I don’t work for SIAI and don’t have special knowledge relating to this—that said, I do know that SIAI has at least considered locating some operations in other areas (and I believe did not always inhabit its current premises), so presumably there has been some analysis of this behind the scenes.
Charities benefit a lot from being in a city, I think. GiveWell, known for its numeric focus, relocated to Mumbai India for 3 months and found it a valuable experience, but they returned to their NYC digs and not, say, Appalachia. Similarly, the Wikimedia Foundation moved to SF from Florida the moment it could.
It seems logical that fundraising would be substantially easier in cities, especially major hubs like NYC or SF, which tend to represent large-scale concentrations of wealth.
How important is it for SIAI to be located where it is? (I know that proximity to the tech industry is relevant, but how relevant, exactly?)
I don’t work for SIAI and don’t have special knowledge relating to this—that said, I do know that SIAI has at least considered locating some operations in other areas (and I believe did not always inhabit its current premises), so presumably there has been some analysis of this behind the scenes.
Charities benefit a lot from being in a city, I think. GiveWell, known for its numeric focus, relocated to Mumbai India for 3 months and found it a valuable experience, but they returned to their NYC digs and not, say, Appalachia. Similarly, the Wikimedia Foundation moved to SF from Florida the moment it could.
It seems logical that fundraising would be substantially easier in cities, especially major hubs like NYC or SF, which tend to represent large-scale concentrations of wealth.
Good to know.