Effective Ventures Foundation USA Inc
San Francisco, CA · EIN 47-1988398. Reported 265 grants totalling $50.7M to 149 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Effective Ventures Foundation USA Inc, the IRS classifies it under education rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE B05) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 149 distinct organizations, with 6% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 42% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $66,699. Half of what it reported fell between $30,000 and $161,000; the smallest was $5,101 and the largest $3,000,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlas Fellowship | Berkeley, CA | $3,000,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Rethink Priorities | San Francisco, CA | $2,930,872 | 9 | 4 | 2024 |
| Stonier Scholarship Inc | Towson, MD | $2,887,964 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| Helen Keller International | New York, NY | $2,668,952 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Giving What We Can USA Inc | Newark, DE | $2,661,731 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Clear Fund | Oakland, CA | $2,126,088 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Blacksmith Institute Inc | New York, NY | $1,670,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Alignment Research Center | Covina, CA | $1,654,543 | 3 | 2 | 2023 |
| Council on Strategic Risks | Washington, DC | $1,615,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| The Against Malaria Foundation | Kansas City, MO | $1,480,211 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Animal Charity Evaluators | Covina, CA | $1,218,485 | 7 | 4 | 2024 |
| Center for Global Development | Washington, DC | $1,200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Wild Animal Initiative Inc | Minneapolis, MN | $1,170,385 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Givedirectly Inc | New York, NY | $1,138,228 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Founders Pledge Inc | New York, NY | $1,058,071 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| The Humane League | Rockville, MD | $959,341 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Rutgers the State University | Piscataway, NJ | $932,611 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Ashgro Inc | Wilmington, DE | $918,507 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Clean Air Task Force Inc | Boston, MA | $861,592 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Gdi-Solutions Inc | Washington, DC | $855,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Path | Seattle, WA | $838,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Aquatic Life Institute Inc | Rye, NY | $800,000 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| New Incentives | Covina, CA | $765,446 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Effective Altruism DC | Washington, DC | $686,159 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Good Food Institute Inc | Arlington, VA | $682,310 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Evidence Action Inc | Washington, DC | $585,486 | 4 | 3 | 2023 |
| Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative | San Diego, CA | $451,054 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Metaculus Inc | Santa Cruz, CA | $404,683 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Legal Impact for Chickens | Sacramento, CA | $321,999 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| New York University | New York, NY | $310,000 | 2 | 1 | 2021 |
| Impact Labs LLC | New York, NY | $300,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Tides Foundation | Cincinnati, OH | $300,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Effective Altruism Nyc Inc | New York, NY | $296,122 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| International Council for Animal Welfare Inc | Philadelphia, PA | $291,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| High Impact Athletes | Lewes, DE | $275,849 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Global Food Partners Inc | Washington, DC | $260,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Brown University of Providence | Providence, RI | $259,600 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Good Energy Collective | Sacramento, CA | $258,676 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Patchd Inc | San Francisco, CA | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| US Right to Know | Oakland, CA | $250,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Far Ai Inc | San Diego, CA | $236,240 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| George Washington University | Ashburn, VA | $224,250 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Anti Entropy | Brenham, TX | $222,100 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Id Insight Inc | Princeton, NJ | $200,899 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Cambridge in America | New York, NY | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Mind First Foundation | Weston, MA | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Project Innerspace Inc | Boston, MA | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Resolve to Save Lives Inc | Alexandria, VA | $196,889 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Leap Laboratories | Richmond, CA | $195,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Sentient Media | San Francisco, CA | $192,000 | 3 | 2 | 2022 |
| President and Fellows of Harvard College | Cambridge, MA | $187,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Animal & Vegan Advocacy International Inc | Washington, DC | $183,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Reckless Giving LLC | Brooklyn, NY | $170,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | Washington, DC | $161,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Animal Advocacy Careers | Anaheim, CA | $155,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Coalition for Rainforest Nations Secretariat | New York, NY | $149,653 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Machine Intelligence Research Institute Inc | Berkeley, CA | $138,206 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Humane America Animal Foundation | Claremont, CA | $137,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Strongminds Inc | Maplewood, NJ | $134,400 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Brighter Green Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $132,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore, MD | $130,306 | 4 | 3 | 2024 |
| Federation of American Scientists | Washington, DC | $126,078 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| The Center for Responsible Seafood Inc | Portsmouth, NH | $116,999 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Evergreen Collaborative | Washington, DC | $116,211 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Adaptation Entertainment LLC | Pasadena, CA | $115,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| American University | Washington, DC | $115,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Brookings Institution | Washington, DC | $111,754 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Good Energy Collective Incorporated | Sacramento, CA | $109,321 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Ardmore Ahimsa Initiative Inc | Durham, NC | $108,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Safeguarding Our Future | Phoenix, AZ | $106,699 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Healthier Hens | South Pasadena, CA | $106,300 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Nuclear Threat Initiative Inc | Washington, DC | $102,975 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Arthropoda Foundation | Philadelphia, PA | $102,499 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Oxfendazole Development Group | Blue Bell, PA | $101,430 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Animal Pain Research Institute | Wilmington, DE | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Causeway Charitable Foundation and Causeway Giving Pbc | Brooklyn, NY | $100,000 | 2 | 1 | 2022 |
