California · Nonprofit
THE CLEAR FUND
THE CLEAR FUND (California) receives grants from 327 organizations whose IRS filings report $475,873,464 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($256,959,064). 183 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $270M
- Funders on record
- 327
- Grants received
- $476M
- Net assets
- $266M
What The Clear Fund does
Mission
Givewell is dedicated to finding and funding outstanding giving opportunities in global health and development, sharing the full details of our analysis with everyone for free.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Our giving funds enable donors to contribute to the most impactful and cost-effective programs our researchers identify. In 2024, thanks to the generosity of more than 30,000 donors, givewell recommended and/or funded grants of more than $365 million to these exceptional opportunities to do good, which we estimate will reach around 34 million people and save around 74,000 lives.
$177,384,209 spentof which $163,148,227 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $177,384,209.
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 2022 to 2023, from $118M to $209M (+77%).
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.
96% of THE CLEAR FUND’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (80% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Elie Hassenfeld
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Tim Ogden
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 31 funders to 129 funders, grant income rose $1.9M → $94M.
57 of 327 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 93% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $72M from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest Tansy Charitable Foundation); $32M from 30 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Silicon Valley Community Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money THE CLEAR FUND raised.
From the IRS filings of THE CLEAR FUND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 327 funders by total. 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
THE CLEAR FUND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
95% 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 THE CLEAR FUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 46% · 2019 51% · 2020 43% · 2021 27% · 2022 31% · 2023 63% — growing more concentrated.
“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
40% of THE CLEAR FUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
93% of THE CLEAR FUND'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 $35M that is directly attributable, 85% of it comes from funders outside California, across 41 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $441M arriving through sponsors registered in 21 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
THE CLEAR FUND has grown faster than three-quarters of the 153 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 153 philanthropy nonprofits over $100M, FY2024
Organizations like THE CLEAR FUND
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
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Givewell UK · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE CLEAR FUND: 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 THE CLEAR FUND?
- THE CLEAR FUND (California) receives grants from 327 organizations whose IRS filings report $475,873,464 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($256,959,064). 183 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE CLEAR FUND have?
- IRS filings report 327 organizations giving $475,873,464 in grants to THE CLEAR FUND, 183 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CLEAR FUND?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $256,959,064 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CLEAR FUND 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 327 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