Jaan Tallinn donations made (filtered to cause areas matching Global catastrophic risks)

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
Affiliated organizations (current or former; restricted to potential donees or others relevant to donation decisions)Centre for the Study of Existential Risk
Wikipedia pagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaan_Tallinn
Best overview URLhttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/
Facebook username jaan.tallinn
Websitehttps://jaan.online/
Donations URLhttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/
LessWrong usernamejaan
Regularity with which donor updates donations dataannual refresh
Regularity with which Donations List Website updates donations data (after donor update)irregular
Lag with which donor updates donations datamonths
Lag with which Donations List Website updates donations data (after donor update)months
Data entry method on Donations List WebsiteManual (no scripts used)
Org Watch pagehttps://orgwatch.issarice.com/?person=Jaan+Tallinn

Brief history: Tallinn is a co-founder of Skype and Kazaa and one of the earlier wealthy supporters of organizations working in AI safety, along with Peter Thiel. In 2011, he had a conversation with Holden Karnofsky sharing his thoughts on AI safetyand in particular the work of the Singularity Institute (SI), the former name of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. See https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/givewell/conversations/topics/287 and https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/6SGqkCgHuNr7d4yJm/thoughts-on-the-singularity-institute-si (GW, IR) for details. Tallinn played a significant role in financing the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative (BERI)'s grantmaking operations, and later funding the Survival and Flourising Fund (SFF). In 2020, Tallinn prepared a philanthropy pledge https://jaan.online/philanthropy/ for his grantmaking for the next five years, and also indicated a plan to switch more to making direct grants using SFF's S-process, rather than giving funds to organizations such as BERI and SFF.

Brief notes on broad donor philosophy and major focus areas: https://jaan.online/philanthropy/ says: "the primary purpose of my philanthropy is to reduce existential risks to humanity from advanced technologies, such as AI. i currently believe that this cause scores the highest according to the framework used in effective altruism: (1) importance [...] (2) tractability [...] (3) neglectedness. [...] i'm likely to pass on all other opportunities — especially popular ones, like supporting education, healthcare, arts, and various social causes. [...] i'm considering (as of 2020) a few exceptions — eg, donating to more neglected climate interventions [...] i should also mention that i'm especially fond of software projects as philanthropic targets [...]"

Notes on grant decision logistics: Tallinn plans to use the Survival and Flourishing Fund (SFF)'s S-process (simulation process) to direct most of his grantmaking, as described e.g. at http://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2019-q4-recommendations and other grant rounds. He may also make one-off direct grants (at most $100,000 per grant) for funding needs that are time-sensitive but encourages grantees to also apply for the next SFF grant round. Tallinn has historically donated money to BERI and SFF for regranting, but does not expect to make similar donations for regranting in the future. Tallinn may also engage in small amounts of individual regranting and individual gifts.

Notes on grant financing: Tallinn donates his own money, but not always directly; in most cases (particularly when donating to US-based nonprofits) he donates money via (donor-advised funds managed by) Founders Pledge or Silicon Valley Community Foundation. He has also made direct gifts in cryptocurrency when not donating to US nonprofits.

Donor donation statistics

Cause areaCountMedianMeanMinimum10th percentile 20th percentile 30th percentile 40th percentile 50th percentile 60th percentile 70th percentile 80th percentile 90th percentile Maximum
Overall 22 145,000 333,182 10,000 20,000 37,000 90,000 120,000 145,000 247,000 347,000 478,000 1,013,000 1,218,000
Global catastrophic risks 22 145,000 333,182 10,000 20,000 37,000 90,000 120,000 145,000 247,000 347,000 478,000 1,013,000 1,218,000

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 2023 2021 2020 2019
Global catastrophic risks (filter this donor) 22 9 7,330,000.00 1,586,000.00 4,895,000.00 829,000.00 20,000.00
Total 22 9 7,330,000.00 1,586,000.00 4,895,000.00 829,000.00 20,000.00

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

Graph of spending should have loaded here

Graph of spending by cause area and year (cumulative)

