change management. I’m hoping to share many of these ideas with my current org if they are open to them. Thank you for your excellent post!

Snowman Socrates 24 Jul 2025 1:17 UTC
6 points
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on: All About Operations & Careers
Thank you for this excellent post, Deena! As an ops professional, I really resonated with everything you wrote and feel you represented ops accurately and accessibly. I anticipate I’ll be signing up to chat with you soon—always great to be connected to more impact-minded ops professionals!

Snowman Socrates 25 Jun 2025 15:04 UTC
7 points
1 ∶ 0
in reply to: OGTutzauer🔸’s comment on: Please reconsider your use of adjectives
Thank you for this comment! As someone fairly new to the EA space, this has been one of the things I’ve noticed (and honestly, had made me terrified to post anything—even this reply). Rationality and truthseeking are essential, but so is considering HOW your argument/point will be interpreted or received—especially if a main goal is to build the movement (which I don’t think anyone would disagree with).