What Coefficient Giving does

Coefficient Giving is a San Francisco-based philanthropic funder and advisor, operating as a private nonprofit. Founded in 2014 under the name Open Philanthropy and rebranded in 2025, the organization directs grants to researchers, nonprofits, academic institutions, and—increasingly—biotech companies across 14 thematic funds covering Abundance & Growth, Air Quality, Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness, Effective Giving & Careers, Farm Animal Welfare, Forecasting, Global Aid Policy, Global Catastrophic Risks, Global Growth, Global Health & Wellbeing, Lead Exposure, Navigating Transformative AI, Science & Global Health R&D, and Strep A Vaccine development. Across these verticals, the organization has directed over $5 billion in grants since inception, including more than $1 billion in 2025 alone—the largest annual deployment in its history.

The platform's core mechanism is strategic cause selection research: the organization identifies high-impact intervention areas and deploys capital through competitive Request for Proposals (RFPs), multi-year program grants, and direct lead-equity investments. Notable transactions include a $45 million Series A lead in VST BIO (stroke therapeutics, March 2026), a $45–$48 million award to relaunch the DIV Fund for international development (early 2026), and targeted grants supporting alternative protein R&D, fish welfare research, malaria gene-editing, low-cost air quality sensors in India, and remote-sensing-based emissions detection. Grantees span academic institutions (UC San Diego, IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay), nonprofits (Center for Responsible Seafood, DIV Fund, Open Wing Alliance), and biotech startups, with operating geographies covering North America, South Asia (India, Bangladesh), East Africa (Uganda), and Central America (Guatemala).

The business model is grantmaking funded by private philanthropy from a base of leading donors (with Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Facebook, serving as Chairman and co-founder). Coefficient does not sell products or services and does not generate commercial revenue; rather, it accepts charitable contributions and disburses them to grantees after rigorous vetting. Distribution occurs through direct relationships and RFP-based application processes, supported by content marketing (website, research publications, X, LinkedIn) and email newsletters aimed at both donor and grantee audiences. With 51–100 employees, the organization's value proposition centers on its scale, brand recognition, and demonstrated ability to convert donor capital into measurable global outcomes.

Name

Coefficient Giving

Legal name

Coefficient Giving

Website

https://openphilanthropy.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Coefficient Giving (formerly Open Philanthropy) is a San Francisco-based philanthropic funder and advisor that directs large-scale grants—over $5 billion since 2014—across 14 cause areas including global health, AI safety, biosecurity, farm animal welfare, and air quality, serving academic researchers, nonprofits, and biotech companies worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Philanthropic Grantmaking

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

akta.pro primary industry

Family Offices & Philanthropic Advisors (Grantmaking) (BPAGAKAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Grantmaking & Philanthropic Funds (Institutional Donors) (BPADAOAB), International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH)

Keywords

• Philanthropic grantmaking
• Strategic philanthropy
• Cause area funding
• Grantmaking advisory
• Effective giving

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Grantmaking: Coefficient Giving operates as a philanthropic funder that receives donations from wealthy individuals and directs grants to causes identified through strategic cause selection research. The organization does not generate revenue from products or services.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Coefficient Giving operates as a philanthropic funder that receives donations from wealthy individuals and directs grants to high-impact cause areas identified through strategic cause selection research. The organization manages 14 thematic funds covering areas such as global health, biosecurity, AI safety, farm animal welfare, air quality, and global growth, partnering with major donors to award multi-year grants to researchers, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations.

Product overview

Coefficient Giving is a philanthropic funder and advisor that operates as a collection of 14 specialized funding programs/funds. The organization directs grants across diverse cause areas including global health, animal welfare, AI safety, biosecurity, and economic development. The funds operate as distinct programmatic pillars under a unified mission to maximize charitable impact, with each fund managed independently to address specific global challenges.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Abundance & Growth Fund

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 250 million hens spared from cage confinement through Open Wing Alliance campaign
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• The World BankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoefficient Giving's DIV Fund partnership plans to work with major donors like the World Bank and other countries to promote evidence-based development interventions.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI): Large private philanthropic vehicle funded by a tech billionaire (Mark Zuckerberg), combining grantmaking, in-house R&D, and equity-style investments. Closely comparable to Coefficient in funder base, age cohort, and willingness to deploy philanthropic capital into companies and venture-style bets.
• Arnold Ventures: Large U.S. philanthropic foundation backed by a single high-net-worth donor (John Arnold), operating multiple thematic programs with rigorous research-driven strategy. Highly comparable operating model to Coefficient.
• Good Ventures: The original funder that seeded Open Philanthropy (now Coefficient Giving); continues to deploy hundreds of millions annually in effective altruism-aligned causes. Closely comparable donor base, cause-selection philosophy, and effective-altruism orientation.

Broad incumbents

• Ford Foundation: One of the largest U.S. private foundations, deploying over $1B annually across inequality, democracy, and development causes. Comparable grantmaking scale and global footprint.
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: The world's largest private philanthropic foundation, deploying tens of billions across global health, development, and education. Directly comparable to Coefficient in operating model (strategic grantmaking, in-house research) but at substantially greater scale and with a broader health/development focus.
• Wellcome Trust: Major UK-based foundation focused on global health, mental health, and discovery research. Comparable to Coefficient in funding scientific R&D, vaccine development, and pandemic preparedness at scale.
• Bloomberg Philanthropies: Major philanthropic vehicle funded by a single billionaire (Michael Bloomberg) covering public health, environment, and cities. Comparable in single-donor-funded scale and multi-thematic structure, though less focused on AI/catastrophic-risk areas.
• Lilly Endowment: Large U.S. private foundation deploying over $1B annually across religion, education, and community development. Comparable in cumulative grantmaking scale and private-foundation structure.

Emerging players

• Founders Pledge: Effective-altruism-aligned philanthropic platform aggregating donations from tech founders. Comparable cause-selection methodology and donor base, though smaller in annual deployment than Coefficient.
• OpenAI Foundation / AI Safety Grants: Tech-company-affiliated grantmaking to AI safety and alignment research — directly overlapping with Coefficient's Navigating Transformative AI fund. Represents an adjacent funder in the same emerging AI-safety philanthropic category.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/open_phil
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/open-philanthropy-project
• Facebookfacebook.com/openphilanthropy

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments25 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Coefficient Giving