How we work

The Open Philanthropy Project is structured as a limited liability company (LLC) and is governed by a Board of Managers currently consisting of Cari Tuna, Dustin Moskovitz, Elie Hassenfeld, Alexander Berger, and Holden Karnofsky.

The Open Philanthropy Project LLC employs staff but it does not regularly make grants to other organizations. We typically recommend grants to the Open Philanthropy Project fund, a donor-advised fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Support for the Open Philanthropy Project fund comes primarily from Cari and Dustin, though historically other donors have contributed as well. In some cases, the Open Philanthropy Project makes grant recommendations directly to Good Ventures, the Open Philanthropy Action Fund (a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization), or to other entities, including some that are not primarily funded or controlled by Dustin or Cari. Although the majority of our funding recommendations are directed to 501(c)(3) organizations, we also recommend contributions to other kinds of organizations when we believe that the programmatic benefits justify them.

The Open Philanthropy Project, Good Ventures, and GiveWell share office space, but are separate entities with separate financial and human resources and separate governing bodies. Currently, Good Ventures does not have any employees of its own. Instead, it largely relies on the research and recommendations of Open Philanthropy Project staff. The Open Philanthropy Project remains an independent organization from Good Ventures, partly because we would eventually like to play a similar advisory role for other highly aligned major donors.