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Open Philanthropy

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

Open Philanthropy
FormationJune 2017; 8 years ago (2017-06)
Founders
Location
Area served
Global
MethodsGrants, funding, research
Chief Executive Officer
Alexander Berger
Chair
Cari Tuna
Dustin Moskovitz, Cari Tuna, Divesh Makan, Holden Karnofsky, and Alexander Berger
Websitewww.openphilanthropy.org
Formerly called
Open Philanthropy Project

Open Philanthropy is an American philanthropic advising and funding organization focused on cost-effective, high-impact giving. Its current CEO is Alexander Berger.

As of June 2025, Open Philanthropy has directed more than $4 billion[1] in grants across a variety of focus areas, including global health, scientific research, pandemic preparedness, potential risks from advanced AI, and farm animal welfare. It chooses focus areas through a process of "strategic cause selection" — looking for problems that are large, tractable, and neglected relative to their size.[2]

History

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While Open Philanthropy works with a range of donors, its founding and most significant ongoing partnership is with Good Ventures, the foundation of Cari Tuna and Dustin Moskovitz.

Dustin Moskovitz co-founded Facebook and later Asana, becoming a billionaire in the process. He and Tuna, his wife, were inspired by Peter Singer's The Life You Can Save,[3] and became the youngest couple to sign Bill Gates and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge, promising to give away most of their money. Tuna left her journalist position at The Wall Street Journal to focus on philanthropy full-time, 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. The partnership named itself the "Open Philanthropy Project" in 2014, and began operating independently in 2017.

Open Philanthropy Chair Cari Tuna speaking at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society's 2025 Philanthropy Innovation Summit

More recently, Open Philanthropy has launched collaborative funds in partnership with philanthropic donors, including the Lead Exposure Action Fund and the Abundance and Growth Fund.

Grantmaking

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Open Philanthropy makes grants across a variety of focus areas where it believes that "philanthropic capital can have outsized leverage."[4]

In 2023, Open Philanthropy directed over $750 million in grants through recommendations to Good Ventures and other philanthropic partners.[5]

Cause selection

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Open Philanthropy selects causes to work on using three criteria:[6]

  • Importance: How many individuals are affected by the problem, and how deeply.
  • Neglectedness: Whether the cause receives adequate attention and resources from others, especially other major philanthropists.
  • Tractability: The likelihood that a philanthropic funder can contribute to significant progress.

If a cause looks promising according to those criteria, Open Philanthropy researchers review literature and meet with experts to get a better understanding of the area, and then conduct an investigation to determine whether there are enough strong giving opportunities to justify the opening of a new program.[7]

Across the portfolio as a whole, Open Philanthropy aims to equalize marginal returns across different interventions to maximize overall impact.[8]

Impact estimation

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Open Philanthropy often uses a quantitative approach to estimate a grant's expected impact — for example, using back-of-the-envelope calculations based on scientific evidence to evaluate projects in areas like vaccine research, farm animal welfare, and the development of techniques for detecting environmental lead.[9]

Hits-based giving

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In some cases, Open Philanthropy pursues "high-risk, high-reward" opportunities that don't necessarily have a strong evidence base or a high chance of success, but could potentially become philanthropic "hits" with enormous positive impact. It refers to this approach as "hits-based giving," comparing it to strategies used in venture capital investing.[10]

Examples of philanthropic hits cited by Open Philanthropy include the Green Revolution and the development of oral contraceptives. The organization has itself invested heavily in basic science and other areas with highly uncertain impact — for example, as an early supporter[11] of Nobel Laureate David Baker's work on computational methods for protein design.[12]

Focus areas

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Open Philanthropy's focus areas are split across two portfolios: Global Health and Wellbeing, and Global Catastrophic Risks.

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.

Open Philanthropy's Global Health & Wellbeing portfolio focuses on improving health outcomes and overall wellbeing, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The approach emphasizes cost-effective, evidence-based interventions that can be scaled to reach large populations.

Historically, a large fraction of funding in this portfolio went toward charities recommended by GiveWell. Since 2021, 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 development policy) and leaving GiveWell as a smaller portion of the portfolio.[13]

Global health and development

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Open Philanthropy's support for global health and development includes efforts to prevent malaria, promote routine vaccinations, and scale up water chlorination efforts to reduce the spread of waterborne diseases.

