Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists donations received

This is an online portal with information on donations that were announced publicly (or have been shared with permission) that were of interest to Vipul Naik. The git repository with the code for this portal, as well as all the underlying data, is available on GitHub. All payment amounts are in current United States dollars (USD). The repository of donations is being seeded with an initial collation by Issa Rice as well as continued contributions from him (see his commits and the contract work page listing all financially compensated contributions to the site) but all responsibility for errors and inaccuracies belongs to Vipul Naik. Current data is preliminary and has not been completely vetted and normalized; if sharing a link to this site or any page on this site, please include the caveat that the data is preliminary (if you want to share without including caveats, please check with Vipul Naik). We expect to have completed the first round of development by the end of July 2027. See the about page for more details. Also of interest: pageview data on analytics.vipulnaik.com, tutorial in README, request for feedback to EA Forum.

Table of contents

Basic donee information

We do not have any donee information for the donee Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in our system.

Donee donation statistics

Cause areaCountMedianMeanMinimum10th percentile 20th percentile 30th percentile 40th percentile 50th percentile 60th percentile 70th percentile 80th percentile 90th percentile Maximum
Overall 27 250,000 296,249 10,000 10,000 38,829 80,000 137,511 250,000 313,090 450,000 500,000 750,000 900,000
Disarmament 6 10,000 24,275 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 15,647 20,000 20,000 80,000 80,000
FIXME 20 313,090 382,654 38,829 50,000 125,000 225,000 250,000 313,090 450,000 470,000 533,700 750,000 900,000
Special Projects 1 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000

Donation amounts by donor and year for donee Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Donor Total 2018 2017 2015 2013 2011 2010 2009 2008 2006 2003 2000 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1991 1990 1988 1986
MacArthur Foundation (filter this donee) 7,653,081.00 88,829.00 500,000.00 450,000.00 250,000.00 125,000.00 250,000.00 75,000.00 350,000.00 900,000.00 750,000.00 800,000.00 470,000.00 0.00 450,000.00 0.00 695,511.00 533,700.00 313,090.00 426,951.00 0.00 225,000.00
Hewlett Foundation (filter this donee) 200,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 200,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
John Merck Fund (filter this donee) 145,647.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 80,000.00 20,000.00 10,000.00 10,000.00 10,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 15,647.00 0.00
Total 7,998,728.00 88,829.00 500,000.00 450,000.00 250,000.00 125,000.00 250,000.00 75,000.00 350,000.00 1,100,000.00 750,000.00 880,000.00 490,000.00 10,000.00 460,000.00 10,000.00 695,511.00 533,700.00 313,090.00 426,951.00 15,647.00 225,000.00

Full list of documents in reverse chronological order (1 documents)

Title (URL linked)Publication dateAuthorPublisherAffected donorsAffected doneesAffected influencersDocument scopeCause areaNotes
Will splashy philanthropy cause the biosecurity field to focus on the wrong risks?2019-04-25Filippa Lentzos Bulletin of the Atomic ScientistsOpen Philanthropy Third-party coverage of donor strategyBiosecurity and pandemic preparednessFilippa Lentzos examines the Open Philanthropy Project's funding in the biosecurity field. She argues that the scale and speed of Open Phil's grantmaking may hurt the field by shaping the agenda of the field to be too focused on global catastrophic risks, and to be less diverse on the whole. The post is linked and discussed on the Effective Altruism Forum at https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Kkw8uDwGuNnBhiYHi/will-splashy-philanthropy-cause-the-biosecurity-field-to (GW, IR) by Tessa Alexanian. Howie Lempel, in the comments, describes more of the post author's views based on her past article https://thebulletin.org/2017/07/ignore-bill-gates-where-bioweapons-focus-really-belongs/ Others who share thoughts in the comments include Alex Foster, Denise Melchin, and Rob Bensinger.