Graph of spending should have loaded here

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 2023 2021 2020 2019
Global catastrophic risks 22 9 7,330,000.00 1,586,000.00 4,895,000.00 829,000.00 20,000.00
Classified total 22 9 7,330,000.00 1,586,000.00 4,895,000.00 829,000.00 20,000.00
Unclassified total 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Total 22 9 7,330,000.00 1,586,000.00 4,895,000.00 829,000.00 20,000.00

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

Graph of spending should have loaded here

Graph of spending by subcause area and year (cumulative)

Graph of spending should have loaded here

Donation amounts by donee and year

Donee Cause area Metadata Total 2023 2021 2020 2019
Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters (filter this donor) 2,740,000.00 1,586,000.00 1,154,000.00 0.00 0.00
Center on Long-Term Risk (filter this donor) 1,218,000.00 0.00 1,218,000.00 0.00 0.00
Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative (filter this donor) AI safety/other global catastrophic risks Site TW 1,095,000.00 0.00 1,095,000.00 0.00 0.00
Centre for Long-Term Resilience (filter this donor) 1,013,000.00 0.00 1,013,000.00 0.00 0.00
Future of Life Institute (filter this donor) AI safety/other global catastrophic risks FB Tw WP Site 377,000.00 0.00 0.00 377,000.00 0.00
Global Catastrophic Risk Institute (filter this donor) Global catastrophic risks FB Tw Site 347,000.00 0.00 257,000.00 90,000.00 0.00
Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (filter this donor) 299,000.00 0.00 145,000.00 134,000.00 20,000.00
Median Group (filter this donor) 218,000.00 0.00 0.00 218,000.00 0.00
Convergence Analysis (filter this donor) 23,000.00 0.00 13,000.00 10,000.00 0.00
Total -- -- 7,330,000.00 1,586,000.00 4,895,000.00 829,000.00 20,000.00

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

Graph of spending should have loaded here

Graph of spending by donee and year (cumulative)

Graph of spending should have loaded here

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 2023 2021 2020 2019
Survival and Flourishing Fund|Ben Hoskin|Katja Grace|Oliver Habryka|Adam Marblestone 8 6 2,242,000.00 0.00 2,242,000.00 0.00 0.00
Survival and Flourishing Fund|Beth Barnes|Oliver Habryka|Zvi Mowshowitz 2 2 2,197,000.00 0.00 2,197,000.00 0.00 0.00
Survival and Flourishing Fund|Olle Häggström|Steve Omohundro|Daniel Kokotajlo 1 1 1,159,000.00 1,159,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Survival and Flourishing Fund|Oliver Habryka|Eric Rogstad 4 4 901,000.00 0.00 456,000.00 445,000.00 0.00
Survival and Flourishing Fund|Nick Hay|Alyssa Vance|Scott Garrabrant 1 1 427,000.00 427,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Survival and Flourishing Fund|Alex Flint|Alex Zhu|Andrew Critch|Eric Rogstad|Oliver Habryka 2 2 140,000.00 0.00 0.00 120,000.00 20,000.00
Survival and Flourishing Fund|Alex Zhu|Andrew Critch|Jed McCaleb|Oliver Habryka 3 3 130,000.00 0.00 0.00 130,000.00 0.00
Classified total 21 9 7,196,000.00 1,586,000.00 4,895,000.00 695,000.00 20,000.00
Unclassified total 1 1 134,000.00 0.00 0.00 134,000.00 0.00
Total 22 9 7,330,000.00 1,586,000.00 4,895,000.00 829,000.00 20,000.00

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

Graph of spending should have loaded here

Graph of spending by influencer and year (cumulative)

Graph of spending should have loaded here

Donation amounts by disclosures and year

Sorry, we couldn't find any disclosures information.

Donation amounts by country and year

Sorry, we couldn't find any country information.

