California · Nonprofit
Lightcone Infrastructure Inc
Lightcone Infrastructure Inc (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,797,301 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($590,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $9.7M
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $2.1M
What Lightcone Infrastructure Inc does
Mission
We conduct cross-disciplinary research, and build the technical, organizational, and community infrastructure that lets that research matter, so humanity can navigate the decisive technological and societal challenges of the 21st century and secure a flourishing long-term future.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Lightcone Rose Garden LLC operates Lighthaven, a dedicated research conference and retreat venue in Berkeley, California, providing physical infrastructure for seminars, workshops, research retreats, and extended collaborative research residencies. The venue hosts researchers from universities, institutes, and independent research groups working on AI alignment, cognitive science, and related fields, enabling sustained in-person collaboration on technical research questions. Programming includes multi-day research workshops, invited research retreats where participants spend one to two weeks on focused investigation, and regular seminars and colloquia presenting original research findings.
$4,276,972 spent$2,096,442 earned by the program56% of program spendingLightcone General operates online research infrastructure for the AI safety and rationality research communities, including LessWrong.com and the AI Alignment Forum two of the most widely-cited platforms for technical AI alignment research. Staff maintain and develop these platforms to facilitate the publication, peer review, and discussion of original research in AI safety, decision theory, and related fields. The program also supports community coordination among researchers across academic, nonprofit, and independent settings, and providesoperational infrastructure for Lightcone Infrastructure's other research programs.
$2,402,035 spentof which $130,000 as grants$1,356,352 earned by the program32% of program spendingSpecial Research Programs supports independent researchers working on technical problems in AI alignment and AI safety through fiscal sponsorship and operational support. Current research agendas include work on natural abstractions and interpretability (John Wentworth), development of improved measurement methodologies for AI safety evaluation (Missing Measures, led by Adam Scholl and Aysja Johnson), and systematic monitoring and analysis of AI laboratory safety practices and governance commitments (AI Lab Watch, led by Zach Stein-Perlman). These researchers produce original empirical and theoretical contributions published through peer-reviewed venues, technical report series, and the organization's research platforms.
$905,202 spent$224 earned by the program12% of program spendingThe AI Risk Mitigation Fund is a grantmaking program making grants for technical research, policy, and training programs aimed at reducing catastrophic risks from advanced artificial intelligence. The program was previously hosted by another public charity, which transferred responsibility for the program, together with the restricted funds it held for it, to the organization during 2025.
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,584,209.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2024, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2024, 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 2024 to 2025, from $792k to $23M (+2779%).
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.
65% of Lightcone Infrastructure Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 2 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.
Chief executive
Oliver Habryka
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
8 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 81% 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 Lightcone Infrastructure Inc’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
Lightcone Infrastructure Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 33% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
81% 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 Lightcone Infrastructure Inc.
“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.
Where its funders are
81% of Lightcone Infrastructure Inc'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 $333k that is directly attributable, 70% of it comes from California funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
Lightcone Infrastructure Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Lightcone Infrastructure Inc
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
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Lightcone Rose Garden LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Lightcone Infrastructure Inc: 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 Lightcone Infrastructure Inc?
- Lightcone Infrastructure Inc (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,797,301 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($590,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Lightcone Infrastructure Inc have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $1,797,301 in grants to Lightcone Infrastructure Inc, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Lightcone Infrastructure Inc?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $590,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Lightcone Infrastructure Inc 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 FY2025 (financials across 2024–2025), and the filings of 10 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing