Last updated: September 9th, 2026
Survival and Flourishing Corp (SFC) takes responsibility for the effects of grants that it helps facilitate through SFF. As part of its basic autonomy to act or not act, SFC can object to proposed grants and decline to facilitate them; this is most likely to happen when SFC believes the downside risks of making a grant outweigh the benefits.
For some proposed grants there is live debate about the balance of potential positive and negative impacts. In those cases, it’s helpful for SFC to get input from trusted outside organizations, especially those who are active in the same space that the grant would be funding.
The Advisory Organizations Panel was formed in 2026 by inviting a set of trusted organizations that SFC has recommended funding to or worked with in the past. Organizations that accepted the invitation were asked to review 30–35 proposed grants and give their opinion (positive, negative, or abstain) and any comments. Those opinions were used as input for SFC’s decision on which of those grants to facilitate and which to object to.
The Advisory Organizations Panel doesn’t have any decision-making power, and doesn’t play a formal role in the S-Process. Opinions and comments from participating organizations aren’t binding on whether or not SFC makes a grant.
In early communications to Speculators and Recommenders, the Advisory Organizations Panel was depicted as more of a decision-making body that voted on proposed grants, and could approve or veto them. This was a miscommunication due to internal confusion within SFC about the proper and intended role of the Advisory Organizations Panel, which CEO Ethan Ashkie takes responsibility for.
In the interest of transparency, SFC typically shares the count of positive and negative opinions from the Advisory Organizations Panel on a proposed grant with SFF Speculators and Recommenders. In the interest of organizations speaking freely, SFC doesn’t share any organization’s individual responses with anyone outside of SFC staff and Funders.
As the SFC team looks toward 2027 and beyond, they can imagine a spectrum of possible trajectories for the future.
On trajectories that have increasing amounts of AI-related chaos, SFC expects more AI-related grants and activities to have pronounced downside risks that it will decline to facilitate. On these trajectories, SFC expects to consult the Advisory Organizations Panel more often.
On trajectories that have decreasing amounts of AI-related chaos, SFC expects more AI-related grants and activities to be comparatively safe and thus to be things that it will want to facilitate. On these trajectories, SFC expects to consult the Advisory Organizations Panel less often.
The following organizations have agreed to be identified as participating in the Advisory Organizations Panel:
An additional 5 organizations are participants but have not agreed to be identified publicly.
SFC expects to invite new and different organizations to the Advisory Organizations Panel over time, depending on what kind of input will be most helpful for it in considering how to exercise its autonomy.