Effective Institutions Project (EIP)

Effective Institutions Project (EIP) is a working group of academics, businesses, philanthropic groups, and policy makers who seek to improve the quality of decision making at institutions, especially left-of-center philanthropies. Effective Institutions Project looks at altruistic factors and technological competence along with strategy models for determining how to improve decision making.

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At-A-Glance

Type: Non-profit, 501(c)(3)
Website: www.effectiveinstitutionsproject.org
Founded:

2021

Executive Director:

Ian David Moss

Location: Tarrytown, NY View on map
Tax ID: 93-2725003
Most Recent Filing: 2024
Budget (2024): Assets: $1,328,332 Revenue: $1,693,304 Expenses: $727,915

Contents

    Effective Institutions Project works with several left-of-center philanthropies, including the Hewlett Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Open Philanthropy, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. 1

    History

    Effective Institutions Project (formerly the Improving Institutional Decision-Making Working Group) was founded in 2021 as a funder collaborative and research organization. 2 The organization is a global working group of academics, philanthropic groups, businesses, and policymakers seeking to improve the quality of decision-making at institutions, especially left-of-center philanthropies. 3

    Work

    Effective Institutions Project is a working group for improving institutional decision making that analyzes issues and makes recommendations through publications on various topics. 4 Effective Institutions Project works by analyzing how and in what ways decisions influence people’s lives, how institutions currently make decisions, identify events or interventions that may cause an organization to take action that lead to better outcomes, and organize talent or funding to execute promising interventions. 5

    Effective Institutions Project works either through a specific-strategy model that assumes a particular institution in mind with an idea on how to improve decision-making or a generic-strategy model comparing many institutions at once for determining the upside of engaging with an institution. 6 EIP identifies two factors that determine decision-making quality: how altruistically an organization is and technical competence. 7 A concern of the Effective Institutions Project is that an institution may misjudge risks, make decisions based on expediency, or fail to seek better alternative decisions. 8

    Partners

    Working group members have included the academic institutions Harvard University and the University of Chicago. 9 Philanthropic organizations contributing input have included the Hewlett Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Open Philanthropy, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Additional partners include 80,000 Hours, Effective Giving, Founders Pledge, Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges, Initiative on Apex Court Appointments, Longview Philanthropy, Metaculus, Rethink Priorities, Schmidt Futures, and So Give. 1

    Finances

    In 2022, the Effective Institutions Project received an 18-month $300,000 grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. 10 In 2021, the Effective Altruism Fund gave $95,000 to the Effective Institutions Project. 11

    Leadership

    Ian David Moss founded and has been executive director of the Effective Institutions Project since inception in 2021. 12 Since January 2023, Moss has been philanthropic advisor to Laidir Foundation. 12 Moss has been principal at Knowledge Empower L3C, a fundraising consulting organization whose clients have included the Walton Family Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union. 12 Since 2004, Moss has worked in grant making and consulting for the Democracy Fund, Createquity, Fractured Atlas, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the American Music Center, and Music with a Capital M. 12

    Moss stated concern about the future of the United States after the election of President Donald Trump in 2016. 13 Moss has an MBA and bachelor’s degree from Yale University. 12

    Financial Statistics

    Total Assets

    Total Revenue

    Total Expenses

    YearTotal AssetsTotal RevenueTotal ExpensesFiling
    2024 $1,328,332 $1,693,304 $727,915 View
    2023 $379,903 $435,000 $56,300 View

    Revenue Detail

    Expenses Detail

    Employee Compensation

    • Number of Employees: 2

    Highest Earning Employees

    EmployeeTitleTotal Compensation
    Ian David MossChief Executive Officer and Secretary$160,000

    Grant Activity

    All-time grants received statistics from Candid dataset:

    • Total Grant Value: $2,080,000
    • Number of Grants: 8
    • Number of Funders: 6

    Selection of highest value grants received from the last seven years:

    AmountYearFunderSubject
    $1,000,0002025 The Casey & Family Foundation C/o the Philanthropic InitiativeCHARITABLE
    $300,0002024 Vanguard CharitableFOR RECIPIENT'S EXEMPT PURPOSE
    $285,0002023 Nine Muses FoundationTransfer of the Effective Institutions Project's operations
    $150,0002025 The David and Lucile Packard Foundationfor general support
    $150,0002025 The David and Lucile Packard Foundationfor general support
    $150,0002024 The David and Lucile Packard Foundationfor core support for the Revitalizing American Governance project
    $25,0002025 American Online Giving Foundation IncGENERAL SUPPORT
    $20,0002024 Fathom Ai IncSTRATEGIC SUPPORT FOR GRANT ADVISORY PRACTICE.

    All-time grants given statistics from Candid dataset:

    • Total Grant Value: $17,000
    • Number of Grants: 1
    • Number of Recipients: 1

    Selection of highest value grants given from the last seven years:

    AmountYearFunderSubject
    $17,0002024 Rethink PrioritiesAI governance project

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    Financials, employee compensation, and grant information provided by Candid.

    Mentioned in this Article

    References

    1. “Partners.” Effective Institutions Project. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://effectiveinstitutionsproject.org/#team.
    2. “Ian David Moss.” LinkedIn. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/iandavidmoss/; “Effective Institutions Project.” Effective Altruism Forum. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/topics/effective-institutions-project.
    3. “Effective Institutions Project.” LinkedIn. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/company/effective-institutions/.
    4. Moss, Ian David, Laura Green, Vicky Clayton. “Improving Institutional Decision Making: A New Working Group.” Effective Altruism Forum. December 29, 2020. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/94QtuT4ss3RzrfH8A/improving-institutional-decision-making-a-new-working-group; “Publications.” Effective Institutions Project. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://effectiveinstitutionsproject.org/publications/.
    5. [1] “What We Do.” Effective Institutions Project. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://effectiveinstitutionsproject.org.
    6. Moss, Ian David. “Improving Institutional Decision-Making: Which Institutions?” Effective Altruism Forum. August 22, 2021. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ttpSEgE3by7AAhQ7w/improving-institutional-decision-making-which-institutions-a.
    7. “Improving Institutional Decision-Making.” Effective Thesis. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://effectivethesis.org/thesis-topics/institutional-decision-making/.
    8. “Why It Matters.” Effective Institutions Project. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://effectiveinstitutionsproject.org.
    9. “A Funder’s Guide to AI Governance.” Effective Institutions Project. September 2023. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WZhFM-M195EFV4qM7kNKxRtAzd5qYoGZoux6rohvvO0/edit?pli=1#heading=h.14ky9uwuz7kv;
    10. “Nine Muses Foundation.” David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://www.packard.org/grants-and-investments/grants-database/nine-muses-foundation/.
    11. “Effective Institutions Project.” Effective Altruism Fund. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/grants?search=effective+inst&sort=round.
    12. “Ian David Moss.” LinkedIn. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/iandavidmoss/.
    13. Moss, Ian David. “Recommendations for Prioritizing Political Engagement in the 2020 US Elections.” Effective Altruism Forum. October 14, 2020. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/bpeWM6uwPaMP3kJsC/recommendations-for-prioritizing-political-engagement-in-the.