These are my thoughts as a CFAR workshop alumnus. I don’t have funds to donate right now, so my perspective isn’t backed up by action of donation, or a conscious choice not to donate. Feel free to put however much weight on my opinion as (any of) you like. I figure I would comment because providing more data is better than less data. I don’t claim for my perspective to be typical of CFAR workshop alumni.
After I attended a workshop, realizing its cost for participants as revenue for the CFAR, I did a Fermi estimate of how much revenue CFAR actually achieves. It included an estimate of the revenue and cost of each participant, multiplied by the number of participants, minus the CFAR’s operating costs. I concluded that at best the CFAR would only be making ends meet if their only source of revenue was its workshops. As expensive as the workshops may seem, reading about the CFAR’s finances in this post made me realize how seriously the CFAR’s takes their own goal of providing and testing their minimal viable product. Regarding theiri finances and operations, they’re not goofing around.
The CFAR workshop I attended was a great experience for me. I mention to some friends they seem like the sort who would get a lot out of it. However, I don’t give them a full recommendation. This is because the cost is often prohibitively expensive for those in or just out of university. My friends tell me this, and I’m well aware of it. Grand hopes for the future aside, I hope that if the CFAR received enough donations that it could offer their workshops at a lower cost. I hope this not only for my friends, but also for all others who aren’t attending because of costs, yet would benefit both themselves, the CFAR, and its alumni community. This is personally why I respect their fundraising efforts.
Hooray to the CFAR for being one of few (non-profit) organizations who admit “we tried some stuff that didn’t work well. we’ll be rejigging and testing and improving efforts in the future!” Kudos! This earnestness is refreshing.
The CFAR is taking being part of effective altruism quite seriously. It didn’t seem to me they were treating this association as seriously one year ago. They might have felt as serious, but I wasn’t receiving the signal. I am now. Also, I like their honesty in expressing how they’re not just identifying with, but trying to reach the standard of what, effective altruism ought to be.
These are my thoughts as a CFAR workshop alumnus. I don’t have funds to donate right now, so my perspective isn’t backed up by action of donation, or a conscious choice not to donate. Feel free to put however much weight on my opinion as (any of) you like. I figure I would comment because providing more data is better than less data. I don’t claim for my perspective to be typical of CFAR workshop alumni.
After I attended a workshop, realizing its cost for participants as revenue for the CFAR, I did a Fermi estimate of how much revenue CFAR actually achieves. It included an estimate of the revenue and cost of each participant, multiplied by the number of participants, minus the CFAR’s operating costs. I concluded that at best the CFAR would only be making ends meet if their only source of revenue was its workshops. As expensive as the workshops may seem, reading about the CFAR’s finances in this post made me realize how seriously the CFAR’s takes their own goal of providing and testing their minimal viable product. Regarding theiri finances and operations, they’re not goofing around.
The CFAR workshop I attended was a great experience for me. I mention to some friends they seem like the sort who would get a lot out of it. However, I don’t give them a full recommendation. This is because the cost is often prohibitively expensive for those in or just out of university. My friends tell me this, and I’m well aware of it. Grand hopes for the future aside, I hope that if the CFAR received enough donations that it could offer their workshops at a lower cost. I hope this not only for my friends, but also for all others who aren’t attending because of costs, yet would benefit both themselves, the CFAR, and its alumni community. This is personally why I respect their fundraising efforts.
Hooray to the CFAR for being one of few (non-profit) organizations who admit “we tried some stuff that didn’t work well. we’ll be rejigging and testing and improving efforts in the future!” Kudos! This earnestness is refreshing.
The CFAR is taking being part of effective altruism quite seriously. It didn’t seem to me they were treating this association as seriously one year ago. They might have felt as serious, but I wasn’t receiving the signal. I am now. Also, I like their honesty in expressing how they’re not just identifying with, but trying to reach the standard of what, effective altruism ought to be.