About OPPThe Open Philanthropy Project started with the question: How can we accomplish as much good as possible with our giving? Our mission is to give as effectively as we can and share our findings openly so that anyone can build on our work. Through research and grantmaking, we hope to learn how to make philanthropy go especially far in terms of improving lives.So far, we've concentrated on selecting focus areas in four broad categories: U.S. policy, global catastrophic risks, scientific research, and global health & development. There's a strong conceptual case that philanthropy could go particularly far in each of these categories, and they include most of the causes we've found compelling.Open Philanthropy ProjectOPP_58c86172-f3f2-11e6-95d7-30edbee7bae2The Open Philanthropy Project is a collaboration between Good Ventures and GiveWell in which we identify outstanding giving opportunities, make grants, follow the results, and publish our findings. The Project is not, itself, an organization. The people working to identify giving opportunities for the Open Philanthropy Project are primarily GiveWell staff and Cari Tuna, President of Good Ventures (with input from expert advisors).Good VenturesGood Ventures is a philanthropic foundation whose mission is to help humanity thrive.Dustin MoskovitzGood Ventures was created by Dustin Moskovitz (co-founder of Facebook and Asana) and Cari Tuna, who have pledged to give the majority of their wealth to charity. Good Ventures is a family foundation, unlike the Open Philanthropy Project, which is a joint venture.GiveWellGiveWell is a nonprofit that finds outstanding giving opportunities and publishes the full details of its analysis to help donors decide where to give. In 2015, GiveWell tracked more than $110 million in donations to its "top charities" based on its research. The Open Philanthropy Project, previously known as GiveWell Labs, is distinct from GiveWell's research on "top charities" and uses different criteria. We also partner with other donors.PhilanthropistsOPP TeamCari TunaPRESIDENTHolden KarnofskyEXECUTIVE DIRECTORElie HassenfeldMANAGING DIRECTORKaitlyn & Mike KriegerFUNDING PARTNERSNick BecksteadPROGRAM OFFICER, SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHAlexander BergerPROGRAM OFFICER, US POLICYLewis BollardPROGRAM OFFICER, FARM ANIMAL WELFAREChloe CockburnPROGRAM OFFICER, CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORMDaniel DeweyPROGRAM OFFICER, POTENTIAL RISKS FROM ADVANCED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCEHowie LempelPROGRAM OFFICER, GLOBAL CATASTROPHIC RISKSChris SomervilleSCIENTIFIC ADVISORJaime YassifPROGRAM OFFICER, BIOSECURITY AND PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESSHeather YoungsSCIENTIFIC ADVISORDaniel Martin AlarconSCIENTIFIC ADVISORAjeya CotraRESEARCH ANALYSTMichelle CrentsilASSOCIATE, CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORMLuke MuehlhauserRESEARCH ANALYSTRocio Alba NavarroRESEARCH ANALYSTDavid RoodmanSENIOR ADVISORNicole RossOPERATIONS ASSOCIATEHelen TonerSENIOR RESEARCH ANALYSTClaire ZabelRESEARCH ANALYSTPhilanthropy goes especially far in terms of improving lives ... [because] philanthropists increasingly document and share their research, reasoning, results and mistakes to help each other learn more quickly and serve others more effectively._58c863d4-f3f2-11e6-95d7-30edbee7bae2To give as effectively as we can and share our findings openly so that anyone can build on our work._58c864d8-f3f2-11e6-95d7-30edbee7bae2Global HumanitarianismWe believe that people have equal intrinsic value regardless of the circumstances of their birth, and that animals’ lives have value, too. We believe economic development and technological innovation have greatly increased human well-being. We’re optimistic that this trend will continue, and we hope to play a part in accelerating it. We’re motivated by our vision of a day when every person’s needs are met and each of us is empowered to shape our own life.Risk ToleranceRisk tolerance and patience -- We're open to supporting high-risk, high-reward work, as well as work that could take a long time to pay off. But all else equal, we prefer to do good quickly because helping people empowers them to help themselves and others, meaning the good we accomplish compounds over time. We’re open to shorter-term, evidence-backed giving opportunities (such as GiveWell's top charities) as well as very long-term, high-risk opportunities (such as efforts to reduce global catastrophic risks or change public policy). For more on the latter, see our post about hits-based giving.PatienceActionAction in the face of uncertainty -- We've attempted to outline the values that guide our philanthropy, though we remain uncertain on some fundamental questions. But we don’t believe we need to resolve such questions fully to take action.OpennessWhat "Open" Means to Us -- Openness is a core value of the Open Philanthropy Project. We see ourselves as being open in two important ways:PossibilitiesOpen to many possibilities -- The advice we heard most often when we started giving was "focus on something you’re passionate about." In our case, we're passionate about using the resources we have to improve others' lives as much as we can. Our level of excitement about an issue depends on how much good we believe we'll accomplish by working on it. So, instead of starting with a predefined set of focus areas, we’re considering a wide variety of causes where our philanthropy could help to improve others' lives. We've investigated many potential focus areas, and we’re prioritizing based on three criteria: importance, neglectedness and tractability.ImpactOpen about our work -- We believe philanthropy could have a greater impact by becoming more transparent. Very often, key discussions and decisions happen behind closed doors, and it's difficult for outsiders to learn from and critique philanthropists' work. We envision a world in which philanthropists increasingly document and share their research, reasoning, results and mistakes to help each other learn more quickly and serve others more effectively. We work hard to make it easy for new philanthropists and outsiders to learn about our work. We do that by: * Blogging about major decisions and the reasoning behind them, as well as what we"re learning about how to be an effective funder. * Creating detailed reports on the causes we're investigating. * Sharing notes from our information-gathering conversations. * Publishing writeups and updates on a number of our grants, including our reasoning and reservations before making a grant, and any setbacks and challenges we encounter.PartnershipWe balance our commitment to transparency with our commitment to maximizing our impact and building strong and productive partnerships. That means:PrivacyWe never share private information from another organization without permission.InputWe share early drafts of our blog posts and reports with the people and organizations discussed therein and invite their suggestions for improving the content.BalanceWe work with our partners to make key information public without unnecessarily undermining their work. We write more thoroughly about major decisions and grants than minor ones. If we encountered an outstanding giving opportunity where the costs of transparency significantly outweighed the benefits, we would take the opportunity and refrain from discussing it. But because we believe the benefits of transparency are substantial, we would set the bar accordingly high.FocusFocus Areas -- We believe it's important for philanthropists to make deliberate, long-term commitments to causes ...CommitmentCausesA "cause" is the field around a particular problem or opportunity -- such as reforming the criminal justice system, preventing pandemics, or reducing the burden of Alzheimer's disease -- in which it's necessary to develop expertise and networks to make good giving decisions.PrioritizationWe refer to the causes we're prioritizing most highly as focus areas. We've cast a wide net for potential focus areas, incorporating information on the history of philanthropy as well as what today's foundations focus on. We've sought focus areas that are strong on some combination of the following criteria:ImportanceHow many individuals does this issue affect, and how deeply?NeglectednessAll else equal, we prefer causes that receive less attention from other actors, particularly other major philanthropists.TractabilityWe look for clear ways in which a funder could contribute to progress.Research & Ideas_58c86596-f3f2-11e6-95d7-30edbee7bae21We aim to share our findings openly so that anyone can build on our work. A basic overview of our process is available here, and below we share much of the background work that has led to our current priorities.Notable LessonsBlog about important lessons we've learned or judgment calls we're making._58c86672-f3f2-11e6-95d7-30edbee7bae21.1We've collected the blog posts we've made about important lessons we've learned or judgment calls we're making. Together, they give an in-depth picture of our philosophy about giving, and where it comes from.Cause ReportsConduct investigations into causes and summarize what we've learned._58c8673a-f3f2-11e6-95d7-30edbee7bae21.2In choosing focus areas, we conduct a variety of investigations into different causes. Our writeups summarize what we've learned about the importance, neglectedness and tractability of the causes we've investigated.ConversationsDocument key points made by the people with whom we've spoken._58c86802-f3f2-11e6-95d7-30edbee7bae21.3Much of the information we rely on comes from conversations. For key information-gathering conversations, we often write up the key points made by the people with whom we’ve spoken and post the notes with their permission. EffectivenessDocument what great giving looks like over the long-term._58c868de-f3f2-11e6-95d7-30edbee7bae21.4HistoriansHistory of Philanthropy -- What has philanthropy accomplished? We've reviewed the existing literature on the history of philanthropy, and we are supporting historians to produce more, to inform our picture of what great giving looks like. We believe that philanthropy often operates best on long time horizons, so we want to learn from role models whose impact took time to play out. Grantmaking_58c869a6-f3f2-11e6-95d7-30edbee7bae22Silicon Valley Community FoundationGood VenturesSupport for the Open Philanthropy Project fund comes primarily from Good Ventures, though other donors have contributed as well. In some cases, the Open Philanthropy Project makes grant recommendations directly to Good Ventures.The Open Philanthropy Project typically recommends grants to the Open Philanthropy Project fund, a donor advised fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.U.S. PolicyImprove government policy._58c86a6e-f3f2-11e6-95d7-30edbee7bae22.1Philanthropy can have an especially big impact by helping to improve policy. Many compelling causes, such as Criminal Justice Reform and Immigration Policy, revolve around opportunities to improve government policy. Better policy could reduce both global and U.S. poverty, increase innovation, accelerate economic growth, and more. Our policy-oriented work focuses on the U.S. currently, for practical reasons. Current focus areas in U.S. Policy: * Criminal Justice Reform * Farm Animal Welfare * Macroeconomic Stabilization Policy * Immigration Policy * Land Use ReformGlobal Catastrophic RisksPrepare for potentially globally disruptive events by helping civilization become more robust._58c86b54-f3f2-11e6-95d7-30edbee7bae22.2Risks that could threaten humanity’s long-term future deserve special attention. We believe that ongoing economic, social and technological progress will likely lead to an extraordinarily bright future. At the same time, as the world becomes more interconnected, the magnitude and implications of the worst-case scenarios may be rising. Governments and corporations aren't necessarily incentivized to focus on preparing for potentially globally disruptive events, so we're seeking opportunities to help civilization become more robust... Current focus areas in global catastrophic risks: * Biosecurity and Pandemic Preparedness * Potential Risks from Advanced Artificial IntelligenceScientific ResearchBuilding our capacity and develop our strategy for scientific research._58c86c26-f3f2-11e6-95d7-30edbee7bae22.3ScientistsScientific research can lead to breakthroughs that transform the world. Philanthropy can support science that governments and corporations won’t. Possible approaches include supporting Breakthrough Fundamental Science, funding work on neglected diseases and conditions, and/or working to improve science policy and infrastructure. We are currently focused on building our capacity and developing our strategy in this area.Global Health & Development_58c86cf8-f3f2-11e6-95d7-30edbee7bae22.4Those Living in PovertyWe believe that every life has equal value, and that philanthropic dollars can go particularly far by helping those who are living in poverty by global standards. Currently, the best giving opportunities we've found in this category are GiveWell's top charities... In the future, we hope to consider causes in global health & development that do not fit within GiveWell's framework.2017-02-15http://www.openphilanthropy.org/aboutOwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net