QuestBridge seriously changed my life. I had to opportunity to attend Stanford University through the National College Match program, and knew that I was accepted before many of my peers, allowing me to focus on my part-time jobs at the time. They do a great job with an expanded network of support throughout college years, too.

Recently, I learned that a colleague and friend credits Questbridge for helping her achieve some incredible feats: attending Stanford, becoming a topnotch engineer...I'm inspired to know that Questbridge is supporting young, talented people from diverse backgrounds and I'm honored to now be a small part of their work!

HRW exists to protect us all from human rights violations. No matter how dangerous or chronic a scenario, they investigate, expose, and CHANGE the injustice. Their work is relied upon by every major international tribunal to provide the evidence needed to bring an end to war crimes and other human rights violations. 

Founders Pledge produces incredible research, helping others navigate the complicated giving landscape. I know that when I give to this Fund, I’m supporting the best nonprofits combatting climate change. 

Popular entertainment is arguably society's most powerful for change. But the lack of accurate representation in mainstream entertainment perpetuates the racial divide. There is no shortage of talented BIPOC creators. The only scarcity is opportunity, funding, and risk taking for them within the Hollywood machine. Rideback Rise is ensuring creators of all backgrounds can tell their stories and see themselves in popular culture, creating a system of change designed to reshape majority opinions. Everybody in. Everybody forward. Everybody up.

Casa provides FREE legal representation for asylum seekers, unaccompanied children, and victims of human rights. They do essential work to preserve the integrity of America's promise and the dignity of humans. I admire what they do so deeply - especially at a time when the denial rate for asylum seekers is at an all time high. 

I decided to become a monthly donor to EJI because they never give up on truth, justice, and freedom. 

Sometime I feel paralyzed around what I SHOULD do to support those around the world. Founders Pledge champions evidence-led organizations who are making exponential impact. Giving to this fund has given me a sense of pride in knowing my contributions are making a difference. 

HAMO fills a necessary gap that currently exists in our safety net services programs. Foods Stamps don't allow families to buy diapers...diapers are expensive but essential to keeping a baby healthy (and keeping parents sane). HAMO partners with social service agencies to provide diapers to those receiving other services. They're smart, committed, and an incredible organization!

Every person and child deserves an opportunity to live a healthy life. The Against Malaria Foundation provides effective preventative measures for an incredibly low cost. What could be better?

QuestBridge creates programs for talented low-income students to access exceptional educational and life opportunities.

QuestBridge has successfully shaped the lives of the most promising, low-income students in the nation and has helped them unlock billions in scholarships.

Every year, there are over 30,000 outstanding high school students from low-income backgrounds who are academically qualified to attend the nation’s top colleges. Over 80% of them do not apply to even ONE selective college and they remain highly under-represented on leading college campuses.

Many of these promising students assume they can’t afford an education at a top college. Others lack the education about what it takes to apply to a selective college, or simply assume they can’t be admitted.

When low-income students miss the opportunity to apply to and attend great colleges, this has a profound effect on their futures. Many end up reaching below their actual academic potential, or they don't attend college at all. Of those who attend college, most don't graduate.

This vast amount of untapped talent equates to a staggering loss in human potential. As America strives to remain competitive in our global society, promising students from across the economic spectrum are vital to the wealth and future of our nation-at-large.

Using innovative data methods to target and reach thousands of high-achieving, low-income students, we provide programs that help students reach their fullest potential, which could include attending a top-tier college on a full scholarship. We also provide these students with ongoing resources and a supportive community of Scholars to help them thrive in college and beyond.

QuestBridge

Our researchers investigate human rights crises in some 90 countries around the world. Their work has led to significant change.

– We address the underlying causes of human rights abuse around the world 

– We help bring about change at the highest levels of society, by compelling government and international institutions to take action 

– We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom, to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice.

– We make a lasting impact on human conditions, by helping bring violators to justice, pushing for stronger laws and fostering international cooperation to advance human rights 

– We have a 30-year track record of raising awareness and advancing successful strategies for ending human rights abuse, often partnering with local groups and human rights defenders to achieve our goals

Human Rights Watch

Supporting highly-impactful, evidence-based solutions to the triple challenge of climate change, air pollution and energy poverty.

## The Founders Pledge Perspective

Climate change is one part of a triple challenge surrounding energy production. Not only does most current energy production lead to damaging carbon emissions, the effects of which are devastating ecosystems and changing our planet beyond recognition, it also pollutes the air and leaves many of the world’s poor without sufficient energy. This adds up to an environmental and humanitarian crisis.

Thus, we face a triple challenge: we not only need to drive down carbon emissions to near zero by mid-century, and drastically reduce air pollution, but we need to do so while supporting work to reduce global poverty that will often be accompanied, or even driven, by increased energy consumption.

We aim to take a holistic approach that recognizes the global nature of this challenge, as well as the fact that, despite its urgency, we are still in the early days of climate action. This means that the solutions that we focus on will not only reduce emissions now, but will do so in a way that avoids future emissions, while also creating opportunities for the world’s poor and eventually ending energy poverty entirely.

We aim to do this in three ways:

- **Audacious advocacy**: By focusing our grantmaking on organizations leveraging large amounts of money through policy advocacy. There are highly effective organizations with budgets in the millions of dollars which have influenced government innovation budgets, orders of magnitude larger than their costs. By looking for opportunities with leverage like this, we can have an outsize impact.
- **Accelerating low-carbon innovation**: By finding and funding advocacy opportunities that strengthen the energy innovation eco-system or promote particularly neglected technologies. As the success of solar has shown for electricity, the availability of cheap, low carbon alternatives to our current energy sources can make a very significant difference. Efficient, low-cost technology can spread around the world without inter-governmental cooperation or expensive policies to spread around the world, making it a more robust strategy in a world where climate action will often not be the first priority of policy makers and the public.
- **Focusing on blindspots and bottlenecks**: By focusing on areas neglected by other stakeholders, we can ensure that fund dollars make as much difference as possible. While some technologies, such as solar, enjoy widespread popularity and significant policy support, this is not similarly true for other approaches, resulting in a huge imbalance in resource allocation. By finding and funding advocates for overlooked solutions, such as carbon capture and storage technology, we can ensure we are making the most of every tool available to us in the fight against climate change.

Managed by two members of the Founders Pledge Research team, the Climate Change Fund identifies and supports sustainable, evidence-based solutions to the “triple challenge” of carbon emissions, air pollution, and energy poverty.

## Our Approach to Grantmaking

When evaluating potential grants, we consider several key points:

- **Counterfactual impact**. Our grants are designed to create a meaningful outcome that would not otherwise have happened. In particular, we aim to make grants that otherwise wouldn’t have been made, rather than those which just take the place of other philanthropists’ donations. This means that you can rely on the Funds to create meaningful, real change, rather than just maintaining the status quo.
- **Impact-driven philanthropy**. The goal of this fund is maximal positive impact, irrespective of this impact being “sexy” or visible. This means we will focus on opportunities that others focused on clear attribution of their work or shiny outcomes might neglect. For example, we are very comfortable funding organizations to increase their general capacity and strategy when we perceive this as their bottleneck to higher impact, rather than being tied to specific outcomes or deliverables.
- **The organization’s funding gap**. Not all organizations are set up to scale up their programming and many can’t productively absorb large amounts of unsolicited funding. We evaluate all potential grantees’ capacity for growth and consider how much money they could put to good use.
- **Organizational strength**. Particularly with unrestricted funding, it’s important to have trust in the leadership and capacity of the organizations we support. We look at their track record of success and their transparency about failures as well as successes, and we only support those organizations which are exceptionally well run.
- **Time-critical opportunities and funding certainty**. While Founders Pledge members give to our top climate charities regularly, sometimes there are time-critical opportunities which require fast decisions. Or there are needs for certainty of funding streams to allow new hires and start new campaigns and programs. We will use the Fund to make grants that enable such short-term opportunities and stability for high-impact funding opportunities thereby increasing the impact compared to individual giving to specific organizations.
- **Portfolio approach**. Because most climate damage comes from particular severe outcomes – with a world of 4 degrees of warming being much worse than twice as bad as a world with 2 degrees – and because every particular strategy – such as energy innovation – might underdeliver, we pursue a portfolio approach to maximize positive impact. This means we will diversify our bets in ways that, when one approach fails (such as energy innovation), the others we promote (such as carbon removal) can be expected to be particularly important and still available. This maximizes the expected impact of your donation in a world characterized by huge uncertainty about the success of different high-impact solutions.

## Frequently-Asked Questions

**Can charities apply for money from the Fund?**

The Funds do not generally accept applications from charities. If the Fund Managers choose to open up an application round, this will be publicized. Charities are requested not to send unsolicited applications for funding.

**How frequently will you make grants from the Fund?**

Fund Managers will review grant-making decisions on a quarterly basis. Decisions will be made based on the value of Funds and the available options for high-impact grant-making. We may sometimes delay grant-making if we believe that waiting for more promising opportunities will be more impactful. Conversely, we may disburse funds outside of our quarterly review dates if we become aware of a particularly promising and time-sensitive funding opportunity.

