Skip to content

California · Public charity

OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc

OpenAIs mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.

$7.6M
Granted FY2024(still arriving)
22
Grants FY2024
12
Organizations funded FY2023
92%
First-time grantees FY2023
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2024
$230,000
Largest grant, FY2024
$1,000,000
Organizations funded a year
1 to 12
FY2020 to FY2023
States reached, FY2024
12
Total assets, FY2024
$15M

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2023, 92% of the organizations OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc funded were first-time grantees, receiving 84% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 16% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.8M went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’21’22’23
EducationScience & TechOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2024still arriving18$6.4M78%
FY202312$2.1M92%
FY20222$363k100%
FY20211$75k0%
FY20208$10Mn/a
100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Science & Tech$15MEducation$3.5MPublic Safety & Disaster$1.0MCommunity Improvement$750kCivil Rights$118kHealth$110kSocial Science$106kPublic Benefit$104kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
IL
MI
NY
MA
PA
NJ
CA
CO
MO
VA
NC
DC
AL
GA
TX

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2020 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
UBI Charitable Inc$10,075,000238%
Meridian Prime Inc$1,000,00018%
Regents of the University of California at Berkeley$950,0001n/a
Carnegie Mellon University$950,00010%
Operation Hope Inc$750,00021%
Center for AI Safety Inc$666,66623%
Duke University$666,66620%
The Trustees of Princeton University$420,00010%
New York University$395,00010%
Regents of the University of Michigan$382,0002n/a
Show all 32 grantees
All grantees of OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
UBI Charitable Inc$10,075,000238%
Meridian Prime Inc$1,000,00018%
Regents of the University of California at Berkeley$950,0001n/a
Carnegie Mellon University$950,00010%
Operation Hope Inc$750,00021%
Center for AI Safety Inc$666,66623%
Duke University$666,66620%
The Trustees of Princeton University$420,00010%
New York University$395,00010%
Regents of the University of Michigan$382,0002n/a
The Eleutherai Institute$250,00019%
Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago$230,00012%
Khan Academy Inc$200,00020%
Rector & Visitors of the University of Virginia$200,0001n/a
University of Texas$180,0001n/a
Cornell University$150,00010%
Washington University$133,00010%
University of Illinois Foundation$110,00010%
University of Washington Foundation$108,00010%
Inst for Meaning Alignment$104,0001n/a
Benefits Data Trust$100,00012%
Digital Green Foundation$100,00011%
Partnership on Ai to Benefit People and Society$100,00012%
Recidiviz Inc$50,00010%
Creative Commons Corporation$50,00011%
Black Girls Code Inc$49,76610%
American Civil Liberties Union Inc$42,94510%
NAACP Legal Defense & Educ Fund Inc$36,77710%
We the Protesters Inc$26,70810%
Equal Justice Initiative$19,69810%
Thurgood Marshall College Fund$15,71110%
Southern Poverty Law Center Inc$11,71510%

Plus 3 recipients with no EIN on record ($636k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 27 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUBI Charitable Inc: $10,075,000 over 2y, 38% of budgetMeridian Prime Inc: $1,000,000 over 1y, 7.6% of budgetCarnegie Mellon University: $950,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOperation Hope Inc: $750,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetCenter for AI Safety Inc: $666,666 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetDuke University: $666,666 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetThe Trustees of Princeton University: $420,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNew York University: $395,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Eleutherai Institute: $250,000 over 1y, 8.9% of budgetToyota Technological Institute at Chicago: $230,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetKhan Academy Inc: $200,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCornell University: $150,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWashington University: $133,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $110,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Washington Foundation: $108,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBenefits Data Trust: $100,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetDigital Green Foundation: $100,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetPartnership on Ai to Benefit People and Society: $100,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetRecidiviz Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCreative Commons Corporation: $50,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetBlack Girls Code Inc: $49,766 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAmerican Civil Liberties Union Inc: $42,945 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNAACP Legal Defense & Educ Fund Inc: $36,777 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWe the Protesters Inc: $26,708 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEqual Justice Initiative: $19,698 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThurgood Marshall College Fund: $15,711 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSouthern Poverty Law Center Inc: $11,715 over 1y, 0.0% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 27.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Silicon Valley Community FoundationCA16.5× affinity7 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The Patrick J McGovern Foundation Inc · Gates Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Compare OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc with peer funders

About OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc

How much does OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc give?
OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc reported 22 grants totaling $7,610,333 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 1 and 12 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2023.
What does OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc fund?
By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2024, its largest causes are Science & Tech (71%), Education (17%), Public Safety & Disaster (5%).
Who are OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2020 to FY2024: UBI Charitable Inc ($10M), Meridian Prime Inc ($1.0M), Regents of the University of California at Berkeley ($950k).
Does OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc fund new organizations?
In FY2023, 92% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Which funders back the same organizations as OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Silicon Valley Community Foundation, The Patrick J McGovern Foundation Inc, Gates Foundation.
Where is OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc based?
OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI Inc is based in CA.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 39 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on OpenAI Foundation fka OpenAI’s filings →

More from the funding graph