I work at Open Philanthropy, and I recently let Gavin know that Open Phil is planning to recommend a grant of $5k to Arb for the second project on your list: Overview of AI Safety in 2024 (they had already raised ~$10k by the time we came across it). Thanks for writing this post Austin — it brought the funding opportunity to our attention.
Like other commenters on Manifund, I believe this kind of overview is a valuable reference for the field, especially for newcomers.
I wanted to flag that this project would have been eligible for our RFP for work that builds capacity to address risks from transformative AI. I worry that not all potential applicants are aware of the RFP or its scope, so I’ll take this opportunity to mention that this RFP’s scope is quite broad, including funding for:
Training and mentorship programs
Events
Groups
Resources, media, and communications
Almost any other type of project that builds capacity for advanced AI risks (in the sense of increasing the number of careers devoted to these problems, supporting people doing this work, and sharing knowledge related to this work).
More details at the link above. People might also find this page helpful, which lists all currently open application programs at Open Phil.
@Matt Putz thanks for supporting Gavin’s work and letting us know; I’m very happy to hear that my post helped you find this!
I also encourage others to check out OP’s RFPs. I don’t know about Gavin, but I was peripherally aware of this RFP, and it wasn’t obvious to me that Gavin should have considered applying, for these reasons:
Gavin’s work seems aimed internally towards existing EA folks, while this RFP’s media/comms examples (at a glance) seems to be aimed externally for public-facing outreach
I’m not sure what the typical grant size that the OP RFP is targeting, but my cached heuristic is that OP tends to fund projects looking for $100k+ and that smaller projects should look elsewhere (eg through EAIF or LTFF), due to grantmaker capacity constraints on OP’s side
Relatedly, the idea of filling out an OP RFP seems somewhat time-consuming and burdensome (eg somewhere between 3 hours and 2 days), so I think many grantees might not consider doing so unless asking for large amounts
Also, the RFP form seems to indicate a turnaround time of 3 months, which might have seemed too slow for a project like Gavin’s
I’m evidently wrong on all these points given that OP is going to fund Gavin’s project, which is great! So I’m listing these in the spirit of feedback. Some easy wins to encourage smaller projects to apply might be to update the RFP page to 1. list some example grants and grant sizes that were sourced through this, and 2. describe how much time you expect an applicant to take to fill out the form (something EA Funds does, which I appreciate, even if I invariably take much more time than they state).
I work at Open Philanthropy, and I recently let Gavin know that Open Phil is planning to recommend a grant of $5k to Arb for the second project on your list: Overview of AI Safety in 2024 (they had already raised ~$10k by the time we came across it). Thanks for writing this post Austin — it brought the funding opportunity to our attention.
Like other commenters on Manifund, I believe this kind of overview is a valuable reference for the field, especially for newcomers.
I wanted to flag that this project would have been eligible for our RFP for work that builds capacity to address risks from transformative AI. I worry that not all potential applicants are aware of the RFP or its scope, so I’ll take this opportunity to mention that this RFP’s scope is quite broad, including funding for:
Training and mentorship programs
Events
Groups
Resources, media, and communications
Almost any other type of project that builds capacity for advanced AI risks (in the sense of increasing the number of careers devoted to these problems, supporting people doing this work, and sharing knowledge related to this work).
More details at the link above. People might also find this page helpful, which lists all currently open application programs at Open Phil.
@Matt Putz thanks for supporting Gavin’s work and letting us know; I’m very happy to hear that my post helped you find this!
I also encourage others to check out OP’s RFPs. I don’t know about Gavin, but I was peripherally aware of this RFP, and it wasn’t obvious to me that Gavin should have considered applying, for these reasons:
Gavin’s work seems aimed internally towards existing EA folks, while this RFP’s media/comms examples (at a glance) seems to be aimed externally for public-facing outreach
I’m not sure what the typical grant size that the OP RFP is targeting, but my cached heuristic is that OP tends to fund projects looking for $100k+ and that smaller projects should look elsewhere (eg through EAIF or LTFF), due to grantmaker capacity constraints on OP’s side
Relatedly, the idea of filling out an OP RFP seems somewhat time-consuming and burdensome (eg somewhere between 3 hours and 2 days), so I think many grantees might not consider doing so unless asking for large amounts
Also, the RFP form seems to indicate a turnaround time of 3 months, which might have seemed too slow for a project like Gavin’s
I’m evidently wrong on all these points given that OP is going to fund Gavin’s project, which is great! So I’m listing these in the spirit of feedback. Some easy wins to encourage smaller projects to apply might be to update the RFP page to 1. list some example grants and grant sizes that were sourced through this, and 2. describe how much time you expect an applicant to take to fill out the form (something EA Funds does, which I appreciate, even if I invariably take much more time than they state).