Thanks for bringing this up! I did help co-author this post, but generally just to help provide input in shaping the proposal to represent more precisely what the grants program will/would look like eg. narrow scope, committee-run, budgets and spending caps.
Just a couple points on the compensation:
- I’ve worked in nonprofit and biomedical research for a few years so I’m quite familiar with grantmaking and the salaries that come with it
although I’ve noticed it’s been different in mostly tech fields. Looking at models like DARPA and other more niche programs, this salary is well within reason - Separately, this is a consultant rate, instead of salaried compensation (so no benefits package like healthcare or tax coverage the way a company would), where rates are generally higher to cover taxes
- As the program starts to take shape, we might see that 30 hours is too much when it comes to vetting applications, which is why 30 hours is the max cap. At least for this proposal, we should be looking to establish best practices and a good precedent for the future
Hope this answers your questions!