AI Use Note: Main body text entirely human written. Claude (Opus 4.8) helped develop models of animal life histories in the appendix.
Cross-posted from Good Structures.
Executive Summary
* Animal advocates sometimes make claims like “there are X of this animal...
“How long have you been v*g*n?”
This is one of the most common icebreakers at animal protection events. It’s a baseline assumption, and it mostly holds true: if you’re out advocating for animals not to be tortured or abused, realistically these days you are v**n, or close. And it makes for good conversation. It seems fairly safe to assume when you meet strangers.
But this assumption is hurting the movement in a way which we don’t always notice: someone new comes into the sp...
Summary
Back in November 2023 I posted here to launch Spiro and raise our first $198k. Two and a half years later this is an update and a fundraiser for the next step.
The short version: we've now reached over-5,900 people with TB preventive medicine, including over 3,000 children under five years old. Our early results have held up well an...
GeWWC: Getting What We Can
I was particularly inspired by Kat Woods' statement that fundraising is one of the highest leverage meta-skills you can develop. I work in fundraising, and agree. Holden Karnofsky categorized fundraising as a skill under the aptitude of “organization building, running and boosting” and he also acknowledged in Ep. 110 of the 80,000 Hours Podcast that the lack of a fundraising base as a grantee risk at Open Philanthropy.
So, could we be doing more to attract, train and upskill fundraising professionals? Is it something 80,000 Hours recommends in coaching calls? Should an EA-aligned fund establish or invest in a bootcamp-style course or program that emphasizes membership and smaller-gift fundraising because of it shares so many traits with community building?