Full list of donations in reverse chronological order (27 donations)

Graph of top 10 donors (for donations with known year of donation) by amount, showing the timeframe of donations

Graph of donations and their timeframes
DonorAmount (current USD)Amount rank (out of 27)Donation dateCause areaURLInfluencerNotes
MacArthur Foundation38,829.00222018FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- X-grant in support of a project to examine the implications of an overhaul to the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
MacArthur Foundation50,000.00212018FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- X-grant in support of Korea-based insight and analysis of the North Korea nuclear crisis. Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
MacArthur Foundation500,000.0062017FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- for general operating support. Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
MacArthur Foundation450,000.0082015FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- In support of activities to engage new audiences on key issues surrounding nuclear security and nurture a new generation of science and security leaders (over two years). Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
MacArthur Foundation250,000.00132013FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- To support a project on estimating and disseminating information about the costs of nuclear reprocessing (over two years). Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
MacArthur Foundation125,000.00182011FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- To support an international conference entitled, Leadership and the Future of Nuclear Energy, with a focus on nuclear security. Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
MacArthur Foundation250,000.00132010FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- To provide information to policymakers and the public on nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, climate change and bioterrorism and foster informed dialogue on solutions to such global risks. Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
MacArthur Foundation75,000.00202009FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- In support of a business plan to increase earned revenue from digital publishing. Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
MacArthur Foundation350,000.00102008FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- In support of its publication which provides information to policymakers and the public on nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, climate change and bioterrorism and fosters informed dialogue on solutions to such global risks (over two years). Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
Hewlett Foundation200,000.00162006-10-16Special Projectshttps://hewlett.org/grants/bulletin-of-the-atomic-scientists-for-development-of-the-bulletin-website/-- For Development Of The Bulletin Website.
MacArthur Foundation900,000.0012006FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- In support ofcoverage of science and security issues and public forums (over three years). Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
MacArthur Foundation750,000.0032003FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- In support of the "Bulletin of Atomic Scientists"and its coverage of science and security issues (over three years). Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
John Merck Fund80,000.00192000-06Disarmamenthttps://www.jmfund.org/program-grants/-- To support The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a bimonthly magazine that provides in-depth, non-technical articles on nuclear weapons and related global security issues for the broad disarmament and arms control community, as well as for policymakers, mainstream journalists and the public.
MacArthur Foundation800,000.0022000FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- In support of general operations (over two years). Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
John Merck Fund20,000.00231998-11Disarmamenthttps://www.jmfund.org/program-grants/-- To support the International Visiting Fellows Program, which provides journalists from around the world training in research and writing on nuclear disarmament and arms control issues.
MacArthur Foundation470,000.0071998FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- In support of general operations (over three years). Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
John Merck Fund10,000.00251997-05Disarmamenthttps://www.jmfund.org/program-grants/-- To support the International Visiting Fellows Program, which will provide an internship on nuclear nonproliferation reporting to a South Asian journalist.
John Merck Fund10,000.00251996-05Disarmamenthttps://www.jmfund.org/program-grants/-- To provide a training internship for a Kashmiri journalist.
MacArthur Foundation450,000.0081996FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- In support of general operations and a visiting fellows program (over two years). Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
John Merck Fund10,000.00251995-04Disarmamenthttps://www.jmfund.org/program-grants/-- To provide a training internship for an Indian journalist.
MacArthur Foundation695,511.0041994FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- In support of general operations and a visiting fellows program (over three years). Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
MacArthur Foundation533,700.0051993FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- To support expansion and internationalization of editorial content and for long-term planning (over two years). Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
MacArthur Foundation313,090.00111991FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- To support the visiting fellows program (over two years). Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
MacArthur Foundation289,440.00121990FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- To support increased investigative reporting, special series, and a strengthened editorial staff (over three years). Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
MacArthur Foundation137,511.00171990FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- To support the visiting scholars program. Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.
John Merck Fund15,647.00241988-10Disarmamenthttps://www.jmfund.org/program-grants/-- To print and mail 10,000 copies of a special issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists dedicated to alternative defense.
MacArthur Foundation225,000.00151986FIXMEhttps://www.macfound.org/grants/-- To support publications serving different constituencies within the peace and security community and for strengthening of editorial programs (over three years). Affected countries: United States; affected states: Illinois; affected cities: Chicago.