A Look Under the Hood of the OpenAI Foundation's People-First AI Fund - Inside Philanthropy

OpenAI Foundation’s People-First AI Fund is investing in AI for service providers | Inside Philanthropy Skip to main content 
 Skip to secondary menu 
 Skip to primary sidebar 
 Skip to footer 
 Credit: Evolf/Shutterstock In November of 2025, OpenAI restructured as a public benefit corporation — a for-profit company with a commitment to making a positive impact on society and the environment while generating financial return. The nonprofit that controlled OpenAI, rebranded as the OpenAI Foundation, received a 26% equity stake valued at $130 billion in OpenAI Group PBC. 

 The restructuring generated a litany of questions , not the least of which was what the OpenAI Foundation’s grantmaking would look like. Fortunately, the company had offered some clues in the run-up to the announcement. 

 In September 2025, it launched the People-First AI Fund to support nonprofits “working at the intersection of innovation and public good.” Two months later, the foundation announced its first recipients . It would disburse $40.5 million in unrestricted grants to 208 U.S.-based nonprofits by the end of the year, and a second wave of $9.5 million in board-directed grants would be announced in the following months.

 At a time when some funders are grappling with ways to anticipate AI’s more profound impacts on society, People-First AI Fund grantees, some of which have never used AI or are in the early adoption phase, hope to leverage the technology to optimize service delivery in areas like mental health , education and food security. 

 Many organizations in the direct services field have struggled to generate sustainable philanthropic support in recent years, as small donor support declines, and some funders pivot to advocacy and organizing to address the root causes of problems. Federal funding cuts and lapsed foundation funding over the past 12 months have exacerbated this challenge. If the People-First AI Fund can help recipients operate more efficiently, the initiative will emerge as a compelling case study of how a grantmaker can leverage AI to drive meaningful, short-term impact.

 “One thing the grantees have in common is that they’re community-driven,” said Daniel Zingale, who convened OpenAI’s nonprofit commission, which supported an engagement process to inform how OpenAI’s philanthropy can address long-term systemic issues. “And what we heard, wherever we went, was that AI should benefit all of humanity, and humanity needs a seat at the table.”

 How the People-First AI Fund came together

 The seeds of the fund were planted in April of last year, when OpenAI assembled a nonprofit commission tasked with informing OpenAI’s philanthropic efforts. 

 The company “communicated a genuine interest in getting community input,” said Zingale, who previously served as senior vice president of the The California Endowment and strategist to California Govs. Gavin Newsom and Arnold Schwarzenegger. “If you believe that AI carries with it extreme promise and extre

... (truncated, 10 KB total)