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 2025. 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.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Affiliated organizations (current or former; restricted to potential donees or others relevant to donation decisions) | Foundational Research Institute |
| Facebook username | brian.tomasik |
| LinkedIn username | briantomasik |
| Website | http://briantomasik.com/ |
| Donations URL | http://reducing-suffering.org/my-donations-past-and-present/ |
| Twitter username | reducesuffering |
| Effective Altruism Hub username | brian-tomasik |
| GitHub username | Brian-Tomasik |
| Data entry method on Donations List Website | Manual (no scripts used) |
| Org Watch page | https://orgwatch.issarice.com/?person=Brian+Tomasik |
| Cause area | Count | Median | Mean | Minimum | 10th percentile | 20th percentile | 30th percentile | 40th percentile | 50th percentile | 60th percentile | 70th percentile | 80th percentile | 90th percentile | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 10 | 12,000 | 7,401 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 2,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 |
| Animal welfare | 6 | 12,000 | 8,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 |
| AI safety | 4 | 2,000 | 6,503 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 |
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 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Animal welfare (filter this donor) | 6 | 3 | 48,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| AI safety (filter this donor) | 4 | 1 | 26,010.00 | 2,000.00 | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 |
| Total | 10 | 4 | 74,010.00 | 2,000.00 | 10.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 |
Graph of spending by cause area and year (incremental, not cumulative)
Graph of spending by cause area and year (cumulative)
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 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Animal welfare/diet change/veganism | 4 | 1 | 36,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| AI safety | 3 | 1 | 14,010.00 | 2,000.00 | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12,000.00 |
| AI safety/suffering reduction | 1 | 1 | 12,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12,000.00 | 0.00 |
| Animal welfare/factory farming/meta/charity evaluator | 1 | 1 | 12,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Animal welfare/environmentalism | 1 | 1 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Classified total | 10 | 4 | 74,010.00 | 2,000.00 | 10.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 |
| Unclassified total | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Total | 10 | 4 | 74,010.00 | 2,000.00 | 10.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 |
Graph of spending by subcause area and year (incremental, not cumulative)
Graph of spending by subcause area and year (cumulative)
| Donee | Cause area | Metadata | Total | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegan Outreach (filter this donor) | Animal welfare/Diet change/Veganism/Leafleting | FB Tw WP Site | 36,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Machine Intelligence Research Institute (filter this donor) | AI safety | FB Tw WP Site CN GS TW | 26,010.00 | 2,000.00 | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 |
| Animal Charity Evaluators (filter this donor) | Animal welfare/factory farming/meta/charity evaluator | FB Tw WP Site TW | 12,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Natural Resources Defense Council (filter this donor) | FB Tw WP Site | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | |
| Total | -- | -- | 74,010.00 | 2,000.00 | 10.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 |
Graph of spending by donee and year (incremental, not cumulative)
Graph of spending by donee and year (cumulative)
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 | 2015 | 2013 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Cooney | 2 | 2 | 24,000.00 | 0.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 |
| Luke Muehlhauser | 1 | 1 | 2,000.00 | 2,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Vegan Outreach | 1 | 1 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Classified total | 4 | 3 | 26,000.00 | 2,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 |
| Unclassified total | 6 | 3 | 48,010.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Total | 10 | 4 | 74,010.00 | 2,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 12,000.00 |
Graph of spending by influencer and year (incremental, not cumulative)
Graph of spending by influencer and year (cumulative)
Sorry, we couldn't find any disclosures information.
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| Title (URL linked) | Publication date | Author | Publisher | Affected donors | Affected donees | Affected influencers | Document scope | Cause area | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Does the Against Malaria Foundation Reduce Invertebrate Suffering? | 2016-02-01 | Brian Tomasik | Against Malaria Foundation | Evaluator review of donee | Global health/malaria | Brian Tomasik reviews the Against Malaria Foundation, tentatively claiming that it is a good donation target, because by saving human lives, it causes a net reduction in invertebrate lives and therefore a erduction in invertebrate suffering. He thinks that deworming charities are unlikely to yield similar benefits because they simply reduce poverty rather than increase human population |
Graph of top 10 donees (for donations with known year of donation) by amount, showing the timeframe of donations
| Donee | Amount (current USD) | Amount rank (out of 10) | Donation date | Cause area | URL | Influencer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Machine Intelligence Research Institute | 2,000.00 | 7 | AI safety | -- | Luke Muehlhauser | Thank you for a helpful conversation with outgoing director Luke Muehlhauser; information conveyed via private communication and published with permission. | |
| Machine Intelligence Research Institute | 10.00 | 8 | AI safety | -- | -- | Part of a donation drive; information conveyed via private communication and published with permission. | |
| Animal Charity Evaluators | 12,000.00 | 1 | Animal welfare/factory farming/meta/charity evaluator | http://reducing-suffering.org/my-donations-past-and-present/ | Nick Cooney | Called Effective Animal Activism (EAA) at the time; switch from Vegan Outreach to this was because of belief in higher leverage per dollar. Employer match: Microsoft matched 12,000.00; Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%. | |
| Vegan Outreach | 12,000.00 | 1 | Animal welfare/diet change/veganism | http://reducing-suffering.org/my-donations-past-and-present/ | Nick Cooney | Asked for donation to be used in online vegan ads research; inspired by conversation with Nick Cooney of The Humane League. Employer match: Microsoft matched 12,000.00; Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%. | |
| Vegan Outreach | 12,000.00 | 1 | Animal welfare/diet change/veganism | http://reducing-suffering.org/my-donations-past-and-present/ | -- | Same reasons as in 2010. Employer match: Microsoft matched 12,000.00; Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%. | |
| Vegan Outreach | 12,000.00 | 1 | Animal welfare/diet change/veganism | http://reducing-suffering.org/my-donations-past-and-present/ | -- | Stopped MIRI donations due to concern of insufficient suffering focus; excited about Vegan Outreach for long-term benefits of raising profile of animal suffering. Employer match: Microsoft matched 12,000.00; Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%. | |
| Machine Intelligence Research Institute | 12,000.00 | 1 | AI safety/suffering reduction | http://reducing-suffering.org/my-donations-past-and-present/ | -- | Donation earmarked for suffering reduction work that would not have happened counterfactually; at the time, the organization was called the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI). Employer match: Microsoft matched 12,000.00; Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%. | |
| Machine Intelligence Research Institute | 12,000.00 | 1 | AI safety | http://reducing-suffering.org/my-donations-past-and-present/ | -- | Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%. | |
| Vegan Outreach | -- | -- | Animal welfare/diet change/veganism | http://reducing-suffering.org/my-donations-past-and-present/ | Vegan Outreach | Monthly donations from 2005 to 2007. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%. | |
| Natural Resources Defense Council | -- | -- | Animal welfare/environmentalism | http://reducing-suffering.org/my-donations-past-and-present/ | -- | Donations to this and similar organizations environmentalist orgs; belief that environment/natural preservation is related to animal welfare; since repudiated. |
Sorry, we couldn't find any similar donors.