Manifold for Charity concentrates funding on frontier risks and long-termist interventions, with a strong emphasis on AI safety, research infrastructure, and other existential-risk mitigation efforts, while also supporting technological solutions for animal welfare and selective governance/land-economics experimentation. Many grants fund research groups, incubation programs, and platforms that accelerate capability (compute, interpretability, infrastructure) or coordinate communities of safety researchers. The foundation tends to fund small-to-mid sized specialist organizations and projects, often repeatedly, and occasionally provides larger donations to platform organizations tied to its network.
Manifold for Charity’s largest recent grant was an $827,333 donation to Manifold Markets Inc for general support, routed from the Survival and Flourishing Fund via Founders Pledge. That scale sits alongside a portfolio that consistently backs AI safety research, interpretability work, and the infrastructure around researcher training and coordination. The foundation also funds adjacent longtermist and risk-reduction efforts, including public-interest tools, governance experiments, and biosecurity-related projects. Several of its grants point to a strategy of strengthening the ecosystem rather than only financing isolated research outputs. It gave $400,100 to Far Ai for compute and other expenses supporting LLM alignment research, and $325,409 to Rethink Priorities for Apollo Research scale-up work in interpretability and behavioral model evaluation. In the same pattern, Manifold for Charity has supported programs and organizations that incubate researchers, build tools, and expand capacity for specialized teams working on frontier-risk questions. Its recent grants also show selective support for animal welfare innovation and land-economics advocacy, alongside a recurring emphasis on existential-risk mitigation.
AI safety research is a core theme. Manifold for Charity gave $190,000 to the Center for AI Safety Inc for removing hazardous knowledge from AIs, and $144,650 to Ashgro for Timaeus scoping developmental interpretability. It also funded $49,087 to Lightcone Infrastructure Inc for Lightcone Infrastructure, indicating support for the systems that help AI safety research move faster. The foundation also backs talent development and community-building. It provided $279,583 to MATS Research Inc for the MATS Program and $190,178 to MATS Research for MATS Funding, both tied to researcher training and incubation. A separate $57,367 grant to Ashgro supported AI Safety Camp, and $32,000 went to The Tarbell Center for AI Journalism for its journalism work. Beyond AI, Manifold for Charity funded $100,000 to Innovate Animal Ag to build a nonprofit thinktank on technological solutions to animal welfare challenges, and $100,000 to The Center for Innovative Governanc for African School of Economics in Zanzibar chartered Good Land Governance.
$1.6M
$1.8M
$4.2M
$3.4M
Most grants fall between $190K and $400K, with a median of $325K.
25th Percentile
$190K
Median
$325K
75th Percentile
$400K
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Concentrated, strategic funding: a mix of several large multi‑hundred‑thousand grants to a few core/platform recipients and many smaller targeted grants. The foundation shows repeat giving to specialist grantees (e.g., multiple grants to AI safety groups and research organizations), favors project/program support and infrastructure, and funds both early-stage incubators and operational scale-up.
Notable grantees: Manifold Markets Inc, FAR AI, Rethink Priorities, Ashgro / Ashgro Inc, Center for AI Safety Inc
Typical grant size is substantial: the 25th percentile is $190,178, the median is $325,409, and the 75th percentile is $400,100. The grant list shows both large one-off awards and repeated support to the same organizations across 2024 and 2025, including multiple grants to Ashgro and Rethink Priorities, as well as separate funding to MATS-related entities. Manifold for Charity is classified as a Pure DAF Provider, and the available data shows grantmaking rather than program-related investments or individual funding. Applications and solicitation details are not stated in the data.
Grantmaking is local in scope, and the recipient distribution is entirely in the US. California appears often in the recent list, with recipients in San Francisco, Berkeley, San Diego, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Santa Monica. Delaware is also a recurring location, including Wilmington and Claymont, and Washington, DC shows up multiple times as well. By count, Delaware is the top state for grants, while 80% of grants go to recipients in California, the foundation’s HQ state.
The recent grants focus heavily on AI safety research, interpretability, and researcher training, with additional funding for biosecurity, animal welfare innovation, governance experiments, and public-interest coordination tools. Examples include grants for hazardous-knowledge mitigation, LLM alignment research, and AI Safety Camp.
Yes. The grant list shows repeat support to several recipients across 2024 and 2025, including Ashgro, Rethink Priorities, and the MATS-related organizations. That pattern suggests ongoing support rather than only one-time awards.
Typical awards are large: the 25th percentile is $190,178, the median is $325,409, and the 75th percentile is $400,100. That distribution indicates a portfolio centered on substantial grants rather than small seed checks.
The recipient country distribution is entirely US-based in the data provided. California accounts for 80% of grants, and Delaware is the top state by grant count. Recent recipient cities include San Francisco, Berkeley, Wilmington, and Washington, DC.
It is classified as a Pure DAF Provider. The data also indicates that it does not fund individuals and does not make program-related investments.
2025
Source: IRS Form 990-PF, fiscal year 2025.
Most recent grants reported to the IRS.
| Recipient | Location | Amount | Year | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MATS Research Inc | Berkeley, CA | $279,583 | 2025 | MATS Program |
| Center for AI Safety Inc | San Francisco, CA | $190,000 | 2025 | Removing Hazardous Knowledge from AIs |
| Effective Ventures Foundation USA I | San Francisco, CA | $106,000 | 2025 | Long Term Future Fund |
| Players Philanthropy Fund | Towson, MD | $100,000 | 2025 | Regrant to charities working on developing country nutrition |
| PauseAI US | San Francisco, CA | $100,000 | 2025 | PauseAI US 2025 through Q2 |
| Center for Land Economics Inc | Washington, DC | $100,000 | 2025 | Promote Georgism |
| 1Day Sooner Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $100,000 | 2025 | Advocate for a specialized pandemic response team |
| Innovate Animal Ag | Sacramento, CA | $100,000 | 2025 | Build a new nonprofit thinktank that advances technological solutions to animal welfare challenges |
| The Center for Innovative Governanc | Washington, DC | $100,000 | 2025 | African School of Economics in Zanzibar chartered Good Land Governance |
| Ashgro Inc | Wilmington, DE | $58,900 | 2025 | Apart incubates and facilitates hundreds of AI safety researchers around the globe |
| Ashgro | Wilmington, DE | $57,367 | 2025 | AI Safety Camp |
| Lightcone Infrastructure Inc | Berkeley, CA | $49,087 | 2025 | Lightcone Infrastructure |
| The Tarbell Center for AI Journalis | Claymont, DE | $32,000 | 2025 | Tarbell Center for AI Journalism |
| Rethink Priorities | San Francisco, CA | $26,760 | 2025 | Experiments to test EA longtermist framings and branding |
| ALLFED Institute | Lafayette, CO | $25,100 | 2025 | Convert a hybrid car to chip wood and generate electricity |
| HealthLearn | Lowell, MA | $25,000 | 2025 | Assess online training platform for health workers in Nigeria |
| Blueprint Biosecurity | Washington, DC | $25,000 | 2025 | Validate a solution for ozone generation from far UVC germicidal light |
| Sentinel Research | Austin, TX | $24,910 | 2025 | Make ALERT happen Fund Sentinel for Q1 2025 |
| Rethink Priorities | San Francisco, CA | $19,160 | 2025 | Apollo Research to Scale up interpretability and behavioral model evals research |
| Spartacus app | Santa Monica, CA | $17,892 | 2025 | An online platform to solve coordination problems and generate leverage through collective action campaigns |
| New Roots Institute | Los Angeles, CA | $15,481 | 2025 | New Roots Institute Empowering the Next Generation to End Factory Farming |
| Players Philanthropy Fund | Towson, MD | $12,500 | 2025 | Support Riesgos Catastroficos Globales |
| Ashgro Inc | Wilmington, DE | $7,810 | 2025 | Cadenza Labs AI Safety research group working on own interpretability agenda |
| Ashgro Inc | Wilmington, DE | $5,110 | 2025 | Apart Research Global AI Safety Research and Talent Pipeline |
| Manifold Markets Inc | San Francisco, CA | $827,333 | 2024 | Donation for general support of Manifold from Survival and Flourishing Fund via Founders Pledge |
| FAR AI | San Diego, CA | $400,100 | 2024 | Ethan Perez Compute and other expenses for LLM alignment research |
| Rethink Priorities | San Francisco, CA | $325,409 | 2024 | Apollo Research Scale up interpretability and behavioral model evals research |
| MATS Research | Berkeley, CA | $190,178 | 2024 | MATS Funding |
| Ashgro | Wilmington, DE | $144,650 | 2024 | Timaeus Scoping Developmental Interpretability |
| The Clear Fund (DBA Givewell) | Oakland, CA | $8,880 | 2023 | To support Givewell's mission of saving lives |
MATS Research Inc
$279,583MATS Program
Regrant to charities working on developing country nutrition
PauseAI US
$100,000PauseAI US 2025 through Q2
Center for Land Economics Inc
Promote Georgism
1Day Sooner Inc
$100,000Advocate for a specialized pandemic response team
Build a new nonprofit thinktank that advances technological solutions to animal welfare challenges
African School of Economics in Zanzibar chartered Good Land Governance
Ashgro Inc
$58,900Apart incubates and facilitates hundreds of AI safety researchers around the globe
Ashgro
$57,367AI Safety Camp
Lightcone Infrastructure Inc
$49,087Lightcone Infrastructure
The Tarbell Center for AI Journalis
$32,000Tarbell Center for AI Journalism
Experiments to test EA longtermist framings and branding
HealthLearn
$25,000Assess online training platform for health workers in Nigeria
Blueprint Biosecurity
$25,000Validate a solution for ozone generation from far UVC germicidal light
Sentinel Research
$24,910Make ALERT happen Fund Sentinel for Q1 2025
Apollo Research to Scale up interpretability and behavioral model evals research
Spartacus app
$17,892An online platform to solve coordination problems and generate leverage through collective action campaigns
New Roots Institute Empowering the Next Generation to End Factory Farming
Ashgro Inc
$7,810Cadenza Labs AI Safety research group working on own interpretability agenda
Ashgro Inc
$5,110Apart Research Global AI Safety Research and Talent Pipeline
Manifold Markets Inc
$827,333Donation for general support of Manifold from Survival and Flourishing Fund via Founders Pledge
Apollo Research Scale up interpretability and behavioral model evals research
MATS Research
$190,178MATS Funding
Ashgro
$144,650Timaeus Scoping Developmental Interpretability