Founders Pledge Patient Philanthropy Fund

This Project focuses on how we can collectively grow our resources to support the long-term flourishing of humanity. It addresses a crucial gap: as a society, we spend much too little on safeguarding and benefiting future generations. In fact, we spend more money on ice cream each year than we do on preventing our own extinction. However, people in the future - who do not have a voice in their future survival or environment - matter. Lots of them may yet come into existence and we have the ability to positively affect their lives now, if only by making sure we avoid major catastrophes that could destroy our common future.

Housed within the Project is the Patient Philanthropy Fund, a philanthropic co-funding vehicle which invests to give and ensures capital is at the ready when extraordinary opportunities to safeguard and improve the long-term future arise.

The Fund’s patient approach means that we aim to identify the point in time when the highest-impact opportunities are available, which may be years, decades, or even centuries ahead.

Here’s how it works:

- Donors contribute to the Fund to create a shared pool of capital
- Capital is invested for long-term gains, initially in a low-fee Global Stock Index Fund
- While the fund grows, more research is conducted into future-focused funding opportunities and optimal timing of giving
- When an extraordinary time, need or opportunity arises, the Fund steps in

This is very much a long-term project that will be nurtured and developed as the Fund grows. We have several milestones in place, including an investment strategy update when the Fund hits $10m. And when the Fund reaches $100m, or after 10 years (with a minimum $10m AUM), it will spin out and become an independent entity.

Get involved

We’ve already secured $1m in seed funding from our generous Founding Partners and Supporters, including Jaan Tallinn (Co-founder of Skype), Ignaz Forstmeier (Co-founder of Personio), Austin Che (Founder of Ginkgo Bioworks), and Andrew White (Founder of FundApps), among others.

The Fund is managed by a committee of experts, all with a strong network and expertise on how well-timed grantmaking can safeguard the future:

- Philip Trammell (Research Associate at Oxford’s Global Priorities Institute)
- Luke Ding (Board Member at Founders Pledge and advisor to the Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund)
- Sjir Hoeijmakers (Senior Researcher at Founders Pledge)
- Max Daniel (Chief of Staff at the Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research and Chair of the Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund)