SFF versus SAF: SFF facilitates grants to existing charities; for smaller grants and service contracts for long-termist projects that don't yet have an institutional home, visit SAF.
Newsletter
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SFF-2021-H1 grant round
SFF is pleased to announce a new grant round, with applications due in March and funds to be distributed in June 2021. For more information please see the announcement below:
SFF-2021-H1 S-process Grant Round Announcement
SFF-2020-H2 grant round
SFF has finalized its grant recommendations for 2020-H2:
SFF-2020-H2 S-process Recommendations Announcement
The total funding distributed was $3.625MM, above the high end of our expected $2.5-$3M estimate.
SFF-2020-H1 grant round
SFF’s had finalized its grant decisions for 2020-H1:
SFF-2020-H1 S-process Recommendations Announcement
The total funding distributed was $1.82MM, above the high end of our expected $0.8MM-1.5MM estimate.
SFF-2019-Q4 grant round
SFF has finalized most of its grant decisions for 2019-Q4:
SFF-2019-Q4 S-process Recommendations Announcement
The total funding distributed was $2.01MM, at the high end of our expected $1MM-$2MM estimate.
About Us
Survivalandflourishing.fund is a “virtual fund”: we organize application submission and evaluation processes to help donors decide where to make donations. Our goal is to bring financial support to organizations working to improve humanity’s long-term prospects for survival and flourishing. We use this website to host announcements about our plans to investigate grant-making opportunities.
SFF was initially funded in 2019 by a grant of approximately $2 million from the Organizational Grants Program of the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative (BERI), which in turn was funded by donations from philanthropist Jaan Tallinn. We previously maintained a DAF at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation under the same name (SFF), but that DAF is not currently in active use for our grant-making process.
SFF works closely with Survival and Flourishing (SAF), a Sponsored Project of Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs with a similar mission and overlapping leadership. While there is no formal relationship between SAF and SFF, we have complementary functions:
- SFF as a general rule does not facilitate grants to individuals, while SAF does.
- SAF as a general rule does not facilitate grants to 501(c)(3) public charities, while SFF does.
Survival and Flourishing Fund Advisors
Andrew Critch
Fund Advisor
Andrew Critch is currently a full-time research scientist in the EECS department at UC Berkeley, at Stuart Russell's Center for Human Compatible AI. He earned his PhD in mathematics at UC Berkeley studying applications of algebraic geometry to machine learning models. During that time, he cofounded the Center for Applied Rationality and SPARC. Andrew has been offered university faculty positions in mathematics and mathematical biosciences, worked as an algorithmic stock trader at Jane Street Capital's New York City office, and as a research fellow at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. His current research interests include logical uncertainty, open source game theory, and avoiding arms race dynamics between nations and companies in AI development.
Eric Rogstad
Fund Advisor
Eric works at EMX.com, where he was a founding engineer, building a new cryptocurrency derivatives exchange. Previously, he worked as a software engineer at Microsoft and Amazon.com, and was co-founder of Arbital.com, a platform for finding, reading, and creating crowdsourced, intuitive explanations, developed partly in response to the observation that arguments about civilization-scale priorities like existential risk are complex and in need of better organizational tools for conveying them. Eric holds a BSE in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Duke University.
Past Grant Recommendations
Below is a list of grants we have recommended using the S-process. Recommendations after the final date might not be listed yet.
| Round | Source | Organization | Amount | Receiving Charity | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFF-2019-Q3 | SFF DAF | 80,000 Hours | $280,000 | Centre for Effective Altruism, USA | General Support |
| SFF-2019-Q3 | SFF DAF | Center For Applied Rationality | $110,000 | SFF DAF | General Support |
| SFF-2019-Q3 | SFF DAF | Centre for the Study of Existential Risk | $40,000 | Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge | General Support |
| SFF-2019-Q3 | SFF DAF | Future of Life Institute | $130,000 | Future of Life Institute | General Support |
| SFF-2019-Q3 | SFF DAF | Global Catastrophic Risks Institute | $60,000 | Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs | General Support |
| SFF-2019-Q3 | SFF DAF | LessWrong 2.0 | $260,000 | Center for Applied Rationality | General Support |
| SFF-2019-Q4 | SFF DAF | 80,000 Hours | $40,000 | Centre for Effective Altruism, USA | General Support of 80,000 Hours |
| SFF-2019-Q4 | SFF DAF | AI Impacts | $70,000 | Machine Intelligence Research Institute | General Support of AI Impacts |
| SFF-2019-Q4 | SFF DAF | AAAI/ACM conference on AI, Ethics and Society (AIES 2020) | $20,000 | Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence | General Support of AIES |
| SFF-2019-Q4 | SFF DAF | Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters (ALLFED) | $10,000 | Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE) | General Support of ALLFED |
| SFF-2019-Q4 | SFF DAF | Center For Applied Rationality | $150,000 | Center For Applied Rationality | General Support |
| SFF-2019-Q4 | SFF DAF | Charter Cities Institute | $60,000 | Center for Innovative Governance Research | General Support of the Charter Cities Institute |
| SFF-2019-Q4 | SFF DAF | Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge | $50,000 | Cambridge in America | General Support of Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge |
| SFF-2019-Q4 | SFF DAF | Earth Law Center | $30,000 | Earth Law Center | General Support |
| SFF-2019-Q4 | SFF DAF | Global Catastrophic Risk Institute | $30,000 | Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs | General Support of GCRI |
| SFF-2019-Q4 | SFF DAF | Longevity Research Institute | $160,000 | Longevity Research Institute | General Support |
| SFF-2019-Q4 | SFF DAF | Median Group | $50,000 | Median Group | General Support |
| SFF-2019-Q4 | SFF DAF | Modeling Cooperation | $50,000 | Convergence Analysis | General Support of Modeling Cooperation |
| SFF-2019-Q4 | SFF DAF | OAK (Optimizing Awakening and Kindness) | $100,000 | Center for Mindful Learning | General Support of OAK (Optimizing Awakening and Kindness) |
| SFF-2019-Q4 | SFF DAF | Ought Inc. | $100,000 | Ought Inc. | General Support |
| SFF-2020-H1 | SFF DAF | LessWrong | $290,000 | Center for Applied Rationality | General support of LessWrong |
| SFF-2020-H1 | SFF DAF | Machine Intelligence Research Institute | $20,000 | Machine Intelligence Research Institute | General support |
| SFF-2020-H1 | SFF DAF | Quantified Uncertainty Research Institute | $120,000 | Quantified Uncertainty Research Institute | General support |
| SFF-2020-H1 | SFF DAF | 80,000 Hours | $120,000 | Centre for Effective Altruism USA | General support of 80,000 Hours |
| SFF-2020-H1 | SFF DAF | Future of Life Institute | $100,000 | Future of Life Institute | General support |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jaan Tallinn | LessWrong | $110,000 | Center for Applied Rationality | General support of LessWrong |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jaan Tallinn | Machine Intelligence Research Institute | $280,000 | Machine Intelligence Research Institute | General support |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jaan Tallinn | Quantified Uncertainty Research Institute | $60,000 | Quantified Uncertainty Research Institute | General support |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jaan Tallinn | 80,000 Hours | $30,000 | Centre for Effective Altruism USA | General support of 80,000 Hours |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jaan Tallinn | The Future Society | $130,000 | The Future Society, Inc. | General support of The Future Society |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jaan Tallinn | Future of Life Institute | $30,000 | Future of Life Institute | General support |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jaan Tallinn | Global Catastrophic Risk Institute | $90,000 | Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs | General support of Global Catastrophic Risk Institute |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jaan Tallinn | Leverage Research | $80,000 | Leverage Research | General support |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jaan Tallinn | AI Impacts | $40,000 | Machine Intelligence Research Institute | General support of AI Impacts |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jaan Tallinn | Milan Griffes to pursue an MHS in Mental Health | $30,000 | Johns Hopkins University | General support of Milan Griffes to pursue an MHS in Mental Health |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jaan Tallinn | BERI/CSER Collaboration | $20,000 | Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative | General support of BERI/CSER Collaboration |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jaan Tallinn | Metamorphic Group LLC | $10,000 | Children, Families, and Communities | General support of Metamorphic Group LLC |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jaan Tallinn | Convergence Analysis | $10,000 | Convergence Analysis | General support |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jed McCaleb | LessWrong | $30,000 | Center for Applied Rationality | General support of LessWrong |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jed McCaleb | Machine Intelligence Research Institute | $40,000 | Machine Intelligence Research Institute | General support |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jed McCaleb | Quantified Uncertainty Research Institute | $20,000 | Quantified