| Why did three GiveWell board members resign in April 2019? |
2019-04-03 |
Milan Griffes |
Effective Altruism Forum |
GiveWell |
Rob Reich, Brigid Slipka, Tom Rutledge, Elie Hassenfeld |
Board member departure |
Charity evaluator |
Milan Griffes asks people what they know about the reasons for the departure of three board members from GiveWell announced at [1] The comments and answers discuss the resignation letters posted by Rob Reich and Brigid Slipka at [2] and [3] respectively, and also the response of GiveWell Executive Director (ED) Elie Hassenfeld at [4] Griffes also links to and pastes questions by him and answers from Catherine Hollander of GiveWell in the GiveWell open thread [5] |
| Elie Hassenfeld Board Letter |
2019-04-01 |
Elie Hassenfeld |
GiveWell |
GiveWell |
Rob Reich, Brigid Slipka, Elie Hassenfeld |
Board member departure |
Charity evaluator |
Elie Hassenfeld, GiveWell Executive Director (ED) responds to concerns raised by resigning board members Rob Reich and Brigid Slipka that they express in their respective resignation letters [2] and [3] Hassenfeld says "I understand their concerns and agree with them that it is crucial that GiveWell has a board that plays a serious role in its governance." However, he says that a smaller, focused, and engaged board is the way the board could best participate actively in governance, and that he came to this decision after discussion with staff, board members, and leaders at similar nonprofits. He also expresses gratitude to resigning board members Rob, Brigid, and Tom Rutledge for their support of and service to GiveWell both as board members and outside of that. |
| Brigid Slipka Board Resignation Letter |
2019-03-05 |
Brigid Slipka |
GiveWell |
GiveWell |
Brigid Slipka, Elie Hassenfeld |
Board member departure |
Charity evaluator |
Brigid Slipka resigns from the GiveWell board. In the letter, she explains her reasons and giving some parting advice to GiveWell. She resigns in response to Elie Hassenfeld writing to her about a desire to reduce the Board to five people, which he does after Rob Reich offers his resignation at [2] and reduces the board size from 8 to 7. Slipka begins by sharing her understanding of the stages of nonprofits and the relationship between the board and the Executive Director (ED) at each stage. The stages she lists are start-up, adolescent, mature, and stagnant. With this backdrop, she praises GiveWell for moving toward maturity and sustainability, and highlights: expanding the number of recommended charities, adding a Director of Operations and a Director of Outreach, diversifying stakeholders by restricting operating support of any one donor to 20%, and splitting off the Open Philanthropy Project so as not to dilute its core mission. However, she says she is "unsettled by the decision to reduce the Board down to a hand-picked group of five, two of whom are the co-founders and another of whom is the primary funder (in addition to also funding Holden at Open Philanthropy)." She considers this a regressive change. She offers three suggestions to GiveWell to improve matters: (1) create a Nominating Committee chaired by a non-Board member, (2) increase the board to to include experts and representatives of beneficiaries, (3) adjust staff's relationship with the board. Elie Hassenfeld responds briefly at [4] and all the letters are listed at [1] |