In this brief blog post, I propose that creative workers have an under-utilized skillset that could benefit EA’s goals by giving those who hold these skills the opportunity to volunteer their time and labor instead of (or in addition to) capital. I believe that there is a niche area of career development for creatives that creates a win-win situation for all parties involved. This argument is outlined in the three points below:
1: Aesthetics are important.
Photographs, videos, graphic design, art direction, and creative work generally have the power to potentially communicate complex and nuanced ideas efficiently and effectively. As our world becomes more connected through digital technology this broad skillset only becomes more important. Because of this, it is something the effective altruism movement and the affiliated organizations should take seriously.
2: Starting a career in any creative industry is hard
This is true for several reasons, but the reason of most relevance for the argument at hand is the difficulty of quantifying creative work. Because of this difficulty, the creative worker’s portfolio plays a significant importance in securing future employment. The dilemma every creative worker faces is the interim between starting out and establishing one’s credibility. This comes most often in the first three years after the completion of a technical degree. The culturally accepted solution to this problem is to take this time to work on self-directed, self-financed projects. What I am suggesting is that the goals of the EA movement and the professional goals of this working group could be met simultaneously.
3: A large number of people care, but lack the liquidity to donate.
I hypothesize that enough of this group already cares about the issues that drive the effective altruism movement but lack the liquidity to make any significant contributions. If this is true and they are given instead (or in addition to) the option to offer their labor, time, and skill it is something that could come in abundance.
If the three premises are true, and EA/80,000 hours could benefit from this niche labor market the next question that arises is how to actually do something about it? I imagine a good starting point would be reaching out to the organizations that are already listing positions on the 80,000 hours job board and see if they already have a need for freelance creative work. A prime example of this would be Impossible foods. This is a large company with various media outlets that only benefits from an increase in branding opportunities. If enough companies express this need the next step would be to go to outlets where artists look for work and cross-list the positions between sites. NYFA would be an excellent outlet for both graphic design and photography.
If this proved successful campaigns could be coordinated based on the specific needs of a given organization. For instance, if Givewell had a specific need that wasn’t being met through its typical fundraising sources a targeted campaign could be crafted with the help of this volunteer labor force. Keep in mind that this group of people would be volunteering their time, but it is also helping them build their professional portfolio for the future. This not only helps them, but it creates relationships that could grow into future donations once this group’s careers have developed more fully. It seems that it would be best to structure this in the form of short-term freelance contracts to prevent any organization from becoming dependent on any one individual for volunteer work (unless both parties would want this).
I will conclude this idea by stating clearly that I am a photographer and being at the beginning of my career I wish I could offer this skillset more often to organizations doing meaningful work. This knowledge about portfolio development comes from personal experience, and peers working in the space. Despite some of these claims being built from personal experience, I think there is a genuine opportunity to be had. Open to critique, any potential blindspots that I may be missing, or just general feedback.
