barkbellowroar's Quick takes

In case you haven't seen it, CEA has redone their website. I like the new look and the content makes it much easier to understand the scope of their work. Bravo to whomever worked on this! 

EDIT: just confirmed that FHI shut down as of April 16, 2024

It sounds like the Future of Humanity Institute may be permanently shut down. 

Background: FHI went on a hiring freeze/pause back in 2021 with the majority of staff leaving (many left with the spin-off of the Centre for the Governance of AI) and moved to other EA organizations. Since then there has been no public communication regarding its future return, until now... 

The Director, Nick Bostrom, updated the bio section on his website with the following commentary [bolding mine]: 

"...Those were heady years. FHI was a unique place - extremely intellectually alive and creative - and remarkable progress was made. FHI was also quite fertile, spawning a number of academic offshoots, nonprofits, and foundations. It helped incubate the AI safety research field, the existential risk and rationalist communities, and the effective altruism movement. Ideas and concepts born within this small research center have since spread far and wide, and many of its alumni have gone on to important positions in other institutions.

Today, there is a much broader base of support for the kind of work that FHI was set up to enable, and it has basically served out its purpose. (The local faculty administrative bureaucracy has also become increasingly stifling.) I think those who were there during its heyday will remember it fondly. I feel privileged to have been a part of it and to have worked with the many remarkable individuals who flocked around it."

This language suggests that FHI has officially closed. Can anyone at Trajan/Oxford confirm? 

Also curious if there is any project in place to conduct a post mortem on the impact FHI has had on the many different fields and movements? I think it's important to ensure that FHI is remembered as a significant nexus point for many influential ideas and people who may impact the long term. 

In other news, Bostrom's new book "Deep Utopia" is available for pre-order (coming March 27th). 

EA in the wild: I'm having trouble adding a screenshot but I recently made an online purchase and at the bottom of the checkout page was a "give 1% of your purchase to a high-impact cause" - and it was featuring Giving What We Can's funds! 

Always fun to see EA in unexpected places. :) 

The Effective Ventures Foundation UK’s Full Accounts for Fiscal Year 2022 has been released via the UK companies house filings (August 30 2023 entry - it won't let me direct link the PDF). 

• Important to note that as of June 2022 “EV UK is no longer the sole member of EV US and now operate as separate organizations but coordinate per an affiliation agreement (p11).” 
• It’s noted that Open Philanthropy was, for the 2021/2022 fiscal year, the primary funder for the organization (p8). 
• EVF (UK&US) had consolidated income of just over £138 million (as of June 2022). That’s a ~£95 million increase from 2021.
• Consolidated expenses for 2022 were ~ £79 million - an increase of £56 million from 2021 (still p8). 
• By end of fiscal year consolidated net funds were just over £87 million of which £45.7 million were unrestricted. 
• (p10) outlines EVF’s approach to risk management and mentions FTX collapse.
• A lot of boiler plate in this document so you may want to skip ahead to page 26 for more specific breakdowns
• EVF made grants totaling ~£50 million (to institutions and 826 individuals) an almost £42 million increase in one year (p27)
• A list of grant breakdowns (p28) ; a lot of recognizable organizations listed from AMF to BERI and ACE 
  • also a handful of orgs I do not recognize or vague groupings like “other EA organizations” for almost £3 million
• Expenses details (p30) main programs are (1) Core Activities (2) 80,000 Hours (3) Forethought and (4) Grant-making 
  • Expenses totaled £79 million for 2022 (a £65 million increase from 2021) which seems like a huge jump for just one year
  • further expense details are on (p31-33) and tentatively show a £23.3 million jump between 2021 and 2022 [but the table line items are NOT the same across 2021/2022 so it’s hard to tell - if anyone can break this down better please do in the comments]
  • We may now have a more accurate number of £1.6 million spent on marketing for What We Owe The Future (which isn’t the $10 million I’ve heard floating around, but still seems like a lot for one book) (p31)
• staffing details mentioned (p35)
• cryptocurrencies on (p37)
• real estate (p39) <£15 million went to Wytham Abbey and <£1.5 million went to Lakeside (another relatively new EA property)
• More details on Specific Organizations under EVFs purview begin (p43) specifically beginning fiscal year balances, income, expenses and end of fiscal year balance
  • The only thing that stood out to me on this page - Forethought overspent by ~£2 million?? was it the marketing? 
  • (p46) FHI/GPI also overspent (on office costs) but Forethought doesn’t list their reasons only that they got a grant to cover it (from whom, Open Phil or a private donor?) 
  • Restricted funds analysis on p47
• p53 (last one!) notes DGB has earned <£100 on royalties for 2021/2022 and the Precipice has earned £37,293 for both years
• p53 mentions EVF UK received donations of < £1.5 million from the FTX Foundation AND that the CEO of FTX was on the Board
• p53 mentions the charity commission investigation, name change from CEA and separation of EVF UK from EVF US

* A reminder that both EVF UK and US annual reports can be found on their website 

EVF US has also released their 2022 990 tax form

* Note the fiscal year 2021-2022 (June) preceded the FTX collapse and leadership changes. 

If I messed up any of these numbers please let me know and I'll update. Thanks!