Uncertainty Research Institute | General support |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jed McCaleb | 80,000 Hours | $30,000 | Centre for Effective Altruism USA | General support of 80,000 Hours |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jed McCaleb | The Future Society | $30,000 | The Future Society, Inc. | General support of The Future Society |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jed McCaleb | Future of Life Institute | $10,000 | Future of Life Institute | General support |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jed McCaleb | Global Catastrophic Risk Institute | $50,000 | Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs | General support of Global Catastrophic Risk Institute |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jed McCaleb | AI Impacts | $20,000 | Machine Intelligence Research Institute | General support of AI Impacts |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jed McCaleb | Metamorphic Group LLC | $10,000 | Children, Families, and Communities | General support of Metamorphic Group LLC |
| SFF-2020-H1 | Jed McCaleb | Future of Humanity Foundation | $10,000 | Future of Humanity Foundation | General support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | SFF DAF | Future of Life Institute | $23,000 | Future of Life Institute | General support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | SFF DAF | Center for Applied Rationality | $212,000 | Center for Applied Rationality | General support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | SAF | Future of Humanity Institute, Research Scholars Programme | $218,000 | University of Oxford | General support of the Research Scholars Programme at Future of Humanity Institute |
| SFF-2020-H2 | SFF DAF | Center for Innovative Governance Research | $58,000 | Center for Innovative Governance Research | General support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | SFF DAF | The Center for Election Science | $44,000 | The Center for Election Science | General support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | SFF DAF | The Future Society, Inc. | $37,000 | The Future Society, Inc. | General support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | SFF DAF | Generation Pledge | $37,000 | Centre for Effective Altruism | General support of Generation Pledge at the Centre for Effective Altruism |
| SFF-2020-H2 | SFF DAF | Center for Applied Utilitarianism | $21,000 | N/A | General support of Center for Applied Utilitarianism |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jed McCaleb | Topos Institute | $144,000 | Topos Institute | Conditional support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jed McCaleb | Center for Applied Rationality | $23,000 | Center for Applied Rationality | General support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jed McCaleb | Stanford Existential Risks Initiative | $56,000 | Stanford University | General support of Stanford Existential Risks Initiative |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jed McCaleb | RadicalxChange Foundation Ltd. | $13,000 | RadicalxChange Foundation Ltd. | General support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jed McCaleb | The Roots of Progress | $14,000 | Mercatus Center Inc | General support of The Roots of Progress |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | Center for Human-Compatible AI | $779,000 | UC Berkeley Foundation | General support of Center for Human-Compatible AI |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | Machine Intelligence Research Institute | $543,000 | Machine Intelligence Research Institute | General support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | Future of Life Institute | $347,000 | Future of Life Institute | General support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | Topos Institute | $151,000 | Topos Institute | Conditional support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | Center for Applied Rationality | $19,000 | Center for Applied Rationality | General support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | Future of Humanity Institute: Research Scholars Programme | $30,000 | University of Oxford | General support of the Research Scholars Programme at Future of Humanity Institute |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative | $247,000 | Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative | General support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | Global Catastrophic Risk Institute | $209,000 | Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs | General support of Global Catastrophic Risk Institute |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | Stanford Existential Risks Initiative | $69,000 | Stanford University | General support of Stanford Existential Risks Initiative |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | Median Group | $98,000 | Median Foundation | General support of Median Group |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | Modeling Cooperation | $74,000 | Convergence Analysis | General support of Modeling Cooperation |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | Rethink Priorities | $57,000 | Rethink Priorities | General support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | RadicalxChange Foundation Ltd. | $26,000 | RadicalxChange Foundation Ltd. | General support |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | The Roots of Progress | $21,000 | Mercatus Center Inc | General support of The Roots of Progress |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Society | $20,000 | Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence | General support of AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence |
| SFF-2020-H2 | Jaan Tallinn | Effective Thesis | $15,000 | N/A | General Support |
Contact
If you need to reach SFF, you can send an email to sff(char)contact@googlegroups.com, with (char) replaced by a hyphen (to avoid spam). Note that we are a volunteer-run operation and might take some time to respond.