Project Details
Updated 10/16/26 · By grantmaking.aiProject summary
I have been working to assist the AI safety and Global Catastrophic Risks fields unpaid since leaving Ashgro last year. During that time, I have spent ~$80,000AU of my own savings, then sold my investments, and then used the money I had saved for a house deposit in order to have:
Founded Beacon and got it through its incubation period
Housed at my own expense several international AI safety researchers and provided logistical and operational support for others
Privately funded several fledgling AI safety projects while waiting for Beacon to get its 501c3 status sorted
Supported three local domestic, financial and chemical abuse survivors with security, relocation assistance, paying for medical and legal aid, and subsequent police cooperation,
Been physically assaulted, twice, once seriously, and
A bunch of stuff that I still can't talk about in furtherance of the above.
I have now run out of money. Several people in the AI safety community have already supported me with loans, I don't want to borrow any more money, I would like some money to be donated. I need to pay bills and rent in about a fortnight, I have enough cash and food in the fridge to last me until then.
What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?
Stop me from taking any more mental or physical damage, retaining my medium term utility to the community. I will recover anyway, but we don't have the luxury of that much time.
How will this funding be used?
Pay the rent for me and the AI safety researcher living with me until the end of the lease in a few months, to give myself breathing room.
Pay my and their shares of the bills that until now I have fully absorbed until I can figure out where my next paying job is.
Pay for a week's rest in a hotel somewhere safe and some sessions with my psych while I sort through evidence to hand over to police in relation to the criminal matters i have been involved in.
Anything above the 5k will be used for some downtime, I will probably spend a few hundred dollars on some warhammer miniatures and paints and do that and some art stuff, then to fly to EAGxAustralasia and then the Philippines, where I will try to work on some AI safety projects.
If I get paid in the meantime, or there's a crossover in finances, I'll either cancel this project, keep the money and use it at my discretion, or redonate it here on the platform, whatever's easiest.
Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?
Enough people here know me, I think. Ask plex, Rob Miles, Beacon people, Ashgro people, people on linkedin, or people on facebook or social media.
Track record: ask any of the people I've helped or look at linkedin
What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?
I burn out more and am useless for a few months
How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?
$250k to Beacon via AISTOF, in talks with others for Beacon, nothing for me
People
Updated 10/16/26 · By grantmaking.aicreator
Funding Details
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- $7,500
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Discussion
I've encountered Pip at an EAG conference and can vouch for him.
@sheikheddy Thank you, although I don't recall being particularly helpful other than some reading suggestions. I hope you're doing well!
What stands out to me is that Beacon had $250k in funding lined up, yet Pip still had to cover expenses personally while the paperwork dragged on.
@Austin, have you seen a good way for fiscal sponsors to handle this kind of gap? Seems like something that could happen to a lot of early-stage nonprofits.
Hi Pip! Sorry to hear about this. I don't think I know you super well but we've definitely crossed paths professionally, and I want to echo that Ashgro and now the fledgling Beacon seem like they're trying to address an urgent need in the EA & AI safety space, of good fiscal sponsorship.
I'm making a small initial donation as a sign of support. In the meantime, some questions (and apologies if these seem harsh):
I encourage you to continue writing your thoughts in public, but am also happy to hop on a private call sometime next week if that helps; best wishes!
Thanks! If it wasn't for all the criminal stuff, I would probably be OK for now. In response to your questions:
1. Not yet. The board is working on arranging compensation for me. About US$10-12k was earmarked in the initial proposal to AISTOF for my budget, however, we were not able to receive the money until recently due to needing 501(c)(3) status, which took several months longer than expected despite being expedited.
2. It is fully functional.
3. The Board and Lisha Chai, my Head of Operations, will be best placed to answer that now. I have full confidence in them. I can get into more detail on a private call after a few day's rest.
I am keen to hire an EA or PA, and I'm not sure whether I should fund that privately or do it through Beacon, given I am advising other orgs and have my own private affairs to also manage?
@PipFoweraker appreciate the quick response; best of luck with recovery, and just ping me if you'd like to arrange that chat (but only if it seems helpful).
I'm not sure what the $10-12k is sized to, or what you and AISTOF worked out, but fwiw I would encourage you to draw a standard ~$100k+/y salary and backdate that to whenever you started working on Beacon; not legal advice obviously, but I expect this would be fully fine by the law, your board and AISTOF.
(And FWIW I've considered a similar question on an Exec Assistant or Personal Assistant; I did have an exec assistant for a bit, contracted through Manifund for Manifund & Mox work, but I also feel a similar need for personal non-Manifund affairs, and don't have a general solution either. Maybe, I would initially recommend having Beacon pay for a part-time Beacon EA, and/or having the board approve a salary bump so you could feel financially comfortable to hire a PA and free up your own focus.)
Clarity on 2: we are mostly Model A, but I am willing to consider other models as well. I'd probably rather spin up different entities for those to manage portfolio risk, though.
@Austin thanks, yes, I'm hoping the backdating etc will happen in time, I am just a little cash flow crunched and suffering stress and burnout now-ish due to other emergent goings-on.
Noted on the exec assistant / PA thing - I'm hoping once I am drawing a salary and have some backpay I'll be able to at least partially solo fund someone or fund them in combination with Beacon if they have split duties. We'll figure something out - but, yes, it seems silly to have me be doing things like calendar management and travel bookings when my utility is much higher engaging into the community.
@Austin Oh, whoops - typing in haste. The original budget submitted to AISTOF had about $10k USD per month for my costs in total (salary plus super, dependent on whether I could route it efficiently through my Australian NGO). I can DM you the link to the original budget if that's convenient and JueYan doesn't mind.