Ben Kuhn donations made

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 2024. 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 donor information

ItemValue
Country United States
Facebook username ben.s.kuhn
LinkedIn username benskuhn
Websitehttp://www.benkuhn.net/
Donations URLhttp://www.benkuhn.net/ea/
Twitter usernamebenskuhn
LessWrong usernamebenkuhn
Effective Altruism Hub usernameben-kuhn
GitHub usernamebenkuhn
Data entry method on Donations List WebsiteManual (no scripts used)
Org Watch pagehttps://orgwatch.issarice.com/?person=Ben+Kuhn

Donor donation statistics

Cause areaCountMedianMeanMinimum10th percentile 20th percentile 30th percentile 40th percentile 50th percentile 60th percentile 70th percentile 80th percentile 90th percentile Maximum
Overall 17 6,000 11,220 80 120 1,000 1,400 2,000 6,000 10,000 10,000 12,600 46,000 56,000
Global health 2 80 140 80 80 80 80 80 80 200 200 200 200 200
15 6,333 12,697 120 1,000 1,400 2,000 5,000 6,333 10,000 12,600 12,600 46,000 56,000

Donation amounts by cause area and year

If you hover over a cell for a given cause area and year, you will get a tooltip with the number of donees and the number of donations.

Note: Cause area classification used here may not match that used by donor for all cases.

Cause area Number of donations Number of donees Total 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013
(filter this donor) 15 7 190,453.00 14,000.00 56,000.00 60,000.00 26,000.00 18,333.00 10,000.00 6,120.00
Global health (filter this donor) 2 2 280.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 280.00
Total 17 9 190,733.00 14,000.00 56,000.00 60,000.00 26,000.00 18,333.00 10,000.00 6,400.00

Graph of spending by cause area and year (incremental, not cumulative)

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Graph of spending by cause area and year (cumulative)

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Donation amounts by subcause area and year

If you hover over a cell for a given subcause area and year, you will get a tooltip with the number of donees and the number of donations.

For the meaning of “classified” and “unclassified”, see the page clarifying this.

Subcause area Number of donations Number of donees Total 2013
Global health/malaria 1 1 200.00 200.00
Global health/deworming 1 1 80.00 80.00
Classified total 2 2 280.00 280.00
Unclassified total 15 7 190,453.00 6,120.00
Total 17 9 190,733.00 6,400.00

Skipping spending graph as there is at most one year’s worth of donations.

Donation amounts by donee and year

Donee Cause area Metadata Total 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013
Ben Kuhn donor-advised fund (filter this donor) 102,000.00 0.00 56,000.00 46,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
GiveWell Maximum Impact Fund (filter this donor) Charity evaluation/global health/poverty FB Tw WP Site 30,200.00 12,600.00 0.00 12,600.00 5,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
GiveWell (filter this donor) Charity evaluation/global health/poverty FB Tw WP Site TW 28,800.00 1,400.00 0.00 1,400.00 0.00 10,000.00 10,000.00 6,000.00
EA Giving Group (filter this donor) Existential risk/far future/trajectory improvement Site 20,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 20,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Effective Altruism Policy Analytics (filter this donor) 6,333.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6,333.00 0.00 0.00
Charity Entrepreneurship (filter this donor) 2,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2,000.00 0.00 0.00
GiveDirectly (filter this donor) Cash transfers FB Tw WP Site GW 1,120.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1,000.00 0.00 0.00 120.00
Against Malaria Foundation (filter this donor) Global health/malaria FB Tw WP Site GW CN GS TW 200.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 200.00
Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (filter this donor) Global health/deworming Tw WP Site GW 80.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 80.00
Total -- -- 190,733.00 14,000.00 56,000.00 60,000.00 26,000.00 18,333.00 10,000.00 6,400.00

Graph of spending by donee and year (incremental, not cumulative)

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Graph of spending by donee and year (cumulative)

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Donation amounts by influencer and year

If you hover over a cell for a given influencer and year, you will get a tooltip with the number of donees and the number of donations.

For the meaning of “classified” and “unclassified”, see the page clarifying this.

