Extension Policy

Eligibility Requirements:

• • Strong community fit; you contribute positively to the environment

  • Clear evidence of productive output from your initial stay

  • Specific, time-bound plan for your extension period with measurable milestones

Your first extension is not automatic. You must demonstrate that CEEALAR is enabling work that wouldn't happen elsewhere at this level of productivity.

Eligibility Requirements:

• Significant, measurable progress on your stated work plan

• Evidence that your output substantially exceeds your likely counterfactual

• Continued positive community contribution

• Clear milestones achieved from your previous extension period(s)

Eligibility Requirements:

• Active execution on next steps (job applications, funding proposals, project launches)

• Demonstrated strategic positioning toward post-CEEALAR goals

• Evidence of external validation (interviews, collaborations, preliminary interest from funders/employers)

Through successive extensions, grantees may stay at CEEALAR up to 1 year, although this is a soft cap rather than an absolute limit.

Exceptions to the policy are possible, subject to discussion by managers, trustees, and advisors.

Evidence Standards

All claims must include:

• URLs and links to public work products

• Quantifiable metrics (page views, karma, users, applications submitted, etc.)

• Specific examples with context

If your work isn't public, explain why and provide alternative verification (mentor testimonials, private demo links with access granted to reviewers, etc.).

We strongly prefer 3-5 high-quality achievements with solid evidence over long lists of vague claims.

Applications are reviewed by staff and advisors. Decisions consider:

1. Strength of evidence and outputs

2. Trajectory and momentum (including learning and adaptation) 

3. Community fit and contribution

4. Strategic value of continued stay

5. Counterfactual impact

6. Opportunity cost (could your room enable higher-impact work by someone else?)

Extensions are not guaranteed. We're optimizing for total impact and looking for residents who are both productive and reflective about their work. 

If your output fell short of your initial plans: What happened, and what did you learn?

We value self-awareness and learning from setbacks. Strong applications honestly address challenges and show growth.

CEEALAR acts as an incubator, where grantees can develop their skills and cultivate their project(s) before launching them into the world. As comfy a nest as it may be, grantees would do better to think of CEEALAR as a stepping stone towards greater things.

No application will be granted that would enable the applicant to spend more than one year as a grantee in total over a two-year period.

Exceptions to the policy will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.