| Lone Pine Games LLC | Phoenix, AZ | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Spellcheck Health Inc | Austin, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Whylome Inc | Fairfax, VT | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Effective Giving Quest Ltd | Germantown, MD | $98,020 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Palisade Research Inc | Dover, DE | $98,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Regents of the University of California at Berkeley | Riverside, CA | $95,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Allied Scholars for Animal Protection | Austin, TX | $90,140 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Ori Community and Evaluation Services | Springfield, OR | $80,129 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Institute of Animal Law of Asia | Portland, OR | $80,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| University of Wisconsin-Madison | Madison, WI | $79,668 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Animal Equality | Los Angeles, CA | $78,906 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| One Acre Fund | Highland Park, IL | $77,523 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Tides Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $76,709 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Growth Teams Inc | Claymont, DE | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Lee Mcclenon LLC | Lansdowne, PA | $73,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| University of Virginia Alumni Association | Charlottesville, VA | $71,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Center for New American Security Inc | Washington, DC | $70,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Innovate Animal Ag | Sacramento, CA | $70,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of California Berkeley Foundation | Berkeley, CA | $70,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Faunalytics | San Diego, CA | $69,448 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| One for the World Inc | New York, NY | $66,783 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Magnify Mentoring | Washington, DC | $66,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| DC Voters for Animals Education Fund | Washington, DC | $65,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Securebio Inc | Cambridge, MA | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Wikiciv Foundation | Dover, DE | $60,000 | 2 | 1 | 2022 |
| Lead Exposure Elimination Project Inc | Newark, DE | $52,341 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Blueprint Biosecurity | Washington, DC | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Center for Election Science | Covina, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Charity Navigator | Union City, NJ | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Duke University | Durham, NC | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Hofvarpnir Studios | Bridgeport, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Infinitum LLC | Fairfax, VA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Lets Breakthrough Inc | New York, NY | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Momentum | San Francisco, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Plant Based Foods Association | San Francisco, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Scarlet Moon Inc | Bangor, PA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The University of Texas at Austin | Austin, TX | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of Massachusetts Amherst | Amherst, MA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Compassion in World Farming | New York, NY | $49,884 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Mercy for Animals | Los Angeles, CA | $49,884 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Rector & Visitors of the University of Virginia | Charlottesvle, VA | $47,665 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Project Healthy Children Inc | Westborough, MA | $42,857 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| End Fund Inc | New York, NY | $42,506 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Unjournal Inc | Camden, DE | $40,710 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Spark Wave | New York, NY | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The World Union for Progressive Judaism Ltd | New York, NY | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Canopy Retreats | Escondido, CA | $38,150 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Georgetown University | Washington, DC | $37,872 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Animal Advocates International | Portland, OR | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Fish Welfare Initiative | Normal, IL | $34,981 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Terrapraxis Inc | Cambridge, MA | $33,014 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Center for Applied Rationality | Berkeley, CA | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Civics Unplugged Inc | New York, NY | $29,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Seed Strategies for Ethical and Environmental Development Inc | Albany, NY | $25,900 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, MA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Niagara University | Niagara University, NY | $20,185 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Highway Pharmaceuticals | Boston, MA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Eden Reforestation Projects | Glendora, CA | $19,954 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| New Market Esg Benefit Company | Rockville, MD | $19,249 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| 1DAY Sooner Inc | Claymont, DE | $17,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Southeast Missouri University | Cpe Girardeau, MO | $17,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Christians for Impact USA Inc | Claymont, DE | $16,750 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Rethink Charity | Mineral, VA | $16,216 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Life You Can Save | Spokane, WA | $14,719 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Sightsavers Inc | Boston, MA | $11,593 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs Inc | Calabasas, CA | $10,215 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Proveg International Incorporated | Pittsfield, MA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Taimaka Project | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Allfed Institute | Mclean, VA | $9,978 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Effective Altruism Salt Lake City | American Fork, UT | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| University of Miami | Coral Gables, FL | $6,244 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Effective Altruism at UCLA | Los Angeles, CA | $6,142 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
54 of 149 (36%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Atlas Fellowship
GENERAL NONPROFIT SUPPORT - Council on Strategic Risks
GROWING THE COUNCIL ON STRATEGIC RISKS' NUCLEAR SECURITY POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND ENGAGEMENT WITH DECISION-MAKERS - Helen Keller International
IMPROVING GLOBAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING - Rethink Priorities
GENERAL SUPPORT, SUPPORT FOR PROJECT TO ORGANIZE AND FUND PUBLIC JOURNAL-INDEPENDENT EVALUATION OF EA-RELEVANT/ADJACENT RESEARCH, INSECT WELFARE PROJECT, SUPPORT THE EA MARKET TESTING TEAM RESEARCH, WILD ANIMAL WELFARE AND INVERTEBRATE WELFARE RESEARCH, GRANT FOR FELLOWS/EAG AND SURVEY TEAM RESEARCH - The Players Philanthropic Fund
PLAYERS PHILANTHROPY FUND AND SUPPORTED PROJECTS - Center for Global Development
TO SUPPORT WORK ON LEAD EXPOSURE
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 114 of 149 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 68 | $16.5M | $83,000 |
| 2022 | 89 | $15.6M | $50,847 |
| 2023 | 60 | $9,484,140 | $70,000 |
| 2024 | 48 | $9,139,886 | $92,007 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
31% of its giving went to organizations in California. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $66,699 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in California.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Effective Ventures Foundation USA Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 45 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 3 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 2443 Fillmore St 380-16662, San Francisco, CA, 94115.
EIN 47-1988398 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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