KMF

CEO @ Magnify Mentoring
1524 karmaJoined Working (6-15 years)

Bio

I founded and work at Magnify Mentoring.

How I can help others

I am happy to help newcomers to EA :) Just drop me an email at kathryn@magnifymentoring.org. 

Comments
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KMF
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Hi all!  A heads up that it is that time again - Magnify mentee applications are open :) More below. Thank you so much :)
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"Magnify Mentoring applications are now open for women, non-binary, and trans people of all genders who are looking to pursue high impact careers. You can apply here. Applications will close on the 10th July 2024. 

Past mentees have been particularly successful when they have a sense of what they would like to achieve through mentorship. The matching process normally takes us between 4-6 weeks. We look to match pairings based on the needs and availability of the mentee and mentor, their goals, career paths, and what skills they are looking to develop. 

On average, mentees and mentors meet once a month for 60-90 minutes with a series of optional prompt questions prepared by our team. In the post-round feedback form, the average for “I recommend being a Magnify mentee” was 9.28/10 in Round 3 and 9.4/10 in Round 4. You can see testimonies from some of our mentees  herehere and here..

Some reported outcomes for mentees were:

  1. Advice, guidance, and resources on achieving goals. 
  2. Connection and support in pursuing opportunities (jobs, funding). 
  3. Confidence-building.
  4. Specific guidance (How to network? How to write a good resume?).
  5. Joining a welcoming community for support through challenges"

Firm separation sounds great to me. I just also want to voice something like "Many people in the community have firmly taken strong stances" but regardless of what we say or do get lumped in with a load of stuff that we've pretty clearly said we find abhorrent and have firmly exiled from our community spaces (Im thinking of the case of Vassar here but also Im pretty sure they don't want to be in EA spaces anyway because they aren't EA!).   

KMF
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Huw: To what extent is this EA verses rationality? Above you keep saying, "EA needs to" but these are ultimately rationalist conferences. For example, I'm not sure what more we can do to loudly signal Vassar isn't EA. He's banned from literally everything and has been for coming up to 10 years. I am pretty sure that extends to multiple people listed here. I am just not sure how public those decisions are so I will stop listing but (shoots karma into space) I wouldn't go near half of these people with a 60 foot long stick.  

Let's test that. I'd love it if the people who down-voted OP "agree" vote Jason's (Edited to add next sentence) or Chris' interpretations. Thanks! 

P.s. Can someone please explain why the original poster is getting down-voted? This seems a reasonable question.  

Answer by KMF7
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Hi without speaking for the organizers. My understanding is that the regulation requires that new buildings in the UK have separate, single-sex bathrooms. The Gov.UK website essentially says this is to avoid the "SOLE installation of gender-neutral facilities." My impression is that gender-neutral toilets with multiple cubicles will be banned in new builds but not (for example) a toilet and sink in a private room (like what you typically see provided for people with disabilities). It seems (from an 80/20 look at the regulation) that "new" is a key qualifier here and that existing builds will maintain their existing facilities and organizers remain within their rights to designate bathrooms as unisex (although I would guess such facilities will exist already- I did take a quick look but did not find the answer quickly). As such, I believe the answer to (1) is "No." The new law does not appear to touch upon (2) and under non-discrimination law in the UK the answer is "Yes". I really hope this helps! 

Pulling out a quick Magnify Mentoring update from the upcoming EA Newsletter. 

  1. We have launched a database of job seekers. If you are a recruiter at an organization working on evidence-based interventions to make the world better, please reach out to us
  2. We are planning to run a pilot project to evaluate the viability and usefulness of running additional mentorship rounds targeting individuals belonging to groups typically underrepresented in our focus areas. If the pilot is successful Magnify would continue to run two rounds per year for women, nonbinary, and trans people of all genders while adding in one or two separate rounds targeted at individuals belonging to these other groups. We plan to  advertise the pilot round in December-January. We would love recommendations of potential mentors of all genders. Our one strict criteria is that mentors must be unusually kind people who are excited about supporting talented people and creating a warm and inclusive environment for everyone. Please drop us an email if you know anyone who fits this description including if you would like to become a mentor!
  3. Results from our fifth round of mentorship can be found here
  4. We are delighted to announce we have been supported by Open Philanthropy. (Alongside our incredible individual donors.) 
KMF
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FWIW: a focus that has helped me is working out whether I think it's worth continuing our program and whether it's been a success is what concrete actions resulted from the connections. Do you have a sense of any resulting actions?   

Hi Paula, (1) "I encourage the FEM team to engage in more rigorous research and to focus on capacity-building..."  FWIW, I think giving the organization (who are engaging with this thread) more time to respond on the point you raise about the PMA survey would be significantly preferable than making a conclusion in either direction at least based on my reading of this thread. (2)"...partnering with other organizations that have a great deal of experience working in this space over a long period of time..." Two separate points: a. to what extent do you know they don't do this? I know them to have extensively engaged with local organizations and had at least information sharing conversations with international organizations (f.e. Development Media International who were founded in 2005) from my very loose following of their work over the years. b. Sadly, and much to my personal heartbreak, from having worked in international women's human rights myself for a number of years, it is certainly not the case that an organization who has been around a long time is more effective or even effective at all than an evidence-based, well run and connected new organization. I have actually been deeply disappointed by the average  long-standing organization in this field but perhaps you have had better luck! :) Thanks! 

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