Open Philanthropy donations made (filtered to cause areas matching Effective altruism)

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)GiveWell Good Ventures
Best overview URLhttps://causeprioritization.org/Open%20Philanthropy%20Project
Facebook username openphilanthropy
Websitehttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/
Donations URLhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants
Twitter usernameopen_phil
PredictionBook usernameOpenPhilUnofficial
Page on philosophy informing donationshttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/vision-and-values
Grant application process pagehttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/guide-for-grant-seekers
Regularity with which donor updates donations datacontinuous updates
Regularity with which Donations List Website updates donations data (after donor update)continuous updates
Lag with which donor updates donations datamonths
Lag with which Donations List Website updates donations data (after donor update)days
Data entry method on Donations List WebsiteManual (no scripts used)
Org Watch pagehttps://orgwatch.issarice.com/?organization=Open+Philanthropy

Brief history: Open Philanthropy (Open Phil for short) spun off from GiveWell, starting as GiveWell Labs in 2011, beginning to make strong progress in 2013, and formally separating from GiveWell as the "Open Philanthropy Project" in June 2017. In 2020, it started going by "Open Philanthropy" dropping the "Project" word.

Brief notes on broad donor philosophy and major focus areas: Open Philanthropy is focused on openness in two ways: open to ideas about cause selection, and open in explaining what they are doing. It has endorsed "hits-based giving" and is working on areas of AI risk, biosecurity and pandemic preparedness, and other global catastrophic risks, criminal justice reform (United States), animal welfare, and some other areas.

Notes on grant decision logistics: See https://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/our-grantmaking-so-far-approach-and-process for the general grantmaking process and https://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/questions-we-ask-ourselves-making-grant for more questions that grant investigators are encouraged to consider. Every grant has a grant investigator that we call the influencer here on Donations List Website; for focus areas that have Program Officers, the grant investigator is usually the Program Officer. The grant investigator has been included in grants published since around July 2017. Grants usually need approval from an executive; however, some grant investigators have leeway to make "discretionary grants" where the approval process is short-circuited; see https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/discretionary-grants for more. Note that the term "discretionary grant" means something different for them compared to government agencies, see https://www.facebook.com/vipulnaik.r/posts/10213483361534364 for more.

Notes on grant publication logistics: Every publicly disclosed grant has a writeup published at the time of public disclosure, but the writeups vary significantly in length. Grant writeups are usually written by somebody other than the grant investigator, but approved by the grant investigator as well as the grantee. Grants have three dates associated with them: an internal grant decision date (that is not publicly revealed but is used in some statistics on total grant amounts decided by year), a grant date (which we call donation date; this is the date of the formal grant commitment, which is the published grant date), and a grant announcement date (which we call donation announcement date; the date the grant is announced to the mailing list and the grant page made publicly visible). Lags are a few months between decision and grant, and a few months between grant and announcement, due to time spent with grant writeup approval.

Notes on grant financing: See https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/guide-for-grant-seekers or https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/who-we-are for more information. Grants generally come from the Open Philanthropy Fund, a donor-advised fund managed by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, with most of its money coming from Good Ventures. Some grants are made directly by Good Ventures, and political grants may be made by the Open Philanthropy Action Fund. At least one grant https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/us-policy/criminal-justice-reform/working-families-party-prosecutor-reforms-new-york was made by Cari Tuna personally. The majority of grants are financed by the Open Philanthropy Project Fund; however, the source of financing of a grant is not always explicitly specified, so it cannot be confidently assumed that a grant with no explicit listed financing is financed through the Open Philanthropy Project Fund; see the comment https://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/october-2017-open-thread?page=2#comment-462 for more information. Funding for multi-year grants is usually disbursed annually, and the amounts are often equal across years, but not always. The fact that a grant is multi-year, or the distribution of the grant amount across years, are not always explicitly stated on the grant page; see https://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/october-2017-open-thread?page=2#comment-462 for more information. Some grants to universities are labeled "gifts" but this is a donee classification, based on different levels of bureaucratic overhead and funder control between grants and gifts; see https://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/october-2017-open-thread?page=2#comment-462 for more information.

Miscellaneous notes: Most GiveWell-recommended grants made by Good Ventures and listed in the Open Philanthropy database are not listed on Donations List Website as being under Open Philanthropy. Specifically, GiveWell Incubation Grants are not included (these are listed at https://donations.vipulnaik.com/donor.php?donor=GiveWell+Incubation+Grants with donor GiveWell Incubation Grants), and grants made by Good Ventures to GiveWell top and standout charities are also not included (these are listed at https://donations.vipulnaik.com/donor.php?donor=Good+Ventures%2FGiveWell+top+and+standout+charities with donor Good Ventures/GiveWell top and standout charities). Grants to support GiveWell operations are not included here; they can be found at https://donations.vipulnaik.com/donor.php?donor=Good+Ventures%2FGiveWell+support with donor "Good Ventures/GiveWell support".The investment https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/us-policy/farm-animal-welfare/impossible-foods in Impossible Foods is not included because it does not fit our criteria for a donation, and also because no amount was included. All other grants publicly disclosed by open philanthropy that are not GiveWell Incubation Grants or GiveWell top and standout charity grants should be included. Grants disclosed by grantees but not yet disclosed by Open Philanthropy are not included; some of them may be listed at https://issarice.com/open-philanthropy-project-non-grant-funding

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 1,125,000 1,823,141 10,000 153,750 500,000 1,000,000 1,032,947 1,125,000 2,500,000 2,688,000 3,222,653 4,146,795 4,795,803
Effective altruism 15 1,755,921 1,976,960 10,000 153,750 500,000 1,000,000 1,032,947 1,755,921 2,500,000 2,756,250 3,222,653 4,146,795 4,795,803
Epistemic institutions 2 304,000 669,500 304,000 304,000 304,000 304,000 304,000 304,000 1,035,000 1,035,000 1,035,000 1,035,000 1,035,000

