Constraints on effective altruism

career choice | direct work | earning to give | effective altruism hiring | effective giving | get involved | hiring | scalably using labour | working at EA vs non-EA orgs

Organization A is more talent constrained than funding constrained, and vice versa for Organization B. One might also say that Organization A faces more of a talent gap and organization B faces more of a funding gap (Todd 2015).^[1] We can generalize these concepts:

However, this consideration is also simplistic in some ways, and has at times been misinterpreted or misused. Todd (2018) lists nine common misconceptions related to the idea of "talent gaps".^[2] More recently, he has argued that the main bottlenecks for the effective altruism community now are neither general "talent" constraints nor funding constraints, but rather "specific skills and capacity", such as "organizational capacity, infrastructure, and management to help train people up, as well as specialist skills that people can put to work now" (Koehler & Harris 2020; ^[3] (see also scalably using labour). It has also been suggested that the next major bottleneck might be "coordination — the ability to make sure people keep working efficiently and effectively together as the community grows" (Koehler & Harris 2020; ^[3] (see also altruistic coordination).

BibliographyFurther reading

Koehler, Arden & Keiran Harris (2020) Benjamin Todd on what the effective altruism community most needs, 80,000 Hours, November 12.

Todd, Benjamin (2015) Why you should focus more on talent gaps, not funding gaps, 80,000 Hours, November 27.

Todd, Benjamin (2018) Think twice before talking about 'talent gaps' – clarifying nine misconceptions, 80,000 Hours, November 12.

1. ^{^}

   Todd, Benjamin (2015) Why you should focus more on talent gaps, not funding gaps, 80,000 Hours, November 27.

2. ^{^}

   Todd, Benjamin (2018) Think twice before talking about 'talent gaps' – clarifying nine misconceptions, 80,000 Hours, November 12.

3. ^{^}

   Koehler, Arden & Keiran Harris (2020) Benjamin Todd on what the effective altruism community most needs, 80,000 Hours, November 12.

career choice | direct work | earning to give | effective altruism hiring | earning to give | effective giving | get involved | scalably using labour | working at EA vs non-EA orgs

Organization A is more talent constrained than funding constrained, and vice versa for Organization B. One might also say that Organization A faces more of a talent gap and organization B faces more of a funding gap (Todd,(Todd 2015). We can generalize these concepts:

However, this consideration is also simplistic in some ways, and has at times been misinterpreted or misused. Todd (2018) lists nine common misconceptions related to the idea of "talent gaps". More recently, he has argued that the main bottlenecks for the effective altruism community now are neither general "talent" constraints nor funding constraints, but rather "specific skills and capacity", such as "organizational capacity, infrastructure, and management to help train people up, as well as specialist skills that people can put to work now" (Koehler & Harris 2020,2020; see also scalably using labour). It has also been suggested that the next major bottleneck might be "coordination — the ability to make sure people keep working efficiently and effectively together as the community grows" (Koehler & Harris 2020; see also altruistic coordination).

However, this consideration is also simplistic in some ways, and has at times been misinterpreted or misused. Todd (2018) lists nine common misconceptions related to the idea of "talent gaps". More recently, Todd et al. (2020)he has argued that the main bottlenecks for the effective altruism community now are neither general "talent" constraints nor funding constraints, but rather "specific skills and capacity", such as "organizational capacity, infrastructure, and management to help train people up, as well as specialist skills that people can put to work now." (Seenow" (Koehler & Harris 2020, see also scalably involving peopleusing labour).) It has also been suggested that the next major bottleneck might be "coordination — the ability to make sure people keep working efficiently and effectively together as the community grows" (Todd et al.,(Koehler & Harris 2020; see also cooperation andaltruistic coordination).

Causes or organizations use resources, primarily laborThe effective altruism community requires various resources that exist in limited supply, such as talent, funding, entrepreneurship, vetting, risk tolerance, and money, and thosethe ability to coordinate. These resources are limited. The fact that these resources are limited means thatmay be seen as constraintson effective altruism,  insofar as they limit the organization also has limited capabilities.community's capacity to attain its goals.

However, this consideration is also simplistic in some ways, and has at times been misinterpreted or misused. Todd (2018) lists nine common misconceptions related to the idea of "talent gaps". More recently, Todd et al. (2020) has argued that the main bottlenecks for the effective altruism movementcommunity now are neither general "talent" constraints nor funding constraints, but rather "specific skills and capacity", such as "organizational capacity, infrastructure, and management to help train people up, as well as specialist skills that people can put to work now." (See also scalably involving people.) It has also been suggested that the next major bottleneck might be "coordination — the ability to make sure people keep working efficiently and effectively together as the community grows" (Todd et al., 2020; see also cooperation and coordination).

Agarwalla, Vaidehi (2020) Collection of constraints in EA, Effective Altruism Forum, July 15.

career choice | direct work | EAeffective altruism hiring | earning to give | effective giving | get involved | scalably using labour | working at EA vs non-EA orgs

career choice | direct work | EA hiring | earning to give | effective giving | get involved | scalably involving peopleusing labour | working at EA vs non-EA orgs

Todd, Benjamin (2018) Think twice before talking about “talent gaps”'talent gaps' – clarifying nine misconceptions, 80,000 Hours, November 12.

Koehler, Arden & Keiran Harris (2020) Benjamin Todd on what the effective altruism community most needs, 80,000 Hours, November 12.

ToddTodd, Benjamin (2018) Think twice before talking about ‘talent gaps’“talent gaps” – clarifying nine misconceptions, 80,000 Hours, November 12.

Todd et al. (2020) Benjamin Todd on what the effective altruism community most needs