Influencer Number of donations Number of donees Total 2019 2017 2016 2015
GiveWell 6 2 43,000.00 14,000.00 14,000.00 5,000.00 10,000.00
Nick Beckstead 1 1 20,000.00 0.00 0.00 20,000.00 0.00
Classified total 7 3 63,000.00 14,000.00 14,000.00 25,000.00 10,000.00
Unclassified total 10 7 127,733.00 0.00 46,000.00 1,000.00 8,333.00
Total 17 9 190,733.00 14,000.00 60,000.00 26,000.00 18,333.00

Graph of spending by influencer and year (incremental, not cumulative)

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Graph of spending by influencer and year (cumulative)

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Donation amounts by disclosures and year

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Donation amounts by country and year

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Full list of documents in reverse chronological order (5 documents)

Title (URL linked)Publication dateAuthorPublisherAffected donorsAffected doneesAffected influencersDocument scopeCause areaNotes
My 2018 donations2019-01-20Ben Kuhn Ben Kuhn Effective Altruism Funds Ben Kuhn donor-advised fund GiveWell GiveWell top charities Ben Kuhn donor-advised fund Effective Altruism Funds Periodic donation list documentationGlobal health and developmentKuhn describes his decision to allocate his donation amount ($70,000, calculated as 50% of his income for the year) between GiveWell, GiveWell top charities, and his own donor-advised fund managed by Fidelity. Kuhn also discusses how he has been out of the loop of the latest developments in effective altruism, which is part of the reason his grants for this year are so boring. However, he is happy with recent management changes and increased grantmaking activity from the Effective Altruism Funds, and they are currently his default choice of where to allocate money from his donor-advised fund in 2019, if he does not find a better donation target. Kuhn also discusses some logistical aspects of his donation, such as: need to make some of his 2018 donations in 2019 and use of the donor-advised fund to channel his donation to GiveWell
Where, why and how I donated in 20172018-02-01Ben Kuhn Ben Kuhn Open Philanthropy Effective Altruism Funds Effective Altruism Grants GiveWell GiveWell top charities EA Giving Group Effective Altruism Funds Periodic donation list documentationGlobal health and developmentKuhn describes his decision to allocate his donation amount ($60,000, calculated as 50% of his income for the year) between GiveWell, GiveWell top charities, and his own donor-advised fund managed by Fidelity. Kuhn also discusses the Open Philanthropy Project, EA Funds, and EA Grants, and the EA Giving Group he donated to the previous year
Where I gave and why in 2016 2017-01-06Ben Kuhn Effective Altruism ForumBen Kuhn EA Giving Group GiveWell GiveDirectly Periodic donation list documentationGlobal health and developmentOriginally posted at http://www.benkuhn.net/giving-2016 and cross-posted to Effective Altruism Forum due to evidence that people like donation write-ups
EAs write about where they give2016-12-09Julia Wise Effective Altruism ForumBlake Borgeson Eva Vivalt Ben Kuhn Alexander Gordon-Brown and Denise Melchin Elizabeth Van Nostrand Machine Intelligence Research Institute Center for Applied Rationality AidGrade Charity Science: Health 80,000 Hours Centre for Effective Altruism Tostan Periodic donation list documentationGlobal health and development, AI riskJulia Wise got submissions from multiple donors about their donation plans and put them together in a single post. The goal was to cover people outside of organizations that publish such posts for their employees
CFAR workshop review2013-07-01Ben Kuhn Center for Applied Rationality Evaluator review of doneeEpistemic institutionsReview of workshop attended; credence in workshop being actually valuable rose significantly

Full list of donations in reverse chronological order (17 donations)