**How will my contribution be used?**

All funds are granted out. The Fund is not an investment vehicle. The Fund does not use any percentage of contributions to cover staff time or other overhead costs. Every dollar contributed to the Fund will be used to make grants directly to end-user organizations creating a real difference.

## More Questions?

To learn more about the Founders Pledge Climate Change Fund, please visit [founderspledge.com](https://founderspledge.com/funds/climate-change-fund) or email the Fund Managers at [funds@founderspledge.com](mailto:funds@founderspledge.com).

Climate Change Fund

A new non-profit content accelerator empowering the next generation of Hollywood leaders.

Our Mission
To empower BIPOC creators, artists, and entrepreneurs to make popular entertainment that reflects our multicultural society so we can help improve racial equity in America.

We're creating a system of change designed to reshape majority opinions by ensuring that creators of all backgrounds can tell their stories and see themselves in popular culture.

Our Vision
We are committed to creating a more empathic world. We believe stories and content have the power to unite people, bridge cultures, and achieve racial equity.

Rideback Rise Inc

The Fungi Foundation is a global organization that works for the Fungi, their habitats, and the people who depend on them.

Launched in 2012, the Fungi Foundation is the first NGO dedicated to the fungi kingdom. Since its inception, it has achieved numerous milestones while dedicating itself to exploring the fungi world in view of increasing knowledge of their diversity, educating about their applications, and recommending public policy for their conservation. As part of our ongoing 3F initiative, the foundation played a key role in enabling Chile to become the first country in the world to include protection of fungi in its environmental legislation. More recently, the foundation proudly announced the Fantastic Fungi Education Curriculum, the world's first mycological set of courses designed for schools.

In short, the Fungi Foundation envisions a healthy planet in which Fungi are recognized, protected, and embraced as the interconnectors of nature; a mission that would be impossible without the essential support of our kind, engaged donors.

Fungi Foundation

We are a public interest law firm providing quality pro bono legal services to victims of human and civil rights violations.

Casa Cornelia Law Center is a San Diego non-profit providing quality pro bono legal services to victims of human and civil rights violations. The Center has a primary commitment to the indigent within the immigrant community in Southern California. Casa Cornelia strives to educate others regarding the impact of immigration law and policy on society and the public good.

Casa Cornelia Legal Services

EJI is committed to ending mass incarceration in the US and challenging racial and economic injustice.

Founded in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer and bestselling author of Just Mercy, EJI is a private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons. We challenge the death penalty and excessive punishment and we provide re-entry assistance to formerly incarcerated people.

EJI works with communities that have been marginalized by poverty and discouraged by unequal treatment. We are committed to changing the narrative about race in America. EJI produces groundbreaking reports, an award-winning wall calendar, and short films that explore our nation’s history of racial injustice, and we recently launched an ambitious national effort to create new spaces, markers, and memorials that address the legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial segregation, which shapes many issues today.

EJI provides research and recommendations to assist advocates and policymakers in the critically important work of criminal justice reform. We publish reports, discussion guides, and other educational materials, and our staff conduct educational tours and presentations for thousands of students, teachers, faith leaders, professional associations, community groups, and international visitors every year.

Equal Justice Initiative

Supports highly-impactful, evidence-based solutions to the challenges of global poverty and inequality.

## The Founders Pledge Perspective 

Despite substantial progress in recent decades on development goals, nearly half the world lives on less than $2.50 per day. This poverty leads to a huge amount of hardship and unnecessary loss of life. In 2019, more than five million children under five years old died, mostly from preventable causes like diarrhea, malaria, and respiratory infections. 

 
Poverty is also associated with hunger, exposure to conflict, and limited access to education and other opportunities. We believe that all individuals, regardless of where they were born, deserve the chance to live happy, healthy, and prosperous lives.

 
Global inequality in mortality, health, poverty and more is a tragic, but not unsolvable, problem. Researchers, advocates, and organizations around the world are working to scale up solutions to these problems. By taking a thoughtful, evidence-based approach to philanthropy that accelerates the best of these solutions, we can do immense good.

Managed by two members of the Founders Pledge Research team, the Global Health and Development Fund identifies and supports highly-impactful and neglected development initiatives. By pooling donations and collaborating with other funding and research organizations, the Fund allows individuals to make contributions when and where they will have the largest impact. 