Full list of documents in reverse chronological order (2 documents)

Title (URL linked)Publication dateAuthorPublisherAffected donorsAffected doneesAffected influencersDocument scopeCause areaNotes
Zvi’s Thoughts on the Survival and Flourishing Fund (SFF) (GW, IR)2021-12-14Zvi Mowshowitz LessWrongSurvival and Flourishing Fund Jaan Tallinn Jed McCaleb The Casey and Family Foundation Effective Altruism Funds:Long-Term Future Fund Center on Long-Term Risk Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters The Centre for Long-Term Resilience Lightcone Infrastructure Effective Altruism Funds: Infrastructure Fund Centre for the Governance of AI Ought New Science Research Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative AI Objectives Institute Topos Institute Emergent Ventures India European Biostasis Foundation Laboratory for Social Minds PrivateARPA Charter Cities Institute Survival and Flourishing Fund Beth Barnes Oliver Habryka Zvi Mowshowitz Miscellaneous commentaryLongtermism|AI safety|Global catastrophic risksIn this lengthy post, Zvi Mowshowitz, who was one of the recommenders for the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2021 H2 grant round based on the S-process, describes his experience with the process, his impressions of several of the grantees, and implications for what kinds of grant applications are most likely to succeed. Zvi says that the grant round suffered from the problem of Too Much Money (TMM); there was way more money than any individual recommender felt comfortable granting, and just about enough money for the combined preferences of all recommenders, which meant that any recommender could unilaterally push a particular grantee through. The post has several other observations and attracts several comments.
S-process funding2021-11-19Andrew Critch Protocol LabsSurvival and Flourishing Fund Jaan Tallinn Jed McCaleb The Casey and Family Foundation Survival and Flourishing Fund Reasoning supplementLongtermism|AI safety|Global catastrophic risksIn this presentation moderated by Karola Kirsanow of Protocol Labs (as part of the Funding the Commons summit), Andrew Critch presents in detail the S-process (simulation process) used by the Survival and Flourishing Fund for its own grantmaking (back when it had some funds of its own) and for recommending grants to other donors, including Jaan Tallinn, Jed McCaleb, and The Casey and Family Foundation (represented by David Marble). Critch talks about the following key ideas in the S-process: marginal value functions (for each potential grantee), the use of a "hold" option for not granting funds now, recorded meetings between recommenders that funders can review to decide how much weight to give each recommender, a simulation where funders assign small portions of their funding to avoid perverse incentives created based on the order in which funders go, and funder flexibility to use or not use the recommended allocation.

Full list of donations in reverse chronological order (22 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 22)Donation dateCause areaURLInfluencerNotes
Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters1,159,000.0022023-04Global catastrophic riskshttps://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2023-h1-recommendationsSurvival and Flourishing Fund Olle Häggström Steve Omohundro Daniel Kokotajlo Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2023 H1 grants based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios. In each simulation, Recommenders specify a marginal value function for funding each application, and an algorithm calculates a table of grant recommendations by taking turns distributing funding recommendations from each Recommender in succession, using their marginal value functions to prioritize. The Recommenders then discuss their evaluations and update the simulation with their new opinions, using approval voting to prioritize discussion topics, until the end of the last meeting when their inputs are finalized. Similarly, funders specify and adjust different value functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's ninth grant round.

Other notes: In this grant round, there are two funders: Jaan Tallinn and Future of Life Institute, and the breakdown of each grant by funder is not provided. We are inferring that the entirety of the amount is being funded by Jaan Tallinn, since https://futureoflife.org/grant-program/2023-grants/ does not include the grant. However, as of 2023-11-26, https://jaan.online/philanthropy/donations.html does not include the grant either.
Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters427,000.0062023-02-16Global catastrophic riskshttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/donations.htmlSurvival and Flourishing Fund Nick Hay Alyssa Vance Scott Garrabrant Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2022 H2 grants https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2022-h2-recommendations based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a table of marginal value functions. Recommenders specified a marginal value function for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different value functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's eighth grant round and the fourth one with a grant to the grantee.

Donor retrospective of the donation: The grant recommendation in the future grant round https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2022-h2-recommendations suggests continued satisfaction with the grantee.
Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters979,000.0042021-12-16Global catastrophic riskshttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/donations.htmlSurvival and Flourishing Fund Beth Barnes Oliver Habryka Zvi Mowshowitz Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2021 H2 grants https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2021-h2-recommendations based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a table of marginal utility functions. Recommenders specified marginal utility functions for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different utility functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts. [...] [The] system is designed to generally favor funding things that at least one recommender is excited to fund, rather than things that every recommender is excited to fund." https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/kuDKtwwbsksAW4BG2/zvi-s-thoughts-on-the-survival-and-flourishing-fund-sff (GW, IR) explains the process from a recommender's perspective.

