This post is third in a series on fundamental (and under-discussed) questions about philanthropy that we’ve grappled with in starting a grantmaking organization (see previous link for the series intro, and this link for the second installment). This post covers the following questions: When making a grant, should we focus most on evaluating the strategy/intervention,…
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Geomagnetic storms: Using extreme value theory to gauge the risk
This is the third post in a series about geomagnetic storms as a global catastrophic risk. A paper covering the material in this series was just released. My last post examined the strength of certain major geomagnetic storms that occurred before the advent of the modern electrical grid, as well as a solar event in 2012 that could have caused…
Key questions about philanthropy, part 2: Choosing focus areas and hiring program staff
This post is second in a series on fundamental questions about philanthropy that we’ve grappled with in starting a grantmaking organization (see link for the series intro). In this post, we discuss the following questions: Should a funder set explicit focus areas, and if so, how should they choose the focus areas? We believe it…
Geomagnetic storms: History’s surprising, if tentative, reassurance
This is the second post in a series about geomagnetic storms as a global catastrophic risk. A paper covering the material in this series was just released. My last post raised the specter of a geomagnetic storm so strong it would black out electric power across continent-scale regions for months or years, triggering an economic and humanitarian disaster….
Geomagnetic storms: An introduction to the risk
This is the first post in a series about geomagnetic storms as a global catastrophic risk. A paper covering the material in this series was recently released. The Open Philanthropy Project has included geomagnetic storms in its list of global catastrophic risks of potential focus. To be honest, I hadn’t heard of them either. But…
Key questions about philanthropy, part 1: What is the role of a funder?
This post was updated on July 6 with language edits but substantially unchanged content. As a new funder, we’ve found it surprisingly difficult to “learn the ropes” of philanthropy. We’ve found relatively little reading material – public or private – on some of the key questions we’re grappling with in starting a grantmaking organization, such…