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

Graph of donations and their timeframes
DoneeAmount (current USD)Amount rank (out of 17)Donation dateCause areaURLInfluencerNotes
GiveWell Maximum Impact Fund12,600.0042019-01-20--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/GiveWell See https://www.benkuhn.net/giving-2018 for more context. Although the donation was made in January 2019, it is considered part of the donation for 2018; the reason for making the donation in 2019 was due to fewer liquid finances in December to make the donation. The total donation amount for the year of $70,000 was calculated as 50% of total income for the year. The allocation of $12,600 was calculated as 18% of the total donation amount. Logistics-wise, the donation was made via the donor-advised fund, and along with the donation of $1,400 to GiveWell (i.e., a donation of $14,000 was made to GiveWell with 10% marked as an unrestricted donation to GiveWell). Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 18.00%.
GiveWell1,400.00122019-01-20--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/GiveWell See https://www.benkuhn.net/giving-2018 for more context. Although the donation was made in January 2019, it is considered part of the donation for 2018; the reason for making the donation in 2019 was due to fewer liquid finances in December to make the donation. The total donation amount for the year of $70,000 was calculated as 50% of total income for the year. The allocation of $1,400 was calculated as 2% of the total donation amount. Logistics-wise, the donation was made via the donor-advised fund, and along with the donation of $12,600 to GiveWell Maximum Impact Fund (i.e., a donation of $14,000 was made to GiveWell with 10% marked as an unrestricted donation to GiveWell). Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 2.00%.
Ben Kuhn donor-advised fund56,000.0012018-12-27--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/-- See https://www.benkuhn.net/giving-2018 for more context. The total donation amount for the year of $70,000 was calculated as 50% of total income for the year. The allocation of $56,000 was calculated as 80% of the total donation amount (note that it was also the only donation to which the employer match was applied). Kuhn decided to donate to his donor-advised fund in order to defer the decision of where to ultimately direct his donations, partly because he has been busy with work and has not been closely following developments in the effective altruism space. However, he expects that, unless he finds a better target, he will likely donate from his donor-advised fund to the Effective Altruism Funds in 2019. Employer match: Wave matched 10,000.00; Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 80.00%.
GiveWell Maximum Impact Fund12,600.0042017-12-30--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/GiveWell See https://www.benkuhn.net/giving-2017 for more context. The total donation amount of $60,000 was calculated as 50% of total income for the year. The intended allocation to GiveWell Maximum Impact Fund was 18% (which would be $10,800) but due to a miscalculation, a little more was allocated. After accounting for the employer match of $10,000 for another donations, the donation amount worked out to 18% of the total donation (including employer match) for the year. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 21.00%.
GiveWell1,400.00122017-12-30--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/GiveWell See https://www.benkuhn.net/giving-2017 for more context. The total donation amount for the year of $60,000 was calculated as 50% of total income for the year. The intended allocation to GiveWell was 2% (which would be $1200), but due to a miscalculation, a little more was allocated. After accounting for the employer match of $10,000 for another donations, the donation amount worked out to 18% of the total donation (including employer match) for the year. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 2.33%.
Ben Kuhn donor-advised fund46,000.0022017-12-28--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/-- See https://www.benkuhn.net/giving-2017 for more context. The total donation amount for the year of $60,000 was calculated as 50% of total income for the year. The intended allocation to the donor-advised fund was 80%, but due to a miscalculation, a little less was allocated. After account for the employer match of $10,000, the donation amount worked out to 80% of the total donation (including employer match) for the year. Employer match: Wave matched 10,000.00; Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 76.67%.
GiveDirectly1,000.00142016-12-31--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/--
EA Giving Group20,000.0032016-12-31--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/Nick Beckstead See https://www.benkuhn.net/giving-2016 for more context. Employer match: Wave matched 10,000.00.
GiveWell Maximum Impact Fund5,000.00102016-12-31--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/GiveWell See https://www.benkuhn.net/giving-2016 for more context.
Charity Entrepreneurship2,000.00112015-12-31--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/--
GiveWell10,000.0062015-12-31--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/GiveWell Employer match: Wave matched 10,000.00.
Effective Altruism Policy Analytics6,333.0082015-06-07--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/-- See https://www.benkuhn.net/eapa for more context.
GiveWell10,000.0062014-12-31--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/--
GiveWell6,000.0092013-11-22--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/--
GiveDirectly120.00162013-07-06--https://www.benkuhn.net/ea/--
Against Malaria Foundation200.00152013-07-06Global health/malariahttps://www.benkuhn.net/ea/--
Schistosomiasis Control Initiative80.00172013-07-06Global health/deworminghttps://www.benkuhn.net/ea/--

Similarity to other donors

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