## Our Approach to Grantmaking 

When evaluating potential grants, we consider several key points:

*   **Counterfactual impact**. Our grants are designed to create a meaningful outcome that would not otherwise have happened. In particular, we aim to make grants that otherwise wouldn’t have been made, rather than those which just take the place of other philanthropists’ donations. This means that you can rely on the Funds to create meaningful, real change, rather than just maintaining the status quo.
*   **The grant’s potential outcomes**. We focus on outcomes (e.g. how many lives were saved), rather than outputs (e.g. how many products were delivered). We review all the available evidence and take into account cost-effectiveness to assess whether the grant money could produce more good if donated elsewhere.
*   **The organization’s funding gap**. Not all organizations are set up to scale up their programming and many can’t productively absorb large amounts of unsolicited funding. We evaluate all potential grantees’ capacity for growth and consider how much money they could put to good use. 
*   **Organizational strength**. Particularly with unrestricted funding, it’s important to have trust in the leadership and capacity of the organizations we support. We look at their track record of success and their transparency about failures as well as successes, and we only support those organizations which are exceptionally well run. We also look for organizations that demonstrate a strong commitment to measuring outcomes and evaluating the impact of their programs.
*   **Time-sensitive opportunities**. In many cases, highly competent organizations identify time-critical opportunities for impact that require funding on a shorter timeline than traditional funders can support. In addition to considering these quick-turnaround opportunities in a timely manner, we plan to provide unrestricted funding streams to enable organizations to make new hires, start new campaigns and programs, and act on opportunities that come their way. 

## Frequently-Asked Questions


**Can charities apply for money from the Fund?**

The Funds do not generally accept applications from charities. If the Fund Managers choose to open up an application round, this will be publicized. Charities are requested not to send unsolicited applications for funding.


**How frequently will you make grants from the Fund?**

Fund Managers will review grant-making decisions on a quarterly basis. Decisions will be made based on the value of Funds and the available options for high-impact grant-making. We may sometimes delay grant-making if we believe that waiting for more promising opportunities will be more impactful. Conversely, we may disburse funds outside of our quarterly review dates if we become aware of a particularly promising and time-sensitive funding opportunity.

**How will my contribution be used?**

All funds are granted out. The Fund is not an investment vehicle. The Fund does not use any percentage of contributions to cover staff time or other overhead costs. Every dollar contributed to the Fund will be used to make grants directly to end-user organizations creating a real difference. 

## More Questions?

To learn more about the Founders Pledge Global Health and Development Fund, please visit [founderspledge.com](https://founderspledge.com/funds/global-health-and-development-fund) or email the Fund Managers at [funds@founderspledge.com](mailto:funds@founderspledge.com).

Global Health and Development Fund

Nonprofit organization focused on providing human services. It is based in Oakland, CA. It received its nonprofit status in 2019.

Help a Mother Out® works to improve baby and family well being by increasing access to diapers for families in need.

We distribute diapers to families in need through a network of social service partners including voluntary home visiting programs, facilitated parent support groups, family resource centers, and public health departments. We also advocate for the inclusion of diapers in the social safety net.

Our vision is a day when every baby has a healthy supply of diapers.

Help a Mother Out

One of GiveWell's top charities for the past several years, AMF provides anti-malarial bednets to people in need. 

From Givewell: 
What do they do? AMF (againstmalaria.com) provides funding for long-lasting insecticide-treated net (LLIN) distributions (for protection against malaria) in developing countries. (More)

Does it work? There is strong evidence that distributing LLINs reduces child mortality and malaria cases. AMF conducts post-distribution surveys of completed distributions to determine whether LLINs have reached their intended destinations and how long they remain in good condition. AMF's post-distribution surveys have generally found positive results but have some methodological limitations. (More)

What do you get for your dollar? We estimate that the cost to purchase and distribute an AMF-funded net is $4.95, or $4.65 excluding in-kind contributions from governments. The numbers of deaths averted and other benefits of distributing LLINs are a function of a number of difficult-to-estimate factors, which we discuss in detail below. (More)

Is there room for more funding? We believe that AMF is likely to be constrained by funding. We estimate that AMF could use up to an additional $37.8 million to support LLIN distributions that will occur between now and late 2023. 

AMF is recommended because of its:

Focus on a program with excellent evidence of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.
Processes for ensuring that nets reach their intended recipients and monitoring whether they remain in homes and in good condition over the long-term.
Room for more funding – we believe AMF will be able to use additional funds to deliver additional nets.
Transparency – AMF shares significant information about its work with us and we are able to closely follow and understand its work.

The Against Malaria Foundation

Founders Pledge is a global nonprofit empowering entrepreneurs to do the most good possible with their charitable giving. 

We equip members with everything needed to maximize their impact, from evidence-led research and advice on the world’s most pressing problems, to comprehensive infrastructure for global grant-making, alongside opportunities to learn and connect. We’re grateful to be funded by our members and other generous donors. 

Founders Pledge

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Life has been kind to me and it's my mission to share that kindness with the world. 

Advisor, co-founder & ex-COO of Every.org. We're all connected in this world and nonprofits help with healing.