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Open Philanthropy

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For the philanthropic doctrine, see Open philanthropy (doctrine).

Open Philanthropy is a research and grantmaking foundation that makes grants based on the principles of effective altruism. It was founded as a partnership between GiveWell and Good Ventures. Its current chief executive officer is Alexander Berger, and its main funders are Cari Tuna and Dustin Moskovitz. Moskovitz says that their wealth, worth $16 billion, "belongs to the world. We intend not to have much when we die."[1][2]

Open Philanthropy
FormationJune 2017; 7 years ago (2017-06)
Founders
Location
Area served
Global
MethodsGrants, funding, research
Chief Executive Officer
Alexander Berger
President
Cari Tuna
Dustin Moskovitz, Cari Tuna, Divesh Makan, Holden Karnofsky, and Alexander Berger
Websitewww.openphilanthropy.org
Formerly called
Open Philanthropy Project

History

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Cari Tuna speaking at EA Global 2016 in her Fireside Chat about doing philanthropy better

Dustin Moskovitz co-founded Facebook and later Asana, becoming a billionaire in the process.[1] He and Tuna, his wife, were inspired by Peter Singer's The Life You Can Save, and became the youngest couple to sign Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge, promising to give away most of their money.[3][4] Tuna left her journalist position at The Wall Street Journal[4] to focus on philanthropy full-time,[3] and the couple started the Good Ventures foundation in 2011. The organization partnered with GiveWell, a charity evaluator founded by Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld.[5] The partnership named itself the "Open Philanthropy Project" in 2014, and began operating independently in 2017.[6][7] Good Ventures holds the funds and distributes them according to recommendations by Open Philanthropy.[8] As of 2024, Open Philanthropy has made $3.2 billion in public grants through that process.[9]

Operations

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Open Philanthropy's grantmaking is based on the principles of effective altruism.[2][5][10] The organization makes grants across a variety of focus areas, with the goal of “help[ing] others as much as [it] can”.[11] They calculate impact for some programs using back-of-the-envelope calculations, and decide which opportunities to fund using a “bar” for cost-effectiveness.[12] At the same time, they consider their work "high-risk philanthropy", and expect "that most of [their] work will fail to have an impact".[13] In 2023, Open Philanthropy recommended more than $750 million in grants.[14]

Focus areas

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Open Philanthropy’s focus areas are split across two portfolios: Global Health and Wellbeing and Global Catastrophic Risks. A few areas fall outside these portfolios.[15]

Global Health and Wellbeing

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Women and children receive anti-malarial bednets in Malawi. Nets were provided by the Against Malaria Foundation and distributed by local organizations.

The Global Health and Wellbeing portfolio includes areas focused on global health, scientific research, farm animal welfare,[16] land use reform, and public policy.[17] Within the portfolio, Open Philanthropy prioritizes causes by evaluating how impactful, neglected, and tractable they seem, while also aiming to equalize marginal returns across different interventions to maximize overall impact.[18]

Historically, a large fraction of funding in this portfolio went toward charities recommended by GiveWell. More recently, Open Philanthropy has pushed to identify causes that could leverage funding to “get more humanitarian impact per dollar”, leading to the creation of several new programs (in areas such as public health and innovation policy) and leaving GiveWell as a smaller portion of the portfolio.[19]

Global health and development

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Open Philanthropy's investments in global health and development include efforts to cure iodine deficiencies, prevent malaria,[20][21] and scale up vaccine production.[22] Of their global health and development giving, Tuna said, “I am still optimistic that we can do better than just giving money to poor people, but in the meantime, we’re doing a lot of just giving money to poor people.”[5]

Animal welfare

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Holden Karnofsky has claimed that Open Philanthropy "is the largest funder in the world of farm animal welfare", including investing in alternative proteins and animal welfare advocacy.[23] In 2016, Open Philanthropy made an investment in Impossible Foods to support the development of non-animal meats.[24] It is also a patron of The Good Food Institute.[25] Research done by Open Philanthropy includes an investigation of the economic viability of cultivated meat.[25]

Science

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Grants within the science bucket include the areas of human health and wellbeing, scientific innovation, science supporting biosecurity and pandemic preparedness, transformative basic science, and other scientific research areas. As of April 2024, Open Philanthropy has funded more than $320 million in science-focused grants.[26]

Sample grants

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Grants in this portfolio include:

  • Over $250 million to Malaria Consortium, for seasonal malaria chemoprevention programs in countries including Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Togo, and Mozambique.[27]
  • Over $48 million (and up to $64.7 million) to Evidence Action to support the Dispensers for Safe Water program, which installs free chlorine dispensers near water sources to improve water safety and avert deaths from diarrheal diseases.[28]
  • Over $47 million to GiveDirectly,[13] partially for research to compare the effectiveness of giving money with more traditional developmental aid,[10] and including at least $16 million to be given directly to people in extreme poverty in Kenya and Uganda.[29]
  • Over $40 million to The Humane League, to advocate for better conditions for egg-laying hens and broiler chickens.[30]
  • $17.5 million to Sherlock Biosciences, for viral diagnostic tools.[31]
  • $2.4 million to the Center for Election Science.[32][33]
  • $500,000 to California YIMBY.[34][35] Open Philanthropy was the first institutional funder of the YIMBY movement.[23]
  • $150,000 to the Lead Exposure Elimination Project, for general support[36]

Global Catastrophic Risks

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Under this portfolio, Open Philanthropy supports organizations aimed at tackling global catastrophic risks. This category includes over $200 million given for biosecurity and pandemic preparedness,[37] and over $370 million for mitigating potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence.[38] The organization tends to prioritize interventions aimed at reducing risks with the potential to "kill enough people to threaten civilization as we know it",[5] because preventing such risks is expected to save the most lives. Some have claimed that by "flooding" money into biosecurity, Open Philanthropy is "absorbing much of the field’s experienced research capacity, focusing the attention of experts on this narrow, extremely unlikely, aspect of biosecurity risk".[39] On the 80,000 Hours podcast, whose largest funder is Open Philanthropy, some biosecurity experts, however, have anonymously counseled against "failures of imagination", overreliance on historical precedents, and other ways of thinking that could lead people to underestimate catastrophic biorisk.[40]

Sample grants

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Grants in this portfolio include:

  • About $38 million to the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.[41]
  • $11.3 million to the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design to develop a universal flu vaccine.[41][42][31]
  • About $23 million to the Effective Ventures Foundation (EVF) for the purchase of Wytham Abbey as a venue for hosting conferences and other events related to global catastrophic risk.[43][44] In 2024, Open Philanthropy announced that after evaluating the cost-effectiveness of the space, they asked EVF to sell it, and that proceeds from the sale will be distributed to other EVF projects.[45]
  • $55 million to create the Center for Security and Emerging Technology.[46]
  • $5.5 million to launch the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence at UC Berkeley.[47]

Past focus areas

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Past focus areas of Open Philanthropy have included criminal justice reform (which spun out as a new organization in 2021[48]) and US macroeconomic stabilization policy (which ceased to be a focus in 2021,[49] though European macroeconomic policy grants have been made more recently).

Sample grants

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Grants in past focus areas include:

  • $50 million to Just Impact Advisors, to advise philanthropists and make grants related to criminal justice.[50]
  • $335,000 to the Full Employment Project at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.[5]
  • $3 million to the Pew Charitable Trusts' Public Safety Performance Project, to “reduce incarceration and correctional spending while maintaining or improving public safety and concentrating prison beds on high level offenders" at the state level.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Cari Tuna and Dustin Moskovitz: Young Silicon Valley billionaires pioneer new approach to philanthropy - The Washington Post". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 25, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Weissman, Lilach (January 2, 2015). "Silicon Valley Billionaire Dustin Moskovitz And Cari Tuna On the Reasoned Art Of Giving". Archived from the original on August 24, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Wringing the Most Good Out of a Facebook Fortune". The Chronicle of Philanthropy. December 1, 2015. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Carpenter, Scott (October 19, 2021). "Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz builds a second fortune". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Matthews, Dylan (April 24, 2015). "You have $8 billion. You want to do as much good as possible. What do you do?". Vox. Archived from the original on August 24, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  6. ^ "Who We Are". Open Philanthropy. Archived from the original on January 13, 2019. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  7. ^ Moses, Sue-Lynn (August 20, 2014). "Here's What Philanthropy Looks Like When Millennials From Tech and Finance Get Together". Inside Philanthropy. Archived from the original on August 19, 2019. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  8. ^ "Grantmaking Approach". Good Ventures. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  9. ^ "Grants". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved July 13, 2024.
  10. ^ a b Kruppa, Miles (October 2, 2020). "Dustin Moskovitz, the philanthropist conquering Silicon Valley". Financial Times. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  11. ^ "About us". Open Philanthropy. 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  12. ^ Favaloro, Peter; Berger, Alexander (November 18, 2021). "Technical updates to our global health and wellbeing cause prioritization Framework". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  13. ^ a b Goel, Vindu (November 4, 2016). "Philanthropy in Silicon Valley: Big Bets on Big Ideas - The New York Times". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  14. ^ "Our Progress in 2023 and Plans For 2024". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  15. ^ "Our global health and wellbeing and global catastrophic risks grantmaking portfolios". Open Philanthropy. 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  16. ^ Longley, Liz (March 16, 2023). "How effective is effective altruism? A deep dive into two of Open Philanthropy's EA-inspired programs". Inside Philanthropy. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  17. ^ Beasley, Stephanie (January 6, 2022). "Open Philanthropy launches programs for South Asia, global aid work". devex. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  18. ^ Oehlsen, Emily (May 1, 2024). "Philanthropic Cause Prioritization". Journal of Economic Perspectives. 38 (2): 63–82. doi:10.1257/jep.38.2.63. ISSN 0895-3309.
  19. ^ Berger, Alexander (October 5, 2023). "Our planned allocation to Givewell's recommendations for the next few years". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  20. ^ "Dustin Moskovitz And Cari Tuna Launch Site For Their Philanthropic Foundation, Good Ventures | TechCrunch". March 12, 2013. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  21. ^ "Dustin Moskovitz". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 6, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  22. ^ Beasley, Stephanie (January 12, 2023). "Gates, USAID among Open Philanthropy's $150M regrant contest winners". devex. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  23. ^ a b "Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews Holden Karnofsky - The New York Times". The New York Times. October 5, 2021. Archived from the original on November 29, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  24. ^ Callaway, Ewen (December 20, 2017). "Facebook billionaire pours funds into high-risk research". Nature. Archived from the original on September 11, 2019. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  25. ^ a b "Is Lab Meat About to Hit Your Dinner Plate? – Mother Jones". Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  26. ^ "Scientific Research". Open Philanthropy. 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  27. ^ "Malaria Consortium Grants". Open Philanthropy. 2023. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  28. ^ Longley, Liz (June 10, 2022). "Why Open Philanthropy's backing this evidence-based solution for safe water". Inside Philanthropy. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  29. ^ Matthews, Dylan (August 4, 2015). "A Facebook billionaire is handing tons of cash to poor people in East Africa". Vox. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  30. ^ "The Humane League grants". Open Philanthropy. 2023. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  31. ^ a b "Open Philanthropy Project's Cari Tuna on Funding Global Health | Barron's". Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  32. ^ "The Center for Election Science — General Support". Good Ventures. Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  33. ^ "Center for Election Science Announces $1.8 Million for Approval Voting". Philanthropy News Digest (PND). March 9, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  34. ^ "The big Yimby money behind housing deregulation bills - 48 hills". May 27, 2021. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  35. ^ "California's Yimbys | Dollars & Sense". Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  36. ^ "Lead Exposure Elimination Project — General Support". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  37. ^ "Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  38. ^ "Potential Risks from Advanced Artificial Intelligence". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  39. ^ "Will splashy philanthropy cause the biosecurity field to focus on the wrong risks?". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. April 25, 2019. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  40. ^ "Anonymous answers: What are the biggest misconceptions about biosecurity and pandemic risk?". 80,000 Hours. April 30, 2024.
  41. ^ a b "How Philanthropists are Tackling COVID-19 | Barron's". Archived from the original on February 7, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  42. ^ Murray, Sarah (May 22, 2020). "Philanthropists play a crucial role in developing vaccines". Financial Times. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  43. ^ Lewis-Kraus, Gideon (August 8, 2022). "The Reluctant Prophet of Effective Altruism". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  44. ^ "Effective Ventures Foundation — Event Venue | Open Philanthropy". Archived from the original on July 13, 2023. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  45. ^ "Our Progress in 2023 and Plans For 2024". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  46. ^ Karon, Paul (July 26, 2023). "AI is suddenly everywhere, but philanthropy has been involved for years. Here are the top funders". Inside Philanthropy. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  47. ^ Norris, Jeffrey (August 29, 2016). "UC Berkeley launches Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence". Berkeley News. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  48. ^ Don, Katherine (November 16, 2021). "With More Donors on Board, Open Philanthropy Is Spinning Its Criminal Justice Work into a New Fund". Inside Philanthropy. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  49. ^ "Macroeconomic stabilization policy". Open Philanthropy. 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  50. ^ "Giving Tuesday 2021: Where to donate to help criminal justice reform - Vox". November 30, 2020. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
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