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 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
Effective altruism (filter this donor) 15 7 29,654,403.00 500,000.00 7,604,079.00 10,307,974.00 6,574,403.00 3,625,000.00 1,032,947.00 10,000.00
Epistemic institutions (filter this donor) 2 1 1,339,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1,339,000.00 0.00
Total 17 8 30,993,403.00 500,000.00 7,604,079.00 10,307,974.00 6,574,403.00 3,625,000.00 2,371,947.00 10,000.00

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 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
Effective altruism/movement growth 6 2 13,856,966.00 0.00 4,146,795.00 4,512,171.00 2,688,000.00 2,500,000.00 0.00 10,000.00
Effective altruism/movement growth/career counseling 4 1 9,888,087.00 0.00 3,457,284.00 4,795,803.00 510,000.00 1,125,000.00 0.00 0.00
Effective altruism/donor pledges 2 1 4,255,600.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 3,222,653.00 0.00 1,032,947.00 0.00
Effective altruism 2 2 1,500,000.00 500,000.00 0.00 1,000,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Epistemic institutions/effective altruism/movement growth 2 1 1,339,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1,339,000.00 0.00
Effective altruism/fundraising 1 1 153,750.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 153,750.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Classified total 17 8 30,993,403.00 500,000.00 7,604,079.00 10,307,974.00 6,574,403.00 3,625,000.00 2,371,947.00 10,000.00
Unclassified total 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Total 17 8 30,993,403.00 500,000.00 7,604,079.00 10,307,974.00 6,574,403.00 3,625,000.00 2,371,947.00 10,000.00

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

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Graph of spending by subcause area and year (cumulative)

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Donation amounts by donee and year

Donee Cause area Metadata Total 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
Centre for Effective Altruism (filter this donor) Effective altruism/movement growth FB Site 13,846,966.00 0.00 4,146,795.00 4,512,171.00 2,688,000.00 2,500,000.00 0.00 0.00
80,000 Hours (filter this donor) Career coaching/life guidance FB Tw WP Site 9,888,087.00 0.00 3,457,284.00 4,795,803.00 510,000.00 1,125,000.00 0.00 0.00
Founders Pledge (filter this donor) Effective altruism/donor pledges FB Tw WP Site 4,255,600.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 3,222,653.00 0.00 1,032,947.00 0.00
Center for Applied Rationality (filter this donor) Rationality FB Tw WP Site TW 1,339,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1,339,000.00 0.00
Effective Altruism Foundation (filter this donor) Effective altruism/movement growth FB Tw Site 1,000,000.00 0.00 0.00 1,000,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Effective Altruism Funds: Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund (filter this donor) 500,000.00 500,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
One for the World (filter this donor) 153,750.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 153,750.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Associated Students of the University of California, Berkeley (filter this donor) 10,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10,000.00
Total -- -- 30,993,403.00 500,000.00 7,604,079.00 10,307,974.00 6,574,403.00 3,625,000.00 2,371,947.00 10,000.00

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 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
Committee for Effective Altruism Support 5 2 16,912,053.00 0.00 7,604,079.00 9,307,974.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Nick Beckstead 6 4 10,874,653.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 5,910,653.00 3,625,000.00 1,339,000.00
Nick Beckstead|Claire Zabel 1 1 1,000,000.00 0.00 0.00 1,000,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Nick Beckstead|Nicole Ross 1 1 510,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 510,000.00 0.00 0.00
Claire Zabel 1 1 500,000.00 500,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
GiveWell 1 1 153,750.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 153,750.00 0.00 0.00
Classified total 15 7 29,950,456.00 500,000.00 7,604,079.00 10,307,974.00 6,574,403.00 3,625,000.00 1,339,000.00
Unclassified total 2 2 1,042,947.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1,032,947.00
Total 17 8 30,993,403.00 500,000.00 7,604,079.00 10,307,974.00 6,574,403.00 3,625,000.00 2,371,947.00

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

If you hover over a cell for a given disclosures 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.

Disclosures Number of donations Number of donees Total 2017 2016
Unknown, generic, or multiple 2 2 2,160,000.00 1,125,000.00 1,035,000.00
Nick Beckstead 2 2 1,429,000.00 1,125,000.00 304,000.00
Luke Muehlhauser 2 1 1,339,000.00 0.00 1,339,000.00
Carl Shulman 1 1 1,035,000.00 0.00 1,035,000.00
Helen Toner 1 1 304,000.00 0.00 304,000.00
Holden Karnofsky 1 1 304,000.00 0.00 304,000.00
Jacob Steinhardt 1 1 304,000.00 0.00 304,000.00
Paul Christiano 1 1 304,000.00 0.00 304,000.00
Classified total 3 2 2,464,000.00 1,125,000.00 1,339,000.00
Unclassified total 14 7 28,529,403.00 2,500,000.00 1,032,947.00
Total 17 8 30,993,403.00 3,625,000.00 2,371,947.00

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

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Graph of spending by disclosures and year (cumulative)

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Donation amounts by country and year

If you hover over a cell for a given country 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.

Country Number of donations Number of donees Total 2016 2015
Germany|France|Sweden 1 1 1,032,947.00 1,032,947.00 0.00
United States 1 1 10,000.00 0.00 10,000.00
Classified total 2 2 1,042,947.00 1,032,947.00 10,000.00
Unclassified total 15 7 29,950,456.00 1,339,000.00 0.00
Total 17 8 30,993,403.00 2,371,947.00 10,000.00

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

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Graph of spending by country and year (cumulative)

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Full list of documents in reverse chronological order (15 documents)

Title (URL linked)Publication dateAuthorPublisherAffected donorsAffected doneesAffected influencersDocument scopeCause areaNotes
EA Infrastructure Fund: May–August 2021 grant recommendations (GW, IR)2021-12-24Max Daniel Buck Shlegeris Chi Nguyen Michael Aird Effective Altruism ForumEffective Altruism Funds: Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund Jaan Tallinn Open Philanthropy Effective Altruism Funds: Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund Periodic donation list documentationEffective altruismIn this cross-post of https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/funds/payouts/may-august-2021-ea-infrastructure-fund-grants the EA Infrastructure Fund managers document grants made from May 2021 to August 2021, and also provide general updates about the fund's current state of operations, including estimates of grantmaking and funds received in 2021 as well as acceptance rate. It also mentions grants to the fund from Jaan Tallinn (based on the Survival and Flourishing Fund process) and Open Philanthropy. Ozzie Gooen offers a "quick take" in the comments.
Our Progress in 2020 and Plans for 20212021-04-29Holden Karnofsky Open PhilanthropyOpen Philanthropy Broad donor strategyAI safety|Biosecurity and pandemic preparedness|Criminal justice reform|Animal welfare|Scientific research|Effective altruism|COVID-19The post compares progress made by Open Philanthropy in 2020 against plans laid out in https://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/our-progress-2019-and-plans-2020 and then lays out plans for 2021. The post notes that grantmaking, including grants to GiveWell top charities, was over $200 million. The post reviews the following from 2020: continued grantmaking, worldview investigations, other cause prioritization work, hiring and other capacity building, impact evaluation, outreach to external donors, and plans for 2021.
Our Progress in 2019 and Plans for 20202020-05-08Holden Karnofsky Open PhilanthropyOpen Philanthropy Broad donor strategyCriminal justice reform|Animal welfare|AI safety|Effective altruismThe post compares progress made by the Open Philanthropy Project in 2019 against plans laid out in https://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/our-progress-2018-and-plans-2019 and then lays out plans for 2020. The post notes that grantmaking, including grants to GiveWell top charities, was over $200 million. The post reviews the following from 2019: continued grantmaking, growth of the operations team, impact evaluation (with good progress in evaluation of giving in criminal justice reform and animal welfare), worldview investigations (that was harder than anticipated, resulting in slower progress), other cause prioritization work, hiring and other capacity building, and outreach to external donors.
Effective Altruism Foundation: Plans for 2020 (GW, IR)2019-12-23Jonas Vollmer Effective Altruism FoundationOpen Philanthropy Effective Altruism Foundation Raising for Effective Giving Wild-Animal Suffering Research Utility Farm Wild Animal Initiative Sentience politics Donee periodic updateEffective altruism/movement growth/s-risk reductionThe document includes the 2019 review and plans for 2020 of the Effective Altruism Foundation (EAD). Key highlights: EAD plans to change its name in 2020 as a rebranding effort to highlight its focus on s-risk reduction, rather than the effective altruism; as part of this, the Foundational Research Institute brand will also be deprecated. Wild-Animal Suffering Research and Utility Farm merged to form Wild Animal Initiative, which is now completely separate from EAF. Raising for Effective Giving and Sentience Politics continue to be housed under EAF. The post also describes communication guidelines developed along with Nick Beckstead of the Open Philanthropy Project (that also made a $1 million grant to EAF). The guidelines "recommend highlighting beliefs and priorities that are important to the s-risk-oriented community" and "recommend communicating in a more nuanced manner about pessimistic views of the long-term future by considering highlighting moral cooperation and uncertainty, focusing more on practical questions if possible, and anticipating potential misunderstandings and misrepresentations." The post also says the guidelines will soon be made public, and that it was a mistake to not announce the guidelines earlier; doing so might have addressed https://www.simonknutsson.com/problems-in-effective-altruism-and-existential-risk-and-what-to-do-about-them/ and related concerns
Suggestions for Individual Donors from Open Philanthropy Staff - 20192019-12-18Holden Karnofsky Open PhilanthropyChloe Cockburn Jesse Rothman Michelle Crentsil Amanda Hungerfold Lewis Bollard Persis Eskander Alexander Berger Chris Somerville Heather Youngs Claire Zabel National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls Life Comes From It Worth Rises Wild Animal Initiative Sinergia Animal Center for Global Development International Refugee Assistance Project California YIMBY Engineers Without Borders 80,000 Hours Centre for Effective Altruism Future of Humanity Institute Global Priorities Institute Machine Intelligence Research Institute Ought Donation suggestion listCriminal justice reform|Animal welfare|Global health and development|Migration policy|Effective altruism|AI safetyContinuing an annual tradition started in 2015, Open Philanthropy Project staff share suggestions for places that people interested in specific cause areas may consider donating. The sections are roughly based on the focus areas used by Open Phil internally, with the contributors to each section being the Open Phil staff who work in that focus area. Each recommendation includes a "Why we recommend it" or "Why we suggest it" section, and with the exception of the criminal justice reform recommendations, each recommendation includes a "Why we haven't fully funded it" section. Section 5, Assorted recomendations by Claire Zabel, includes a list of "Organizations supported by our Committed for Effective Altruism Support" which includes a list of organizations that are wiithin the purview of the Committee for Effective Altruism Support. The section is approved by the committee and represents their views.
Message exchange with EAF2019-11-12Simon Knutsson Open Philanthropy Effective Altruism Foundation Reasoning supplementEffective altruism|Global catastrophic risksThis is a supplement to https://www.simonknutsson.com/problems-in-effective-altruism-and-existential-risk-and-what-to-do-about-them/ The supplement documents an email exchange between Knutsson and Stefan Torges of the Effective Altruism Foundation where Knutsson asks Torges for comment on some of the points in the article. Torges's reply is not quoted as he did not give permission to quote the replies, but Knutsson summarizes the replies as saying that EAF can't share further information, and does not wish to engage Knutsson on the issue.
Co-funding Partnership with Ben Delo2019-11-11Holden Karnofsky Open PhilanthropyOpen Philanthropy Ben Delo PartnershipAI safety|Biosecurity and pandemic preparedness|Global catastrophic risks|Effective altruismBen Delo, co-founder of the cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX, recently signed the Giving Pledge. He is entering into a partnership with the Open Philanthropy Project, providing funds, initially in the $5 million per year range, to support Open Phil's longtermist grantmaking, in areas including AI safety, biosecurity and pandemic preparedness, global catastrophic risks, and effective altruism. Later, the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) would reveal at https://intelligence.org/2020/04/27/miris-largest-grant-to-date/ that, of a $7.7 million grant from Open Phil, $1.46 million is coming from Ben Delo.
E-mail exchange with the Open Philanthropy Project2019-11-10Simon Knutsson Open Philanthropy Effective Altruism Foundation Reasoning supplementEffective altruism|Global catastrophic risksThis is a supplement to https://www.simonknutsson.com/problems-in-effective-altruism-and-existential-risk-and-what-to-do-about-them/ The supplement documents an email exchange between Knutsson and Michael Levine of the Open Philanthropy Project where Knutsson asks Levine for comment on some of the points in the article. Levine's reply is not quoted as he did not give permission to quote the replies, but Knutsson summarizes the replies as saying that "[Open Phil] do not have anything to add beyond the grant page https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-research-operations
Problems in effective altruism and existential risk and what to do about them2019-10-16Simon Knutsson Open Philanthropy Effective Altruism Foundation Centre for Effective Altruism Effective Altruism Foundation Future of Humanity Institute Miscellaneous commentaryEffective altruism|Global catastrophic risksSimon Knutsson, a Ph.D. student who previously worked at GiveWell and has, since then, worked on animal welfare and on s-risks, writes about what he sees as problematic dynamics in the effective altruism and x-risk communities. Specifically, he is critical of what he sees as behind-the-scenes coordination work on messaging, between many organizations in the space, notably the Open Philanthropy Project and the Effective Altruism Foundation, and the possible use of grant money to pressure EAF into pushing for guidelines for writers to not talk about s-risks in specific ways. He is also critical of what he sees as the one-sided nature of the syllabi and texts produced by the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA). The author notes that people have had different reactions to his text, with some considering the behavior described as unproblematic, while others agreeing with him that it is problematic and deserves the spotlight. The post is also shared to the Effective Altruism Forum at https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/EescnoaBJsQWz4rii/problems-in-effective-altruism-and-what-to-do-about-them (GW, IR) where it gets a lot of criticism in the comments from people including Peter Hurford and Holly Elmore.
80,000 Hours Annual Review – December 20182019-05-07Benjamin Todd 80,000 HoursOpen Philanthropy Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative Effective Altruism Funds 80,0000 Hours Donee periodic updateEffective altruism/movement growth/career counselingThis blog post is the annual self-review by 80,000 Hours, originally written in December 2018. Publication was deferred because 80,000 Hours was waiting to hear back on the status of some large grants (in particular, one from the Open Philanthropy Project), but most of the content is still from the December 2018 draft. The post goes into detail about 80,000 Hours' progress in 2018, impact and plan changes, and future expansion plans. Funding gaps are discussed (the funding gap for 2019 is $400,000, and further money will be saved for 2020 and 2021). Grants from the Open Philanthropy Project, BERI, and the Effective Altruism Funds (EA Meta Fund) are mentioned
Committee for Effective Altruism Support2019-02-27Open PhilanthropyOpen Philanthropy Centre for Effective Altruism Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative Center for Applied Rationality Machine Intelligence Research Institute Future of Humanity Institute Broad donor strategyEffective altruism|AI safetyThe document announces a new approach to setting grant sizes for the largest grantees who are "in the effective altruism community" including both organizations explicitly focused on effective altruism and other organizations that are favorites of and deeply embedded in the community, including organizations working in AI safety. The committee comprises Open Philanthropy staff and trusted outside advisors who are knowledgeable about the relevant organizations. Committee members review materials submitted by the organizations; gather to discuss considerations, including room for more funding; and submit “votes” on how they would allocate a set budget between a number of grantees (they can also vote to save part of the budget for later giving). Votes of committee members are averaged to arrive at the final grant amounts. Example grants whose size was determined by the community is the two-year support to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/machine-intelligence-research-institute-general-support-2019 and one-year support to the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2019
Suggestions for Individual Donors from Open Philanthropy Project Staff - 20182018-12-20Holden Karnofsky Open PhilanthropyChloe Cockburn Lewis Bollard Amanda Hungerford Alexander Berger Luke Muelhhauser National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls Texas Organizing Project Effective Altruism Funds The Humane League Center for Global Development International Refugee Assistance Project Donor lottery Donation suggestion listCriminal justice reform|Animal welfare|Global health and development|Migration policy|Effective altruismOpen Philanthropy Project staff give suggestions on places that might be good for individuals to donate to. Each suggestion includes a section "Why I suggest it", a section explaining why the Open Philanthropy Project has not funded (or not fully funded) the opportunity, and links to relevant writeups. The post continues a tradition of similar posts published once a year.
Scaling OFTW: Our First Hire And Funding From The Open Philanthropy Project2018-08-01Rossa O'Keeffe-O'Donovan One for the WorldOpen Philanthropy Luke Ding One for the World Donee periodic updateEffective altruism/fundraisingOne for the World announces grants to it recommended by GiveWell, of $153,750 from the Open Philanthropy Project and $51,250 from Luke Ding. The funding is to cover two years of expenses, including hiring a COO for the first year, and a CEO in the second year. The post also announces the hiring of Evan McVail as COO, fulfilling part of the plan for the grant
Suggestions for Individual Donors from Open Philanthropy Project Staff - 20172017-12-21Holden Karnofsky Open PhilanthropyJaime Yassif Chloe Cockburn Lewis Bollard Nick Beckstead Daniel Dewey Center for International Security and Cooperation Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Good Call Court Watch NOLA Compassion in World Farming USA Wild-Animal Suffering Research Effective Altruism Funds Donor lottery Future of Humanity Institute Center for Human-Compatible AI Machine Intelligence Research Institute Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative Centre for Effective Altruism 80,000 Hours Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters Donation suggestion listAnimal welfare|AI safety|Biosecurity and pandemic preparedness|Effective altruism|Criminal justice reformOpen Philanthropy Project staff give suggestions on places that might be good for individuals to donate to. Each suggestion includes a section "Why I suggest it", a section explaining why the Open Philanthropy Project has not funded (or not fully funded) the opportunity, and links to relevant writeups.
Suggestions for Individual Donors from Open Philanthropy Project Staff - 20162016-12-14Holden Karnofsky Open PhilanthropyJaime Yassif Chloe Cockburn Lewis Bollard Daniel Dewey Nick Beckstead Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense Alliance for Safety and Justice Cosecha Animal Charity Evaluators Compassion in World Farming USA Machine Intelligence Research Institute Future of Humanity Institute 80,000 Hours Ploughshares Fund Donation suggestion listAnimal welfare|AI safety|Biosecurity and pandemic preparedness|Effective altruism|Migration policyOpen Philanthropy Project staff describe suggestions for best donation opportunities for individual donors in their specific areas.

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
Effective Altruism Funds: Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund500,000.00142021-10Effective altruismhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-infrastructure-fundClaire Zabel Donation process: https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/funds/payouts/may-august-2021-ea-infrastructure-fund-grants says: "the EAIF has a large funding gap of $3M+ per year that currently looks like it may only be possible to fill by grants from large donors such as Open Philanthropy. [...] For this reason, we have started to apply for grants from large funders"

Intended use of funds (category): Regranting

Intended use of funds: The funding is to be used for the EAIF's ongoing grantmaking. Since the EAIF expects to grant $3 million+ per year, this funding would effectively get spent within the next few months. The grant page says: "The EAIF intends to re-grant this funding to interventions that aim to increase the impact of projects related to effective altruism, by increasing those projects’ access to talent, capital, and knowledge." https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/funds/payouts/may-august-2021-ea-infrastructure-fund-grants also says: "by default, the EAIF will not fund organizations that are Open Philanthropy grantees and that plan to apply for renewed funding from Open Philanthropy in the future."
80,000 Hours3,457,284.0032020-02Effective altruism/movement growth/career counselinghttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support-2020Committee for Effective Altruism Support Donation process: The decision of whether to donate seems to have followed the Open Philanthropy Project's usual process, but the exact amount to donate was determined by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support using the process described at https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Intended use of funds: 80,000 Hours aims to solve skill bottlenecks for career paths in what it considers to be the world’s most pressing problems. It does this by providing online research, in-person advice, and support with the goal of helping talented graduates age 20-40 enter high-impact careers.

Donor reason for selecting the donee: Open Phil's grant writeup says: "we see the basic pros and cons of this support similarly to what we’ve presented in past writeups on the matter" with the most recent similar grant being https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support-2019 (February 2019) and the most recent grant with a detailed writeup being https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support-2018 (February 2018)

Donor reason for donating that amount (rather than a bigger or smaller amount): The amount is decided by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support but individual votes and reasoning are not public.

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Reasons for timing are not discussed, but this is likely the time when the Committee for Effective Altruism Support does its 2020 allocation. Two other grants decided by CEAS at around the same time are: Machine Intelligence Research Institute ($7,703,750),Centre for Effective Altruism ($4,146,795), and Ought ($1,593,333)

Other notes: Announced: 2020-03-09.
Centre for Effective Altruism4,146,795.0022020-01Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-and-community-building-grants-2020Committee for Effective Altruism Support Donation process: The exact amount to donate was determined by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support using the process described at https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Intended use of funds: Grant for a mix of organizational general support and supporting the Effective Altruism Community Building Grants program operated by CEA

Donor reason for selecting the donee: Open Phil's grant writeup says: "we see the basic pros and cons of this support similarly to what we’ve presented in past writeups on the matter" and links to the September 2019 support https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-and-community-building-grants-2019 that had the same intended use of funds (general support + Community Building Grants)

Donor reason for donating that amount (rather than a bigger or smaller amount): The amount is decided by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support (CEAS) https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support but individual votes and reasoning are not public. Two other grants decided by CEAS at around the same time are: Machine Intelligence Research Institute ($7,703,750), 80,000 Hours ($3,457,284), and Ought ($1,593,333)

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Reasons for timing are not discussed, but this is likely the time when the Committee for Effective Altruism Support does its 2020 allocation

Other notes: Announced: 2020-03-09.
Centre for Effective Altruism1,755,921.0082019-09Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-and-community-building-grants-2019Committee for Effective Altruism Support Donation process: The exact amount to donate was determined by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support using the process described at https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Intended use of funds: Grant for a mix of organizational general support and supporting the Effective Altruism Community Building Grants program operated by CEA

Donor reason for selecting the donee: Open Phil's grant writeup says: "we see the basic pros and cons of this support similarly to what we’ve presented in past writeups on the matter" and links to the February 2019 support https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2019

Donor reason for donating that amount (rather than a bigger or smaller amount): The amount is decided by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support (CEAS) https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support but individual votes and reasoning are not public. No other grants seem to have been decided by CEAS close in time to this grant

Other notes: Announced: 2019-11-08.
Effective Altruism Foundation1,000,000.00122019-07Effective altruismhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-research-operationsNick Beckstead Claire Zabel Intended use of funds (category): Direct project expenses

Intended use of funds: Grant "to support research and operations"

Donor reason for selecting the donee: The grant page says "A major purpose of this grant is to encourage and support EAF and our other grantees in the space in taking approaches to longtermism with greater emphasis on shared objectives between different value systems. We conceive of this grant as falling under our work aimed at growing and supporting the EA community." Earlier in the document, past reservations that Open Phil has had about EAF are described: "EAF is an organization whose values put a particular emphasis on trying to reduce the risks of future suffering. While preventing suffering is a value we share, we also believe that the speculative and suffering-focused nature of this work means that it needs to be communicated about carefully, and could be counterproductive otherwise. As a result, we have felt ambivalent about EAF’s work to date (despite feeling unambiguously positively about some of their projects)."

Other notes: The grant would be discussed further by Simon Knutsson in his critical post https://www.simonknutsson.com/problems-in-effective-altruism-and-existential-risk-and-what-to-do-about-them/ that also includes discussion of guidelines that Nick Beckstead of the Open Philanthropy Project developed, and that EAF was now adopting and encouraging others to adopt. Knutsson sees the adoption of the guidelines as being linked to the grant money, due to both the timing matching and the language of the grant page. On separate pages, Knutsson publishes correspondence between him and people at Open Phil and EAF where he tried to get more specific information from the two organizations: https://www.simonknutsson.com/e-mail-exchange-with-the-open-philanthropy-project and https://www.simonknutsson.com/message-exchange-with-eaf/. Intended funding timeframe in months: 24; announced: 2019-07-30.
Centre for Effective Altruism2,756,250.0052019-02Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2019Committee for Effective Altruism Support Donation process: The exact amount to donate was determined by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support using the process described at https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Intended use of funds: The grant writeup says: "CEA is a central organization within the effective altruism (EA) community that engages in a variety of activities aimed at helping the EA community."

Donor reason for selecting the donee: Open Phil's grant writeup says: "we see the basic pros and cons of this support similarly to what we’ve presented in past writeups on the matter"

Donor reason for donating that amount (rather than a bigger or smaller amount): The amount is decided by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support but individual votes and reasoning are not public. Two other grants with amounts decided by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support, made at the same time and therefore likely drawing from the same money pot, are to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute ($2,112,5000) and 80,000 Hours ($4,795,803)

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Reasons for timing are not discussed, but likely include (1) It is about a year since the last grant to the Centre for Effective Altruism, and the grants are generally expected to last a year, so a renewal is due, (2) The Committee for Effective Altruism Support https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support did its first round of money allocation, so the timing is determined by the timing of that allocation round
Intended funding timeframe in months: 24

Donor retrospective of the donation: The followup September 2019 grant https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-and-community-building-grants-2019 and January 2020 grant https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-and-community-building-grants-2020 suggest that Open Phil would continue to stand behind the reasoning for this grant, and in fact, that it would consider the original grant amount inadequate for the grantee

Other notes: Announced: 2019-04-18.
80,000 Hours4,795,803.0012019-02Effective altruism/movement growth/career counselinghttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support-2019Committee for Effective Altruism Support Donation process: The decision of whether to donate seems to have followed the Open Philanthropy Project's usual process, but the exact amount to donate was determined by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support using the process described at https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Intended use of funds: 80,000 Hours aims to solve skill bottlenecks for career paths in what it considers to be the world’s most pressing problems. It does this by providing online research, in-person advice, and support with the goal of helping talented graduates age 20-40 enter high-impact careers.

Donor reason for selecting the donee: Open Phil's grant writeup says: "we see the basic pros and cons of this support similarly to what we’ve presented in past writeups on the matter" and links to the February 2018 support https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support-2018

Donor reason for donating that amount (rather than a bigger or smaller amount): The amount is decided by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support but individual votes and reasoning are not public. Two other grants with amounts decided by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support, made at the same time and therefore likely drawing from the same money pot, are to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute ($2,112,5000) and Centre for Effective Altruism ($2,756,250)

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Reasons for timing are not discussed, but likely include (1) It is about a year since the last grant to 80,000 Hours, and the grants are generally expected to last a year, so a renewal is due, (2) The Committee for Effective Altruism Support https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support did its first round of money allocation, so the timing is determined by the timing of that allocation round
Intended funding timeframe in months: 24

Donor retrospective of the donation: The February 2020 grant https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support-2020 with very similar reasoning suggests that the Open Philanthropy Project and Committee for Effective Altruism Support would continue to stand by the reasoning behind the grant

Other notes: Announced: 2019-03-28.
One for the World153,750.00162018-07Effective altruism/fundraisinghttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-health-and-development/miscellaneous/one-for-the-world-general-supportGiveWell The grant was announced and discussed on the donee blog at https://www.1fortheworld.org/blog/evanoppgrant The grant was also announced by GiveWell, the main influencer of the grant, on the page https://www.givewell.org/about/impact/one-for-the-world/july-2018-grant which also said it is a July 2018 grant. It is accompanied by a grant from Luke Ding of $51,250 (so the two grants are in a 3:1 ratio) also influenced by GiveWell. As of the time of entering this, the grant from the Open Philanthropy Project is not listed in the Open Philanthropy Project grants database. Also, the GiveWell page on the grant does not explicitly name either donor. The two grants together are expected to cover two years of costs, including budget for a COO (which they succeeded in doing: Evan McVail joined as COO for a year) and a CEO in 2019.
Centre for Effective Altruism2,688,000.0062018-06Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2018Nick Beckstead Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Intended use of funds: According to the previous grant page https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2017#Budget_and_room_for_more_funding "Our funding will be used primarily to allow CEA to hire new staff; increase staff salaries (from what we see as previously low levels); provide additional support to local EA groups; increase its budget for EA Global and EAGx events (conferences about EA); and partially fund EA Grants." Also: "our funding will in total increase CEA’s 2017 budget by $1.25 million and its 2018 budget by $1.875 million, with the remaining $1.875 million partly offsetting reduced fundraising from other donors, and partly increasing CEA’s reserves for 2019." The current grant page stands by the previous grant page

Donor reason for selecting the donee: According to the previous grant page https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2017#Case_for_the_grant "We believe that CEA has a good track record of helping the effective altruism community grow, and its leadership appears to be fairly value-aligned with us in terms of this goal." Two key contributions highlighted are "$1.4 billion worth of pledges made to Giving What We Can (GWWC)" and "Introducing effective altruism to people who have become valuable members of the EA community." The grant renewal is based on renewal plans described in the previous grant page

Donor reason for donating that amount (rather than a bigger or smaller amount): The previous grant page https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2017#Follow-up_expectations says: "We plan to renew this grant for between $1.25 million and $2.5 million next year depending on the outcomes of the various projects CEA plans to try out this year, and at a level consistent with our funding being less than 50% of CEA’s total budget." The grant ammount decided is at the top of the range

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): The grant is made about one year after the previous grant; this is the expected timeframe for the grant renewal, according to the previous grant page https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2017#Follow-up_expectations
Intended funding timeframe in months: 24

Other notes: Grant of £2,000,000 ($2,688,000 at time of conversion). Announced: 2018-06-27.
80,000 Hours510,000.00132018-02Effective altruism/movement growth/career counselinghttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support-2018Nick Beckstead Nicole Ross Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Intended use of funds: No explicitly listed priority uses of the funds, but likely similar to the grant https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support that it is renewing

Donor reason for selecting the donee: Likely the same reasons as for the 2017 grant that this is renewing; see https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support#Case_for_the_grant The key reason is that Open Phil finds impressive the large number of impact-adjusted significant plan changes (IASPCs) that 80,000 Hours claims to have brought about, and broadly agrees with 80,000 Hours' calculation of their IASPCs

Donor reason for donating that amount (rather than a bigger or smaller amount): Amount determined by the amount ($510,000) raised from other donors in 2017, which turned out to be the smallest of the three constraining amounts described in the previous grant page https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support#Case_for_the_grant "We expect to recommend another grant to 80,000 Hours at the beginning of 2018, with the amount recommended being whichever of the following is smallest: (1) $1.25 million (2) The amount 80,000 Hours raises from other donors in 2017 (3) The amount necessary for 80,000 Hours to have $3.75 million in its bank account"

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Timing as pre-committed on the previous grant page https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support#Case_for_the_grant "We expect to recommend another grant to 80,000 Hours at the beginning of 2018"

Donor retrospective of the donation: The followup grant https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support-2019 for $4,795,803 in February 2019 (amount determined by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support) suggests general satisfaction with the grantee and the grant

Other notes: Announced: 2018-02-22.
Founders Pledge3,222,653.0042018-02Effective altruism/donor pledgeshttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/founders-pledge-general-support-2018Nick Beckstead Total across two grants for general support over three years, representing a renewal of the 2016 grant https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/founders-pledge-general-support Since the previous grant, Founders Pledge has increased its pledge commitments and a large percentage of donations made by founders taking their pledge have been to organizations that prioritize an evidence based approach with respect to their interventions. However, its expansion into other parts of Europe has been more limited than anticipated. Instead, FP has shifted its primary expansion focus to the United States and Canada. Announced: 2018-04-05.
Centre for Effective Altruism2,500,000.0072017-03Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2017Nick Beckstead Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Intended use of funds: According to https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2017#Budget_and_room_for_more_funding "Our funding will be used primarily to allow CEA to hire new staff; increase staff salaries (from what we see as previously low levels); provide additional support to local EA groups; increase its budget for EA Global and EAGx events (conferences about EA); and partially fund EA Grants." Also: "If we renew our grant for $2.5 million next year (see below), our funding will in total increase CEA’s 2017 budget by $1.25 million and its 2018 budget by $1.875 million"

Donor reason for selecting the donee: According to https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2017#Case_for_the_grant "We believe that CEA has a good track record of helping the effective altruism community grow, and its leadership appears to be fairly value-aligned with us in terms of this goal." Two key contributions highlighted are "$1.4 billion worth of pledges made to Giving What We Can (GWWC)" and "Introducing effective altruism to people who have become valuable members of the EA community."

Donor reason for donating that amount (rather than a bigger or smaller amount): According to https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2017#Budget_and_room_for_more_funding "If we renew our grant for $2.5 million next year (see below), our funding will in total increase CEA’s 2017 budget by $1.25 million and its 2018 budget by $1.875 million, with the remaining $1.875 million partly offsetting reduced fundraising from other donors, and partly increasing CEA’s reserves for 2019."

Donor thoughts on making further donations to the donee: According to https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2017#Follow-up_expectations "We plan to renew this grant for between $1.25 million and $2.5 million next year depending on the outcomes of the various projects CEA plans to try out this year, and at a level consistent with our funding being less than 50% of CEA’s total budget. "

Donor retrospective of the donation: The June 2018 renewal https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2018 (for a similar amount) as well as subsequent grants in 2019 and 2020 suggest that Open Phil would continue to stand by its reasoning for the grant

Other notes: The grant writeup is fairly detailed, including a list of predictions as well as sources. Intended funding timeframe in months: 24; announced: 2017-08-17.
80,000 Hours1,125,000.0092017-03Effective altruism/movement growth/career counselinghttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-supportNick Beckstead Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Intended use of funds: According to https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support#Budget_and_proposed_activities grantee plans to use the grant to fund the following activities: (1) Hiring four new junior staff members to (a) improve career guides and career profiles, (b) do career coaching, (c) replacing a departing part-time software engineer, (d) research/career coaching/marketing. (2) Increasing staff salaries by 30% to be competitive in the Bay Area, to which it recently moved. (3) Marketing activities including online retargeting advertisements, Facebook advertisements for workshops targeted at universities, and giving away books. (4) Holding funds in reserve for year 2

