Manifund is a $2M+ annual charitable regranting platform (founded 2022) that provides fast grants (<1 week) to AI safety projects through expert regrantors ($50K-400K budgets), fiscal sponsorship, and experimental impact certificates. The platform distributed $2.06M in 2023 (~40% to AI safety research), with a growing focus on AI safety evaluations and field-building.
Facts
2Other Data
| Dimension | Rating | Evidence | Assessor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| fiscal-sponsorship | Yes | 501(c)(3) status; 5% fee for large donors | editorial | |
| focus-areas | AI Safety Primary | ~80% of grants to x-risk/AI safety | editorial | |
| mechanism-innovation | High | Pioneered impact certificates, regranting at scale | editorial | |
| related-platform | Manifold Markets | Shared founders, infrastructure, community | editorial | |
| scale | Growing | $2M+ in 2023; $2.25M raised for 2025 regrants | editorial | |
| speed | Very Fast | Grant recommendation to disbursement in under 1 week | editorial | |
| team-size | Small | ~3 core staff (Austin Chen, Rachel Weinberg, Saul Munn) | editorial | |
| transparency | Very High | All grants public with explanations | editorial |
| Title | Date | EventType | Significance | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACX Grants 2025 funds 42 of 654 applications | 2025-01 | milestone | moderate | — | |
| $2.25M raised for 10 regrantors | 2025 | funding | moderate | — | |
| Manifest 2024 (600 attendees) | 2024-06 | milestone | moderate | — | |
| Impact certificate experiments conclude with mixed results | 2024-01 | milestone | moderate | — | |
| ACX Grants 2024 includes impact market for 50+ proposals | 2024 | milestone | moderate | — | |
| First Manifest conference (250 attendees, Berkeley) | 2023-09 | milestone | moderate | — | |
| Anonymous donor "D" provides $1.5M for regranting program | 2023-05 | funding | major | — | |
| $2.06M distributed ($2.012M grants + $45K impact certificates) | 2023 | milestone | moderate | — | |
| Manifund launches with ~12 regrantors ($50K-400K budgets each) | 2023 | launch | major | — | |
| Receives $500K from FTX Future Fund for charity prediction markets | 2022 | funding | moderate | — | |
| Scott Alexander approaches team about ACX Grants via impact certificates | 2022 | milestone | moderate | — | |
| Manifund incorporated as separate 501(c)(3) | 2022 | milestone | major | — | |
| Rachel Weinberg joins; builds manifund.org in two weeks | 2022 | milestone | moderate | — | |
| Manifold Markets founded | 2021-12 | founding | major | Founded by Austin Chen, Stephen Grugett, and James Grugett. |
Divisions
2Experimental impact certificate marketplace where project creators sell shares of their impact to retroactive funders.
Platform enabling individuals to receive tax-deductible donations for regranting. Provides fiscal sponsorship for individual regranters.
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