Notable grantees include the Malaria Consortium,[14] New Incentives,[15] and Evidence Action.[16]

Farm animal welfare

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Open Philanthropy's support for farm animal welfare includes efforts to reform cruel practices on factory farms, develop technologies to reduce animal pain and suffering, and support the development and adoption of alternative proteins in hopes of reducing meat consumption.

Open Philanthropy has been called "the world's biggest funder of farm animal welfare".[17]

Notable grantees include The Humane League,[18] Mercy for Animals,[19] and the Good Food Institute.[20]

Scientific research

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Projects funded by Open Philanthropy's Scientific Research program include efforts to create new vaccines and antivirals, develop new scientific tools and techniques, and fund fellowship programs and conference travel for young scientists.

Notable grantees include David Baker,[21] Sherlock Biosciences,[22] and the International Vaccine Institute.[23]

The Scientific Research team works closely with the Global Health R&D team, which is more focused on "supporting tools and treatments through the development life cycle".[24]

Effective giving and careers

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Open Philanthropy's Effective Giving and Careers program aims to "empower people to use their careers and donations to help others as much as possible". It supports organizations that encourage impact-focused career choices and charitable donations.

Notable grantees include 80,000 Hours,[25] Founders Pledge,[26] and Giving What We Can.[27]

Global public health policy

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Open Philanthropy's support for global public health policy includes work to mitigate lead exposure, reduce air pollution in India and other South Asian countries, and prevent suicide by encouraging the selective restriction of access to toxic pesticides.

Notable grantees include the Lead Exposure Elimination Project,[28] IIT Kanpur,[29] and the Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention.

Global aid policy

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Open Philanthropy's Global Aid Policy program supports efforts to increase aid spending and improve the cost-effectiveness of existing aid programs.

Notable grantees include the Joep Lange Institute,[30] the Center for Global Development,[31] and the Clinton Health Access Initiative.[32]

Global Catastrophic Risks

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This portfolio is dedicated to addressing global catastrophic risks — threats that have the potential to "kill enough people to threaten civilization as we know it".[33]

Across the portfolio as a whole, much of Open Philanthropy's grantmaking is focused on research, policy advocacy, and capacity-building efforts (e.g. helping people find jobs where they can work full-time on global catastrophic risk mitigation, or building up related academic fields).

Biosecurity and pandemic preparedness

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Open Philanthropy's work on biosecurity and pandemic preparedness includes support for disease surveillance, restrictions on gain-of-function research, and the development of next-generation personal protective equipment.

Notable grantees include the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense,[34] the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security,[35] and the World Health Organization.[36]

Open Philanthropy's Biosecurity and Pandemic Preparedness team helped to convene a group of scientists to discuss potential risks from the creation of mirror bacteria.[37] This work was eventually published in Science.[38]

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]

Forecasting

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Open Philanthropy's Forecasting program works to enable the creation of "high-quality forecasts on questions relevant to high-stakes decisions".[40]

Notable grantees include Philip Tetlock[41] and Metaculus.[42]

Global catastrophic risks capacity building

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This program aims to "grow and empower the community of people focused on addressing threats to humanity and protecting the future of human civilization".

Notable grantees include the Centre for Effective Altruism,[43] Kurzgesagt,[44] and several academics funded to develop courses on relevant topics.[45]

Potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence

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Open Philanthropy is a leading funder of research on AI alignment and other work aimed at reducing existential risk from advanced artificial intelligence. The organization has stated a belief that artificial general intelligence may be developed before 2045,[46] and that this could pose risks from accidents, deliberate misuse, or "drastic societal change". Ajeya Cotra, a researcher at Open Philanthropy, has said that "a lens that [she uses] to think about the A.I. revolution is that it will play out like the Industrial Revolution but around 10 times faster."[47]

Notable grantees include the Center for Security and Emerging Technology,[48] the Alignment Research Center,[49] and Mila.[50]

Past focus areas

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Past focus areas of Open Philanthropy have included:

Collaborative funds

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Lead Exposure Action Fund

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In 2024, the organization launched the Lead Exposure Action Fund in collaboration with partners including Good Ventures and the Gates Foundation.[51] The fund has committed $100 million toward reducing lead exposure, approximately doubling the amount of global philanthropic spending on lead reduction.

Open Philanthropy is also a founding member of the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future, a public-private partnership aimed at ending childhood lead poisoning. Other founding members include UNICEF and USAID.[52]

Abundance and Growth Fund

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In 2025, the organization launched the Abundance and Growth Fund in partnership with Good Ventures, Patrick Collison, and other donors. The fund will dedicate $120 million over three years to accelerate economic growth and boost scientific and technological progress, building on Open Philanthropy's previous work in housing and innovation policy.[53]

References

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  1. ^ "About us". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  2. ^ "Holiday giving, optimized: How to max out your donation dollars". The New York Times. December 7, 2024. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  3. ^ "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.
  4. ^ "About us". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  5. ^ "Our Progress in 2023 and Plans For 2024". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  6. ^ "Cause Selection". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  7. ^ "Can this movement get more donors to maximize their impact?". Devex. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ "How We Use Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations in Our Grantmaking". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  10. ^ "Hits-based Giving". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  11. ^ "How Neil King and David Baker are using AI to create more effective vaccines". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  12. ^ "Open Philanthropy Project Awards $11.3 Million to Institute for Protein Design at UW Medicine". Institute for Protein Design. April 2018. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  13. ^ "Technical updates to our global health and wellbeing cause prioritization framework". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  14. ^ "Malaria Consortium — Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Programs (2023)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  15. ^ "New Incentives — Nigeria". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  16. ^ "Evidence Action — Scale-Up of In-Line Chlorination in India". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  17. ^ "How factory farming ended up being one of the world's most pressing problems". Vox. November 26, 2021. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  18. ^ "The Humane League — General Support (2024)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  19. ^ "Mercy For Animals — Corporate Campaigns (2024)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  20. ^ "The Good Food Institute — General Support (2024)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  21. ^ "University of Washington — Protein Design Research (David Baker)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  22. ^ "Sherlock Biosciences — Research on Viral Diagnostics". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  23. ^ "International Vaccines Institute — Cholera Vaccine Phase II Trial". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  24. ^ "Global Health R&D". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  25. ^ "80,000 Hours — General Support (October 2024)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  26. ^ "Founders Pledge — General Support (2023)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  27. ^ "Giving What We Can — General Support (November 2024)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  28. ^ "Lead Exposure Elimination Project — General Support". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  29. ^ "Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur — Rural Air Quality Monitoring". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  30. ^ "Joep Lange Institute — Expanding the Donor Base for Global Health (2024)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  31. ^ "Center for Global Development — General Support (2025)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  32. ^ "Clinton Health Access Initiative — Effectiveness Improvements for Health Multilaterals". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  33. ^ 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.
  34. ^ "Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense — General Support (2024)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  35. ^ "Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security — Biosecurity, Global Health Security, and Global Catastrophic Risks (2023)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  36. ^ "World Health Organization — Syphilis Treatment for Pregnant Women". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  37. ^ "Scientists Sound Alarm About 'Mirror Life' Microbes That Could Be Deadly to All Life on Earth". The New York Times. December 12, 2024. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  38. ^ "Confronting risks of mirror life". Science. 382 (6676): eads9158. doi:10.1126/science.ads9158. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  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. ^ "Forecasting". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  41. ^ "University of Pennsylvania — Philip Tetlock on Forecasting". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  42. ^ "Metaculus — Platform Development (2024)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  43. ^ "Centre for Effective Altruism — General Support (EVF UK, May 2024)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  44. ^ "Kurzgesagt — Video Creation and Translation". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  45. ^ "Open Philanthropy Course Development Grants". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  46. ^ "Potential Risks from Advanced Artificial Intelligence". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  47. ^ "What A.I. Might Look Like in 2030". The New York Times. December 19, 2024. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  48. ^ "Georgetown University — Center for Security and Emerging Technology". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  49. ^ "Alignment Research Center — General Support (November 2022)". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  50. ^ "Mila — AI Safety Research". Open Philanthropy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  51. ^ "The world's spending to fight global lead poisoning just doubled". Vox. October 2, 2024. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  52. ^ "A 'silent epidemic' of childhood lead poisoning haunts the world". The Washington Post. September 22, 2024. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  53. ^ "Open Philanthropy Launches Effective Altruism Fund to Speed Housing Construction". Bloomberg. March 11, 2025. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
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