EA - CEEALAR: 2024 Update by CEEALAR

The Nonlinear Library

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: CEEALAR: 2024 Update, published by CEEALAR on July 19, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum. TL;DR: Last November we had only 4 months of runway remaining-today we have ~1.5 years. I'm reminded of the saying 'it takes a village to raise a child', and I would be writing a very different update if not for the village that came together to support us since our fundraising appeal last winter. We received several months of runway as a result of individual donations from alumni and supporters, which gave us the time to approach new funders, as well as encouragement to persevere. Others volunteered their time and energy to support us. Guests at the hotel helped with day-to-day tasks so that we could focus on fundraising, and we received priceless advice from more experienced EAs on how to improve our offering and make the value of our project more apparent to funders. As a result of all the above, with just over a month of runway remaining, we received an emergency grant from AISTOF[1] that ensured our continued operation until the end of the year. And now we've been granted an additional full year of funding from EAIF. MANY thank-yous are due: To those who donated To those who offered their time and advice To those who advocated for us To colleagues, past and present To ML4G, Stampy and PauseAI for choosing us as your venue despite our uncertain future To Wytham Abbey, for their generous donation of equipment To the grant investigators who gave us a chance to explain what this strange little hotel in Blackpool is doing and why it's worth supporting Last but not least - to our grantees and alumni, for being so committed to having a positive impact on the world, and giving us the chance to play a role in your journey. The Future of CEEALAR! AI Winter is Coming to CEEALAR CEEALAR has been hosting grantees working on AI Safety since it opened in 2018, and this winter we're going all in - we're going to be the AI Winter we want to see in the world. From September until the end of the year we're going to direct our outreach and programming toward AI Safety.[2] Keep an eye out for a future update where we'll go more into the details of what we have planned - which isn't much right now, so if you've got ideas and would like to collaborate with us on AI Winter, get in touch! If you'd like a reminder, or are interested in participating or collaborating in some fashion - please fill out this tiny form (<2 minutes). If you don't need any more convincing, it's not too early to apply. Workshops and Bootcamps and Hackathons, Oh My! As Wytham Abbey have closed their doors, it's a good job there's still a swanky EA venue, right guys? If you're running an event for up to 20*[3] people, we can provide fully catered accommodation, venue space and operations support. As part of CEEALAR, our venue is nonprofit and operates on a 'pay what you can' basis-this way we can enable high impact events that might be prevented due to financial constraints. Please contact us if this sounds like you! Renovations We're never more proud of our space than when our guests say they feel at home here, and we're always on the lookout for ways to improve our offering so they never want to leave On this note, our old home gym[4] was getting a bit long in the tooth, and we're in the process of totally refitting the space. There is currently less gym now than before but by the time you arrive there will be much more, and better! Upcoming Opportunities We've yet to finalize the details, but we expect to have open positions in the future: A salaried senior leadership position, an unpaid trustee position, and a rolling volunteer 'internship' in Operations for those looking to upskill and get some hands on experience. Apply to stay at CEEALAR As a Grantee Our grantees come from a wide range of backgrounds, and most are a...