Donor reason for selecting the donee: https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support#Case_for_the_grant explains the reasons. The key reason is that Open Phil finds impressive the large number of impact-adjusted significant plan changes (IASPCs) that 80,000 Hours claims to have brought about, and broadly agrees with 80,000 Hours' calculation of their IASPCs

Donor thoughts on making further donations to the donee: According to https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support#Case_for_the_grant "We expect to recommend another grant to 80,000 Hours at the beginning of 2018, with the amount recommended being whichever of the following is smallest: (1) $1.25 million (2) The amount 80,000 Hours raises from other donors in 2017 (3) The amount necessary for 80,000 Hours to have $3.75 million in its bank account"

Donor retrospective of the donation: The renewal grant https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support-2018 of $510,000 is consistent with the expectations set during this grant; the constraining factor in determining the amount for the renewal is "The amount 80,000 Hours raises from other donors in 2017"

Other notes: Announced: 2017-05-16.
Founders Pledge1,032,947.00112016-09Effective altruism/donor pledgeshttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/founders-pledge-general-support-- Grant made over two years, via the Centre for Effective Altruism, to enable expansion to Germany, France, and Sweden, and hire a developer. Affected countries: Germany|France|Sweden; announced: 2016-10-31.
Center for Applied Rationality1,035,000.00102016-07Epistemic institutions/effective altruism/movement growthhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-general-supportNick Beckstead Donation process: According to https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-general-support#Our_process "While investigating this grant, we had several conversations with Anna Salamon, as well as with various other contacts of ours in the EA community. Nick Beckstead was the primary investigator for this grant."

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Intended use of funds: The grant page says: "$915,000 of this grant will support CFAR workshops and organizational improvements. $120,000 of this grant will fund a pilot version of EuroSPARC, an eight-day summer program in Europe run by CFAR for mathematically gifted high school students, modeled on the San Francisco-based Summer Program in Applied Rationality and Cognition (SPARC), which CFAR has helped run for the past three years."

Donor reason for selecting the donee: Stated reasons for the grant include value-alignment, success attracting and cultivating talented people to work on effective altruist causes, and funding being a substantial constraint at present

Donor reason for donating that amount (rather than a bigger or smaller amount): Amount tied to a budget proposed by CFAR, described at https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-general-support#Budget_and_room_for_more_funding first year: $360,000 for organizational improvements, $100,000 for scholarships for CFAR workshops, $120,000 for EuroSPARC 2016, $47,500 for half the salary and benefits of a new staff member splitting time between CFAR operations and SPARC; second year: 360,000 for organizational improvements, $47,500 for half the salary and benefits of a new staff member

Donor thoughts on making further donations to the donee: https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-general-support#Key_questions_for_follow-up lists key follow-up questions

Donor retrospective of the donation: The grant page for a followup January 2018 grant https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-general-support-2018 would say: "Since our 2016 funding recommendation, CFAR has largely met its milestones for organizational improvement." The statement, along with the fact that the followup grant would have a comparable size of $1,000,000, suggests that Open Phil would be satisfied with the results of the grant

Other notes: Intended funding timeframe in months: 24; announced: 2016-09-06.
Center for Applied Rationality304,000.00152016-05Epistemic institutions/effective altruism/movement growthhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-sparcNick Beckstead Donation process: According to https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-sparc#Our_process "Nick Beckstead, our Program Officer for Scientific Research, spoke with members of SPARC’s staff regarding its program, finances, and future plans."

Intended use of funds (category): Direct project expenses

Intended use of funds: Grant of $137,000 in 2016 and $167,000 in 2017 to support the Summer Program on Applied Rationality and Cognition (SPARC). "SPARC is a two-week summer program for high school students. Students selected to participate in the program typically show exceptional ability in mathematics, with many scoring highly among US participants in national or international math competitions."

Donor reason for selecting the donee: According to https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-sparc#Case_for_the_grant "we believe the program is strong, with the potential to have a substantial impact. [...] SPARC attracts unusually talented students. [...] we think very highly of several of the instructors who work at SPARC, some of whom also show strong interest in effective altruism."

Donor reason for donating that amount (rather than a bigger or smaller amount): According to https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-sparc#Budget_and_room_for_more_funding "SPARC’s total budget was approximately $90,000 in 2015. This grant will allow it to cover alumni events, travel reimbursement, unexpected contingencies, and some of the expenses associated with hiring a full-time logistics manager, as well as half of the salary and benefits for the new logistics manager, with the other half paid out of CFAR’s general budget. Our understanding is that the two years of support provided by this grant will be sufficient to enable SPARC to hire the new logistics manager and that a third year of support would not materially affect SPARC’s planning."

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Grant made shortly before SPARC 2016, and timing likely chosen so that the grant could be used for SPARC 2016
Intended funding timeframe in months: 24

Donor thoughts on making further donations to the donee: The grant page section https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-sparc#Key_questions_for_follow-up lists follow-up questions that Open Phil is interested in understanding better for the future

Other notes: Announced: 2016-07-07.
Associated Students of the University of California, Berkeley10,000.00172015-02Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/asuc-effective-altruists-berkeley-decal-university-course-- Grant is for the Effective Altruists of Berkeley “DeCal” University Course to be held in Spring 2015. See http://files.givewell.org/files/conversations/Ajeya_Cotra_6-19-2015_(public).pdf for a followup conversation with Ajeya Cotra and Oliver Habryka (course architects), Rohin Shah and Davis Foote (Effective Altruists of Berkeley members), and Helen Toner and Catherine Hollander of the Open Philanthropy Project. Affected countries: United States; affected states: California; affected cities: Berkeley.

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