Committee for Effective Altruism Support money moved

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

Full list of documents in reverse chronological order (0 documents)

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Full list of donations in reverse chronological order (9 donations)

DonorDoneeAmount (current USD)Donation dateCause areaURLNotes
Open PhilanthropyCentre for the Governance of AI450,000.002020-05AI safety/governancehttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/gov-ai-general-support Donation process: The grant was recommended by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support following its process https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Intended use of funds: The grant page says: "GovAI intends to use these funds to support the visit of two senior researchers and a postdoc researcher."

Donor reason for selecting the donee: The grant page says "we see the basic pros and cons of this support similarly to what we’ve presented in past writeups on the matter" but does not link to specific past writeups (Open Phil has not previously made grants directly to GovAI).

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 retrospective of the donation: The much larger followup grant https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/gov-ai-field-building (December 2021) suggests continued satisfaction with the grantee.

Other notes: Grant made via the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative.
Open PhilanthropyMachine Intelligence Research Institute7,703,750.002020-02AI safety/technical researchhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/machine-intelligence-research-institute-general-support-2020 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: MIRI plans to use these funds for ongoing research and activities related to AI safety

Donor reason for selecting the donee: The grant page 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 similar previous grant being https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/machine-intelligence-research-institute-general-support-2019 (February 2019). Past writeups include the grant pages for the October 2017 three-year support https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/machine-intelligence-research-institute-general-support-2017 and the August 2016 one-year support https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/machine-intelligence-research-institute-general-support

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. Three other grants decided by CEAS at around the same time are: Centre for Effective Altruism ($4,146,795), 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.
Intended funding timeframe in months: 24

Other notes: The donee describes the grant in the blog post https://intelligence.org/2020/04/27/miris-largest-grant-to-date/ (2020-04-27) along with other funding it has received ($300,000 from the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative and $100,000 from the Long-Term Future Fund). The fact that the grant is a two-year grant is mentioned here, but not in the grant page on Open Phil's website. The page also mentions that of the total grant amount of $7.7 million, $6.24 million is coming from Open Phil's normal funders (Good Ventures) and the remaining $1.46 million is coming from Ben Delo, co-founder of the cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX, as part of a funding partnership https://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/co-funding-partnership-ben-delo announced November 11, 2019. Announced: 2020-04-10.
Open Philanthropy80,000 Hours3,457,284.002020-02Effective altruism/movement growth/career counselinghttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support-2020 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.
Open PhilanthropyOught1,593,333.002020-01AI safety/technical researchhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/ought-general-support-2020 Donation process: The grant was recommended by the Committee for Effective Altruism Support following its process https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support

Intended use of funds (category): Organizational general support

Intended use of funds: The grant page says: "Ought conducts research on factored cognition, which we consider relevant to AI alignment and to reducing potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence."

Donor reason for selecting the donee: The grant page 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. Three 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 80,000 Hours ($3,457,284).

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: 2020-02-14.
Open PhilanthropyCentre for Effective Altruism4,146,795.002020-01Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-and-community-building-grants-2020 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.
Open PhilanthropyCentre for Effective Altruism1,755,921.002019-09Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-and-community-building-grants-2019 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.
Open PhilanthropyMachine Intelligence Research Institute2,652,500.002019-02AI safety/technical researchhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/machine-intelligence-research-institute-general-support-2019 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: MIRI plans to use these funds for ongoing research and activities related to AI safety. Planned activities include alignment research, a summer fellows program, computer scientist workshops, and internship programs.

Donor reason for selecting the donee: The grant page says: "we see the basic pros and cons of this support similarly to what we’ve presented in past writeups on the matter" Past writeups include the grant pages for the October 2017 three-year support https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/machine-intelligence-research-institute-general-support-2017 and the August 2016 one-year support https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/machine-intelligence-research-institute-general-support

Donor reason for donating that amount (rather than a bigger or smaller amount): Amount 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 with amounts decided by CEAS, made at the same time and therefore likely drawing from the same money pot, are to the Centre for Effective Altruism ($2,756,250) and 80,000 Hours ($4,795,803). The original amount of $2,112,500 is split across two years, and therefore ~$1.06 million per year. https://intelligence.org/2019/04/01/new-grants-open-phil-beri/ clarifies that the amount for 2019 is on top of the third year of three-year $1.25 million/year support announced in October 2017, and the total $2.31 million represents Open Phil's full intended funding for MIRI for 2019, but the amount for 2020 of ~$1.06 million is a lower bound, and Open Phil may grant more for 2020 later. In November 2019, additional funding would bring the total award amount to $2,652,500.

Donor reason for donating at this time (rather than earlier or later): Reasons for timing are not discussed, but likely reasons include: (1) The original three-year funding period https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/machine-intelligence-research-institute-general-support-2017 is coming to an end, (2) Even though there is time before the funding period ends, MIRI has grown in budget and achievements, so a suitable funding amount could be larger, (3) 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 thoughts on making further donations to the donee: According to https://intelligence.org/2019/04/01/new-grants-open-phil-beri/ Open Phil may increase its level of support for 2020 beyond the ~$1.06 million that is part of this grant.

Donor retrospective of the donation: The much larger followup grant https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-catastrophic-risks/potential-risks-advanced-artificial-intelligence/machine-intelligence-research-institute-general-support-2020 with a very similar writeup suggests that Open Phil and the Committee for Effective Altruism Support would continue to stand by the reasoning for the grant.

Other notes: The grantee, MIRI, discusses the grant on its website at https://intelligence.org/2019/04/01/new-grants-open-phil-beri/ along with a $600,000 grant from the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative. Announced: 2019-04-01.
Open Philanthropy80,000 Hours4,795,803.002019-02Effective altruism/movement growth/career counselinghttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/80000-hours-general-support-2019 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.
Open PhilanthropyCentre for Effective Altruism2,756,250.002019-02Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/centre-effective-altruism-general-support-2019 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.

Donation amounts by donee and year

Donee Donors influenced Cause area Metadata Total 2020 2019
Machine Intelligence Research Institute Open Philanthropy (filter this donor) AI safety FB Tw WP Site CN GS TW 10,356,250.00 7,703,750.00 2,652,500.00
Centre for Effective Altruism Open Philanthropy (filter this donor) Effective altruism/movement growth FB Site 8,658,966.00 4,146,795.00 4,512,171.00
80,000 Hours Open Philanthropy (filter this donor) Career coaching/life guidance FB Tw WP Site 8,253,087.00 3,457,284.00 4,795,803.00
Ought Open Philanthropy (filter this donor) AI safety Site 1,593,333.00 1,593,333.00 0.00
Centre for the Governance of AI Open Philanthropy (filter this donor) 450,000.00 450,000.00 0.00
Total ---- -- 29,311,636.00 17,351,162.00 11,960,474.00

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Donation amounts by donor and year for influencer Committee for Effective Altruism Support

Donor Donees Total 2020 2019
Open Philanthropy (filter this donee) 80,000 Hours (filter this donee), Centre for Effective Altruism (filter this donee), Centre for the Governance of AI (filter this donee), Machine Intelligence Research Institute (filter this donee), Ought (filter this donee) 29,311,636.00 17,351,162.00 11,960,474.00
Total -- 29,311,636.00 17,351,162.00 11,960,474.00

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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