“Community (Part 1: From FTX to Manifund) | Reflective Altruism” by Unofficial Reflective Altruism Cross-Poster

<p> Caroline Ellison has accepted a role at Manifund, to develop our funding platform and research how to effectively direct philanthropic dollars.</p><p> Austin Chen and Caroline Ellison, “Caroline Ellison has joined Manifund.”</p><p> Listen to this post</p><p><strong> 1. Introduction</strong></p><p> This is Part 1 of a new series, Community. The effective altruist and rationalist communities are strange beasts. They are often impenetrable to outsiders and frequently misunderstood. However, understanding the structure of these communities is integral to understanding why they behave as they do. This series discusses issues surrounding the effective altruist and rationalist communities.</p><p> Today's post explores a striking recent development. Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research, the trading arm of FTX, has been hired by Manifund, a leading funder.</p><p> The announcement of Ellison's hiring is admirably transparent, and Manifund executives have shown remarkable patience in responding to criticism. However, at the risk of joining the already existing pile-on, I want to discuss some reasons why this hiring should be looked on unfavorably.</p><p> Due to the recency of these developments, I prioritized speed at the possible expense of rigor in preparing this post. While I have done my best to make sure that the discussion meets a reasonable standard of [...]</p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(00:42) 1. Introduction</p><p>(02:02) 2. Background</p><p>(02:06) 2.1. Manifold and Manifund</p><p>(03:20) 2.2. FTX</p><p>(05:16) 3. Hiring announcement</p><p>(07:05) 4. The nature of the position</p><p>(08:43) 5. Outstanding debts to FTX</p><p>(11:46) 6. Repentance and redemption</p><p>(15:05) 7. Mixing personal and professional considerations</p><p>(16:41) 8. Bad judgment</p><p>(18:07) 9. Reputation and signaling</p><p>(19:24) 10. Taking stock</p> <p>---</p>

<p><b>First published:</b><br/>

September 14th, 2026 </p>

<p><b>Source:</b><br/>

<a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/uRXh8XFWmrZSntmPb/community-part-1-from-ftx-to-manifund-or-reflective-altruism?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Source+URL+in+episode+description&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/uRXh8XFWmrZSntmPb/community-part-1-from-ftx-to-manifund-or-reflective-altruism</a> </p>

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<p>Narrated by <a href="https://type3.audio/?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&ut