California · Nonprofit
BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE
BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE (California) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,316,874 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($14,427,760). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 92% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.8M
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $23M
- Net assets
- $4.3M
What Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative does
Mission
To improve human civilizations long-term prospects for survival and flourishing. Currently, our main strategy is collaborating with university research groups working to reduce existential risk, by providing them with free services and support.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The ml alignment theory scholars mats is an independent research and educational seminar program that connects talented scholars with top mentors in the fields of ai alignment, interpretability, and governance. For 10 weeks, mats scholars conduct research while also attending talks, workshops, and networking events with other members of the berkeley alignment research community.
$3,219,325 spentof which $1,633,000 as grants45% of program spendingUniversity collaborations main we collaborated with research groups at uc berkeley, mit, the university of oxford, the university of cambridge, umass amherst, stanford, and princeton, providing services free-of-charge to support the field of existential risk reduction.
$3,732,201 spentof which $854,055 as grants52% of program spendingUniversity collaborations trial similar to our main collaborations program, but smaller, more exploratory, and with a wider variety of academic research groups.
$196,602 spentof which $54,600 as grants3% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,148,128.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $2.4M to $6.0M (+146%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
86% of BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (70% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Andrew Critch
Board chair, president
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $440k → $6.5M.
10 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 92% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 62% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
98% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 92% · 2018 54% · 2019 97% · 2020 88% · 2021 65% · 2022 84% · 2023 74% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
56% of BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 40% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
92% of BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $2.0M that is directly attributable, 50% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $21M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE has grown faster than three-quarters of the 807 public safety & disaster nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 807 public safety & disaster nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE?
- BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE (California) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,316,874 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($14,427,760). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 92% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $23,316,874 in grants to BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $14,427,760 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 20 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing