- TL;DR
- Apply to many people in parallel
- Look below for lists of people you can apply to
- Where to find funders
- This map in the funding section
- This list here
- Manifund regrantors (reach out to them individually, so you have more at-bats)
- Impact markets (instructions on how to add yourself)
- Apply to the Nonlinear Network. It’ll send your application to >70 funders at once, most of whom don’t have a public presence.
- This is a particularly good search engine for potential funders.
- Lots of links here, not just for funding.
- List of big funders in movement
- The Survival and Flourishing Speculation Program (check out their regrantors here)
- Write up a short proposal and ask your friends to share it with anybody who’s earning to give or who knows funders who might be interested.
- I recommend applying to as many as you can at once in parallel.
- If you do it sequentially, it’s more likely you’ll run out of funding in the meantime.
- Post your proposal on the EA Forum. Make sure it’s clear that you have room for more funding and make it easy for people to send you money.
- Don’t just post it there! There’s a common misconception in EA that marketing consists of “Step 1: post on the EA Forum. Step 2: there is no step 2, cause you’re done!”
- Post that you need funding in a bunch of places! There’s a million facebook groups, Slacks, Discords, and reddits. Here’s a list of a bunch of them. Make sure to not spam or go against the norms of the groups you post in.
- Fundraising is largely writing. Here’s the 80/20 of the best writing advice I’ve ever encountered
- There’s the EA Hotel and EA Houses that can provide housing, and the EA Hotel also provides food and a small stipend. This can make your money go a lot farther, especially at the beginning when you haven't established a track record yet.
- Fundraising is like job hunting. If you just apply for one job, you’ll most likely remain unemployed. You have to ask a lot of people.
- Remember, nos are OK. My co-founder Emerson got 140 nos before he got one person to give him $25 million for his business. You often only need one yes!
- More fundraising tips here
Other things I recommend while you’re here
- List of AI safety ideas. If you decide to start a charity, check out this prioritized list of ideas or add your ideas to the sub-reddit to get feedback.
- If you’re struggling with mental health, I recommend checking out this compilation of mental health resources, free service for EAs, WoeBot (evidence-based chatbot), MindEase, Uplift, or Mental Health Navigator
- Did you know that there’s decent evidence out there showing that app and book-based mental health programs show similar effectiveness to person-based therapy, but at a fraction of the cost? The trick is just to actually do the exercises.
- For getting yourself to actually do them, I recommend