Thanks for sharing! I think the tldr encapsulates many things I agree with and can comment on, so I'm reacting to each point below. For context, I've recently stepped down from my role of CEO at EA France after 4 years on the job.
- "EA community building" is a fuzzy term. It is not clear what it actually means: which programmes count as "general EA CB" and which are "something else".
(...)
- Within EA CB orgs we are constantly hustling. 80/20 is the rule, always. We feel like we don't have time to think about the bigger picture. We make very little progress in finding out what the best strategy is. We go with the flow of the funders: we do what gets funded.
Absolutely. "EA CB" really is a misnomer as it requires us to run most things, from strategy to ops to events to career 1-1s to outreach, mostly by ourselves given the very limited funding. Fortunately, group members are usually quite understanding about the quality we reach in these different directions (and also : they're amazing, so an event is often a success as long as you put a bunch of them together in the same room and give them a bit of water).
- EA CB is an unattractive career path. Low pay, yearly grants, low social acceptance outside the bubble.
Amen to this. (I was fine with the pay, but I earned approximately 40% of what classmates make).
- It is hard to get funding for EA CB work.
- If the third wave of philanthropy is coming and "the ecosystem" is actually excited about "meta EA organisations", there is very little signalling of that towards current EA CB orgs.
Very true. It should be known.
- There is no agreed upon strategy for EA CB. We should talk about it more. At least the overall direction should be clearer.
I think any org / field needs to constantly talk strategy. But as strategy is very dependent on (local) context, specificities and opportunities, I'm not surprised that strategies, results, and cost-effectiveness vary widely across countries and years.
- I think community building as a meta-level EA project has a limited purpose of existence, if "community building" means building a community of likeminded people across different cause areas.
I kind of agree, but that leaves space for plenty of things to be done (not just incubating).
More EA Near/Medium-Termist Money Should be Flowing to Climate Change Mitigation
My understanding of EA funding is that almost none goes to climate. I (loosely) tend think that it would be good that a bit more resources go to Giving Green and other environmental prioritization projects.
However, I also gather that such projects attract funding far more easily than most other EA-consensual-ish causes.
Agreed! One nuance though: I'm not familiar with the "time-to-results" that we can expect from such investments, but it seems plausible to me that it takes >1 year for them to deliver. So, results could potentially not show up before the 2028 report.
Current community builders should also think of their work more in terms of the superstructure, rather than just motivating and directing people towards impactful careers
I think most European, national EA groups try to balance the expectations of proofs of impact from funders (like "we contributed strongly to <X> people applying to MATS") with a mandate of norm setting, community health, information, etc.
Thanks for sharing! I think the tldr encapsulates many things I agree with and can comment on, so I'm reacting to each point below. For context, I've recently stepped down from my role of CEO at EA France after 4 years on the job.
Absolutely. "EA CB" really is a misnomer as it requires us to run most things, from strategy to ops to events to career 1-1s to outreach, mostly by ourselves given the very limited funding. Fortunately, group members are usually quite understanding about the quality we reach in these different directions (and also : they're amazing, so an event is often a success as long as you put a bunch of them together in the same room and give them a bit of water).
Amen to this. (I was fine with the pay, but I earned approximately 40% of what classmates make).
Very true. It should be known.
I think any org / field needs to constantly talk strategy. But as strategy is very dependent on (local) context, specificities and opportunities, I'm not surprised that strategies, results, and cost-effectiveness vary widely across countries and years.
I kind of agree, but that leaves space for plenty of things to be done (not just incubating).
Thanks for sharing!
I tend to agree a lot with this, so I am very curious why some people disagree.
Thanks for writing this! It's a useful framework to encode stuff we frequently have to think about.
I think it might be rational to over-invest initially when you're testing the program and aren't sure how to support participants.
10% Agree➔ 10% DisagreeMy understanding of EA funding is that almost none goes to climate. I (loosely) tend think that it would be good that a bit more resources go to Giving Green and other environmental prioritization projects.
However, I also gather that such projects attract funding far more easily than most other EA-consensual-ish causes.
Random point of data: I know it's less exotic but with this budget you could work quite decently from Paris's close suburbs, in France.
Same here. Ping @Rahman Shanq :)
Agreed! One nuance though: I'm not familiar with the "time-to-results" that we can expect from such investments, but it seems plausible to me that it takes >1 year for them to deliver. So, results could potentially not show up before the 2028 report.
I think the discussion about how we should think about working with governments is very important. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Nick!
Congratulations on creating this! It feels like quite a natural progression. Will you share the curriculum's details publicly when the paint is dry?
I think most European, national EA groups try to balance the expectations of proofs of impact from funders (like "we contributed strongly to <X> people applying to MATS") with a mandate of norm setting, community health, information, etc.