California · Nonprofit
MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC
MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC (California) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,648,787 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($15,949,143). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 89% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 26
- Grants received
- $22M
- Net assets
- $15M
What Machine Intelligence Research Institute Inc does
Mission
To ensure that the creation of smarter-than-human intelligence has a positive impact. Thus, the charitable purpose of the organization is to: a) perform research relevant to ensuring that smarter-than-human intelligence has a positive impact; b) raise awareness of this important issue; c) advise researchers, leasers and laypeople around the world; d) as necessary, implement a smarter-than-human intelligence with humane, stable goals.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Research program activities - activities included ongoing core alignment research work; the visible thoughts project; an ml-focused research project and team led by vivek hebbar; recruiting a new research manager. Research leadership continued to seek out promising research directions while publishing expository writing and analysis.
$4,642,241 spentof which $118,000 as grants84% of program spendingOutreach - outreach activities included several podcast appearances, recruiting and building a new communications team, participation in new legislative conversations and opportunities (such as participating in the u.s. Senate's eighth bipartisan ai insight forum), and engaging in broader public communications (such as yudkowsky's time op-ed).
$914,918 spentof which $200,000 as grants16% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,557,159.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 2020 to 2021, from $9.8M to $30M (+201%).
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.
39% of MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 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
Malo Bourgon
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Eliezer Yudkowsky
Chair, head researcher
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 9 funders, grant income fell $3.9M → $1.1M.
12 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 89% 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 MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE 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
MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 74% of grant income and the top three 86%; 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 MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 97% · 2018 60% · 2019 78% · 2020 80% · 2021 32% · 2022 43% · 2023 76% — 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
53% of MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
89% of MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE 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 $2.5M that is directly attributable, 97% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $19M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC's revenue fell 74% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 482 science & tech nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE 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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 3 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE 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 MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC?
- MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC (California) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,648,787 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($15,949,143). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 89% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC have?
- IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $21,648,787 in grants to MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $15,949,143 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 26 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