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for selecting the donee: Zvi Mowshowitz, one of the recommenders, writes in https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/kuDKtwwbsksAW4BG2/zvi-s-thoughts-on-the-survival-and-flourishing-fund-sff (GW, IR) "ALLFED noticed something few others had noticed or done much about, that being ready could make a huge difference if the nukes did fly in terms of people not starving to death and civilization holding together, and that almost no effort was being made to get ready. [...] ALLFED is especially interested in very cheap, practical solutions that aren’t going to be fun for anyone, but would promise to get the calories into people, and be able to be implemented at scale when the time comes. I bought the case that the cause was super neglected and in danger of not getting funding, and could have a huge impact even if that was with small probabilities multiplied together. When I did Fermi calculations, this was a very good investment."

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's sixth grant round and the third one with a grant to the grantee.

Donor retrospective of the donation: The grant recommendation in the future grant round https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2022-h2-recommendations suggests continued satisfaction with the grantee.

Other notes: Grant made via the Players Philanthropy Fund ($100,000) and The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County ($879,000). The other two funders in this SFF grant round (Jed McCaleb and The Casey and Family Foundation) do not make grants to ALLFED. Zvi Mowshowitz, one of the recommenders, writes in https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/kuDKtwwbsksAW4BG2/zvi-s-thoughts-on-the-survival-and-flourishing-fund-sff (GW, IR) in more detail about the concerns raised: "(1) Capacity. Could ALLFED scale? Could it remain effective, hire and manage well, and so on? Was it mostly the one person who produced value? (2) Amateurism. Basically a ‘yes, thank you, you founded the space, but now we should leave this to the professionals no?’ kind of vibe thing. (3) Feasibility. Are their ideas good? I had this too, as noted above. (4) Honesty. There were concerns, especially around impact calculations." He then goes into details about his thoughts on each of the concerns, in particular on the honesty and ALLFED's previous calculations of its own impact. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 11.05%; announced: 2021-11-20.
Center on Long-Term Risk1,218,000.0012021-10Global catastrophic riskshttps://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2021-h2-recommendationsSurvival and Flourishing Fund Beth Barnes Oliver Habryka Zvi Mowshowitz Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2021 H2 grants based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a table of marginal utility functions. Recommenders specified marginal utility functions for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different utility functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts. [...] [The] system is designed to generally favor funding things that at least one recommender is excited to fund, rather than things that every recommender is excited to fund." https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/kuDKtwwbsksAW4BG2/zvi-s-thoughts-on-the-survival-and-flourishing-fund-sff (GW, IR) explains the process from a recommender's perspective.

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for selecting the donee: Zvi Mowshowitz, one of the recommenders, writes in https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/kuDKtwwbsksAW4BG2/zvi-s-thoughts-on-the-survival-and-flourishing-fund-sff (GW, IR) "I was excited by the detailed contents of what they are working on, relative to the baseline the applications set for excitement, but their focus on s-risks was concerning to me. I don’t want to have the debate on this, but I consider concerns about s-risks a bigger thing to be concerned about right now than actual s-risks. They do have a reasonable plan to mitigate the risk of concern about s-risk, and are saying many of the right things when asked, so I came around to it being worth proceeding."

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's sixth grant round and the first one with a grant to the grantee.

Other notes: The other two funders in this SFF grant round (Jed McCaleb and The Casey and Family Foundation) do not make grants to the Center on Long-Term Risk. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 13.75%; announced: 2021-11-20.
Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters175,000.00112021-07-16Global catastrophic riskshttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/donations.htmlSurvival and Flourishing Fund Ben Hoskin Katja Grace Oliver Habryka Adam Marblestone Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2021 H1 grants https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2021-h1-recommendations based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Recommenders specified marginal utility functions for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different utility functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's fifth grant round. In a previous grant round (2019 Q4), SFF had made a grant to the grantee, but Tallinn had not made any direct grants.

Donor retrospective of the donation: The grant recommendation in the future grant round https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2022-h2-recommendations suggests continued satisfaction with the grant outcome.

Other notes: Grant made via the Players Philanthropy Fund. Although Jed McCaleb also participates in this grant round as a funder, he does not make any grants to this grantee. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 1.84%.
Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative (Earmark: Centre for the Study of Existential Risk)37,000.00182021-04Global catastrophic riskshttps://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2021-h1-recommendationsSurvival and Flourishing Fund Ben Hoskin Katja Grace Oliver Habryka Adam Marblestone Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2021 H1 grants based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Recommenders specified marginal utility functions for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different utility functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Direct project expenses

Intended use of funds: Grant to support the BERI-CSER collaboration, This is BERI's collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER). See https://existence.org/collaborations/ for BERI's full list of collaborations.

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's fifth grant round and the third with grants to the grantee. It is the second round with a grant specifically for this collaboration.

Other notes: The grant round includes grants from Tallinn for two other BERI collaborations (with FHI and SERI) as well as grants from Jed McCaleb for the collaborations with FHI and SERI. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 0.39%.
Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative (Earmark: Stanford Existential Risk Initiative)333,000.0082021-04Global catastrophic riskshttps://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2021-h1-recommendationsSurvival and Flourishing Fund Ben Hoskin Katja Grace Oliver Habryka Adam Marblestone Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2021 H1 grants based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Recommenders specified marginal utility functions for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different utility functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Direct project expenses

Intended use of funds: Grant to support the BERI-SERI collaboration, This is BERI's collaboration with the Stanford Existential Risk Institute (SERI). See https://existence.org/collaborations/ for BERI's full list of collaborations.

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's fifth grant round and the third with grants to the grantee. It is the first round with a grant specifically for this collaboration.

Other notes: The grant round includes grants from Tallinn for two other BERI collaborations (with FHI and CSER) as well as grants from Jed McCaleb for the collaborations with FHI and SERI. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 3.50%.
Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative (Earmark: Future of Humanity Institute)478,000.0052021-04Global catastrophic riskshttps://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2021-h1-recommendationsSurvival and Flourishing Fund Ben Hoskin Katja Grace Oliver Habryka Adam Marblestone Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2021 H1 grants based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Recommenders specified marginal utility functions for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different utility functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Direct project expenses

Intended use of funds: Grant to support the BERI-FHI collaboration, This is BERI's collaboration with the Future of Humanity Institute (FHI). See https://existence.org/collaborations/ for BERI's full list of collaborations.

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's fifth grant round and the third with grants to the grantee. It is the first round with a grant specifically for this collaboration.

Other notes: The grant round includes grants from Tallinn for two other BERI collaborations (with SERI and CSER) as well as grants from Jed McCaleb for the collaborations with FHI and SERI. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 5.02%.
Convergence Analysis13,000.00212021-04Global catastrophic riskshttps://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2021-h1-recommendationsSurvival and Flourishing Fund Ben Hoskin Katja Grace Oliver Habryka Adam Marblestone Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2021 H1 grants based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Recommenders specified marginal utility functions for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different utility functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Direct project expenses

Intended use of funds: Grant to support "Convergence"

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's fifth grant round and the second with a grant to the grantee.

Other notes: The grant round also includes a $103,000 grant to Convergence Analysis for Convergence: Project AI Clarity. Although Jed McCaleb also participates as a funder in this grant round, he does not make any grants to this grantee. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 1.37%.
Centre for Long-Term Resilience1,013,000.0032021-04Global catastrophic riskshttps://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2021-h1-recommendationsSurvival and Flourishing Fund Ben Hoskin Katja Grace Oliver Habryka Adam Marblestone Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2021 H1 grants based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Recommenders specified marginal utility functions for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different utility functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's fifth grant round and the first with a grant to the grantee.

Other notes: The SFF website lists the grantee as Alpenglow Group Limited; this is the business name of the Centre for Long-Term Resilience. Although Jed McCaleb also participates in this grant round as a funder, he does not make any grants to this grantee. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 10.65%.
Global Catastrophic Risk Institute48,000.00172021-04Global catastrophic riskshttps://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2021-h1-recommendationsSurvival and Flourishing Fund Ben Hoskin Katja Grace Oliver Habryka Adam Marblestone Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2021 H1 grants based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Recommenders specified marginal utility functions for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different utility functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's fifth grant round; all previous grant rounds included grants to this grantee.

Other notes: Although Jed McCaleb also participates in this grant round as a funder, he does not make any grants to this grantee. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 0.50%.
Centre for the Study of Existential Risk145,000.00122021-04Global catastrophic riskshttps://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2021-h1-recommendationsSurvival and Flourishing Fund Ben Hoskin Katja Grace Oliver Habryka Adam Marblestone Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2021 H1 grants based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Recommenders specified marginal utility functions for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different utility functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's fifth grant round and the third one with a grant to the grantee. Tallinn had also made a grant to the grantee directly (outside of the SFF's process) in 2020.

Other notes: Although Jed McCaleb also participates in this grant round as a funder, he does not make any grants to this grantee. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 1.52%.
Global Catastrophic Risk Institute209,000.00102021-01-12Global catastrophic riskshttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/donations.htmlSurvival and Flourishing Fund Oliver Habryka Eric Rogstad Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2020 H2 grants https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2020-h2-recommendations based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Recommenders specified marginal utility functions for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different utility functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's fourth grant round; each of the grant rounds has included grants to the grantee.

Other notes: Although the Survival and Flourishing Fund and Jed McCaleb also participate as funders in this grant round as funders, neither of them makes any grants to this grantee. The grant is made via Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 12.83%.
Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative247,000.0092021-01-05Global catastrophic riskshttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/donations.htmlSurvival and Flourishing Fund Oliver Habryka Eric Rogstad Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2020 H2 grants https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2020-h2-recommendations based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Recommenders specified marginal utility functions for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different utility functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's fourth grant round and the second with grants to this grantee.

Other notes: Although the Survival and Flourishing Fund and Jed McCaleb also participate in this grant round as funders, neither of them makes any grants to this grantee. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 2.74%.
Median Group98,000.00152020-12-23Global catastrophic riskshttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/donations.htmlSurvival and Flourishing Fund Oliver Habryka Eric Rogstad Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2020 H2 grants https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2020-h2-recommendations based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Recommenders specified marginal utility functions for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different utility functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's fourth grant round and the second with grants to this grantee.

Other notes: Although the Survival and Flourishing Fund and Jed McCaleb also participate in this grant round as funders, neither of them makes any grants to this grantee. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 3.62%.
Future of Life Institute347,000.0072020-12-04Global catastrophic riskshttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/donations.htmlSurvival and Flourishing Fund Oliver Habryka Eric Rogstad Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2020 H2 grants https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2020-h2-recommendations based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Recommenders specified marginal utility functions for funding each application, and adjusted those functions through discussions with each other as the round progressed. Similarly, funders specified and adjusted different utility functions for deferring to each Recommender. In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this is SFF's fourth grant round. Grants to the grantee had been made in the first and third grant round.

Other notes: The grant round also includes a grant from the Survival and Flourishing Fund of $347,000 to the same grantee (FLI). Although Jed McCaleb also participates as a funder in the round, he does not make any grants to this grantee in this round. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 12.83%.
Centre for the Study of Existential Risk134,000.00132020-08-31Global catastrophic riskshttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/donations.html-- Donation process: Unlike the bulk of Tallinn's philanthropy, this grant is not made through the Survival and Flourishing Fund's S-process.

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor retrospective of the donation: A later grant in 2021 based on the Survival and Flourishing Fund's S-process suggests continued satisfaction with the grantee.
Future of Life Institute30,000.00192020-07-23Global catastrophic riskshttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/donations.htmlSurvival and Flourishing Fund Alex Zhu Andrew Critch Jed McCaleb Oliver Habryka Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2020 H1 grants https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2020-h1-recommendations based on the S-process (simulation process). A request for grants was made at https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wQk3nrGTJZHfsPHb6/survival-and-flourishing-grant-applications-open-until-march (GW, IR) and open till 2020-03-07. The S-process "involves allowing the recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Funders were free to assign different weights to different recommenders in the process; the weights were determined by marginal utility functions specified by the funders (Jaan Tallinn, Jed McCaleb, and SFF). In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this 2020 H1 round of grants is SFF's third round; the grantee had also received a grant in the first round.

Donor retrospective of the donation: Continued grants in future grant rounds such as https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2020-h2-recommendations (2020 H2) suggest continued satisfaction with the grantee.

Other notes: The grant round also includes grants from the Survival and Flourishing Fund ($100,000) and Jed McCaleb ($10,000) to the same grantee (FLI). Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 3.26%.
Convergence Analysis10,000.00222020-06-29Global catastrophic riskshttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/donations.htmlSurvival and Flourishing Fund Alex Zhu Andrew Critch Jed McCaleb Oliver Habryka Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2020 H1 grants https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2020-h1-recommendations based on the S-process (simulation process). A request for grants was made at https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wQk3nrGTJZHfsPHb6/survival-and-flourishing-grant-applications-open-until-march (GW, IR) and open till 2020-03-07. The S-process "involves allowing the recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Funders were free to assign different weights to different recommenders in the process; the weights were determined by marginal utility functions specified by the funders (Jaan Tallinn, Jed McCaleb, and SFF). In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this 2020 H1 round of grants is SFF's third round and the first with a grant to the grantee. However, a previous grant to Modeling Cooperation had been made via the grantee (Convergence Analysis).

Other notes: Although the Survival and Flourishing Fund and Jed McCaleb also participate as funders in this grant round, neither of them makes a grant to the grantee. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 1.09%.
Global Catastrophic Risk Institute90,000.00162020-06-09Global catastrophic riskshttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/donations.htmlSurvival and Flourishing Fund Alex Zhu Andrew Critch Jed McCaleb Oliver Habryka Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2020 H1 grants https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2020-h1-recommendations based on the S-process (simulation process). A request for grants was made at https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wQk3nrGTJZHfsPHb6/survival-and-flourishing-grant-applications-open-until-march (GW, IR) and open till 2020-03-07. The S-process "involves allowing the recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Funders were free to assign different weights to different recommenders in the process; the weights were determined by marginal utility functions specified by the funders (Jaan Tallinn, Jed McCaleb, and SFF). In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this 2020 H1 round of grants is SFF's third round; the grantee had also received grants in the first two rounds but from SFF (not from Tallinn).

Other notes: The grant round also includes a grant from Jed McCaleb of $50,000. The Survival and Flourishing Fund also participates as a funder in this round but does not make a grant to the grantee. The grant is made via Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 9.78%.
Median Group120,000.00142020-01-16Global catastrophic riskshttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/donations.htmlSurvival and Flourishing Fund Alex Flint Alex Zhu Andrew Critch Eric Rogstad Oliver Habryka Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2019 Q4 grants https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2019-q4-recommendations based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Funders were free to assign different weights to different Recommenders in the process; the weights were determined by marginal utility functions specified by the funders (Jaan Tallinn and SFF). In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this November 2019 round of grants is SFF's second round and the first with grants to the grantee.

Other notes: This grant is made via the Median Foundation. The Survival and Flourishing Fund makes a $50,000 grant to Median Group in this grant round. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 11.01%; announced: 2019-12-15.
Centre for the Study of Existential Risk20,000.00202019-12-24Global catastrophic riskshttps://jaan.online/philanthropy/donations.htmlSurvival and Flourishing Fund Alex Flint Alex Zhu Andrew Critch Eric Rogstad Oliver Habryka Donation process: Part of the Survival and Flourishing Fund's 2019 Q4 grants https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2019-q4-recommendations based on the S-process (simulation process) that "involves allowing the Recommenders and funders to simulate a large number of counterfactual delegation scenarios using a spreadsheet of marginal utility functions. Funders were free to assign different weights to different Recommenders in the process; the weights were determined by marginal utility functions specified by the funders (Jaan Tallinn and SFF). In this round, the process also allowed the funders to make some final adjustments to decide on their final intended grant amounts."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing determined by timing of grant round; this November 2019 round of grants is SFF's second round.

Donor retrospective of the donation: The future grant https://survivalandflourishing.fund/sff-2021-h1-recommendations (2021 H1) suggests continued satisfaction with the grantee.

Other notes: The grant round also includes a grant from the Survival and Flourishing Fund of $40,000 to the same grantee (CSER). Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 1.83%; announced: 2019-12-15.

Similarity to other donors

Sorry, we couldn't find any similar donors.