(A nitpick responding to just one point and not the whole post)

I feel a bit wary of using SWP as your default example here because this comment from @Aaron Boddy🔸 makes me think that SWP doesn't have a ton of room for rapidly deploying more funding right now -- I'd expect further donations to have lower marginal ROI than directly buying more stunners which I /expect/ is what you're assuming in the counterfactual (which is not a dig at SWP, seems fine for them to use extra donations for lower marginal ROI things if their top priority tickets are comfortably funded!)

A broader point: I'd expect the marginal ROI of additional funding in the invertebrate welfare space to diminish much faster than the marginal ROI of AMF donations.

I am glad you've come to a decision here, even though it sounds like a painful one! I really appreciated being able to read this, thank you for sharing!

I think animal welfare work is more likely to be recommended by my all-things-considered normative views than what I’ve been doing, though I’m not confident that cluelessness doesn’t undermine this, too.

@JesseClifton I'd be really curious to hear your thoughts on why animal welfare work seems better under your normative beliefs, if you're open to sharing. (Not sharing my views because I don't want to anchor you.) Someone I'm close to is trying to figure out what they believe about cluelessness, and I thought they might benefit from hearing someone else think through this!

This is such good news!! I'm so relieved, even if there will still be a fight in the near future.

I found this ep interesting and inspiring @Cameron Meyer Shorb 🔸, thanks for doing it :) Like Luisa, I hadn't heard the idea re: selective reforestation before, and found it super interesting.

This is so heart-warming! Thanks for sharing Jamie!

I think more people should consider leaving more (endorsed) short, nice comments on the Forum + LW when they like a post, especially for newer authors or when someone is posting something “brave” / a bit risky. It’s just so cheap to build this habit and I continue to think that sincere gratitude is underrated in ~all online spaces. I like that @Ben_West🔸 does this frequently :)

Random, I realized I misread your comment the first time around — yeah I do think the above consideration (maybe alumni have unusual local knowledge on small CB projects that influence them) is interesting pushback. Thanks!

Thinking about it again, I'm weakly positive about people in general taking advantage of "local knowledge" when donating, and people knowing which CB efforts helped them is a good example of 'local knowledge' effects.

(I do still think the second consideration holds — bigger funders have a much better birds eye perspective on the meta ecosystem as a whole than the average EA, even if they have worse local knowledge.)

I love this post, thanks for writing it! :) This line particularly stood out to me: "A job is just a platform for impact." So good!

I'm so sorry to hear about your difficult life circumstances last year! I know we don't know each other personally, but I've often enjoyed your comments over the years.

If we are giving what we can (not in the capitalized sense), sometimes we aren't in a position to give as much and have to radically accept that.

I liked this framing! I feel tempted to add something like, "this is a marathon not a race" / "it's ok to take a break".

Thanks Aaron! I think I'm now a bit confused what a prospective funder would be funding.

Is it something like, the volunteer group would run a hiring round (managed by anyone in particular?) for a part-time leader (maybe someone in the group?), but no one specifically has raised their hand for this? And then perhaps that person could deploy some of the $15k to hire a research associate if they'd like?

I respect that this is an early stage idea y'all are just trying to get started / don't have all the details figured out yet, just trying to understand (mostly for the sake of any prospective funders) who they would be betting on etc. :)