The Open Philanthropy Project (also called Open Phil) is a center-left funding nonprofit founded in 2016 by political donor Cari Tuna and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz. It is the 501(c)(3) fundraising arm of the Open Philanthropy Action Fund, a 501(c)(4) advocacy group.
The similarly named Open Philanthropy Project Fund is a donor-advised fund associated with the Open Philanthropy Project and hosted by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. 1
Background
Open Philanthropy Project was founded in 2016 by Cari Tuna and Dustin Moskovitz. Nick Beckstead and Andrew Snyder-Beattie, two former Open Philanthropy Program Officers, had previously interacted in several group communications that included Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of defunct cryptocurrency exchange company FTX. Both were amongst several Open Philanthropy employees that had contributed to the campaign for Carrick Flynn, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democrat nomination to represent Oregon’s 6th Congressional District during the 2022 midterm elections. In 2021 Beckstead left Open Philanthropy to serve as CEO of FTX’s philanthropic organization the FTX Foundation. 2 3
Funding
According to its IRS Form 990 filings for 2016 and 2017, the Open Philanthropy Project reported less than $50,000 in revenues in each year; thus the group only filed a Form 990-N e-postcard containing minimal information.
References
- “Press Kit.” Open Philanthropy Project. Accessed November 15, 2019. https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/press-kit#What_is_the_Open_Philanthropy_Project
- Pahwa, Nitish. “The Money Is Oregone.” Slate, December 13, 2023. https://slate.com/technology/2023/12/sam-bankman-fried-sbf-oregon-carrick-flynn-ftx-effective-altruism-congress-campaign.html
- “Carrick Flynn.” BallotPedia, Accessed January 2, 2024. https://ballotpedia.org/Carrick_Flynn