2024-11-12T06:55:47-08:00 2023-12-31 472626541 Cook & Company A Prof Actcy Corporation One Sansome St Ste 3500 San Francisco CA 94104 990 2023-01-01 843896318 Rethink Priorities RETH 2026813090 530 Divisadero Street PMB 796 San Francisco CA 94117 Marcus Davis Co-CEO Director 2024-11-12 true true Douglas Cook PhDMPACPA P01521705 4156211112 2023 2024-10-15 13:58:12Z Marcus Davis 21916742 false X rethinkpriorities.org X 2019 CA Rethink Priorities' mission is to support organizations, researchers, and changemakers in efforts to generate the most significant possible charitable impact for others in the present and the long-term future. 7 4 43 2 0 11487954 18971388 1239580 1693680 26505 232684 5105 152 12759144 20897904 114367 26566 0 5475079 10646241 0 459271 2145533 3653988 7734979 14326795 5024165 6571109 11526295 16266409 1150165 1419170 10376130 14847239 X Rethink Priorities' mission is to support organizations, researchers, and changemakers in efforts to generate the most significant possible charitable impact for others in the present and the long-term future. false false 3364864 26566 4800 Special Projects: RP's Special Projects (SP) team supports priority projects that RP fiscally sponsors, incubates, or directly launches. Since the SP program launched in July 2022, some notable achievements include: 71 fiscal sponsorship expressions of interest received; 12 projects supported; $5.1m total direct costs of supported projects in 2023 alone; 7 sponsee hiring rounds completed; 71 sponsee staff onboarded (total) of which 42 sponsee staff recruited directly by SP; 20 visa sponsorship applications (UK & US); 8 in-person events; 23 days of on-site event support; and 219 total event attendees. In 2023, the following projects were fiscally sponsored or incubated at RP: Epoch, Existential Risk Alliance (ERA), Apollo Research, Effective Altruism Consulting Network (EACN), Quantified Uncertainty Research Institute (QURI), Condor Camp, The Insect Institute, and Insect Welfare Research Society. The SP team also supported founder search for field building for AI Policy and provided event planning services to the Cooperative AI Foundation. 1858374 4800 Animal Welfare: Rethink Priorities' (RP's) Animal Welfare (AW) Department aims to be a leading hub of research and innovation to accelerate the end of factory farming and reduce the suffering of other animals. Through work spanning independent research, consulting services, and applied projects, the team supports advocacy organizations, philanthropic foundations, and other actors to drive evidence-based and reason-driven change for animals. Some notable accomplishments from the Animal Welfare department over the course of the year include: publication of our research about the potential effects of plant-based alternatives in replacing animal-based products and our findings on the role of price, taste, and convenience in driving food choice; continued efforts to lead EU policy reform with an EU farmed fish policy reform roadmap brief; success in launching The Insect Institute by building an academic community around insect welfare through research and dissemination activities, with fifteen academics and six students collaborating with us and another seventeen academics expressing interest for future work; convening the Animal Advocacy Strategy Forum to provide an annual space for leaders of animal advocacy organizations to strategize together and strengthen the movement; and estimating that shrimp production for human food is more important in scale-i.e., in the number of individuals affected?than the problem of insect farming, wild fish captures, or the farming of any other vertebrates used for human consumption. 1513962 42981 AI Policy and Strategy: In 2023, Rethink Priorities' (RP's) AI Governance and Strategy Department launched into a new think tank called Institute for AI Policy and Strategy (IAPS). A brief overview of IAPS' four main workstreams and 2023 accomplishments follows: (1) Compute governance work aims to establish a firmer empirical and theoretical grounding for the fledgling field of compute governance, to inform ongoing policy processes and debates, and to develop more concrete technical and policy proposals. In 2023, RP published a report on AI chip smuggling into China, prominently mentioned in The Times online newspaper. RP also co-authored a forthcoming paper with the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) focused on using on-chip governance mechanisms to manage national security risks from AI and advanced computing. Both of these above-mentioned reports have received positive feedback and interest from researchers and senior US policymakers. The authors have been asked to deliver briefings on their findings to audiences, including through roundtable discussions co-hosted by CNAS and in the Foundation for American Innovation's podcast. (2) Lab governance work aims to identify concrete interventions that could improve the safety, security, and governance of frontier AI labs' systems via voluntary lab commitments, standards, or regulations. Program accomplishments from 2023 include publications which describe how frontier AI developers can respond to risks discovered after deployment of a model through a toolkit of "deployment corrections expansion on previous cybersecurity work to provide a wide-ranging yet actionable framework for risk management of emerging threats from AI; and, working with the Centre for the Governance of AI (GovAI) to examine the risks and benefits of open-sourcing in highly capable foundation models. (3) AI regulations work aims to focus on US AI standards, regulations, and legislation, using methods including case studies from other sectors. Some highlights from 2023 include the production of a series of outputs drawing lessons from risk management and regulation in other sectors and co-authoring on a forthcoming paper about Managing AI Risks in an Era of Rapid Progress. (4) China & international governance work aims to to improve decisions at the intersection of AI governance and international governance or China. Work was conducted on questions related to international governance regimes for frontier AI, China-West relations concerning AI, and relevant technical and policy developments within China. Some highlights from 2023 include working with GovAI on a report on international AI safety dialogues and working with the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) on a forthcoming report on possible risks from AI alignment efforts and how to avoid them. 3540271 1476906 10277471 true true false true false false false false false false false false false false true false true false false true true false false false false false false true false true false false false false false false false false false false false false true false false false false true 47 0 true 43 true false true OC false false false false false 0 false false false false false false false X 7 4 false false true false false false false true true false false true true true true true true true true false CA IL MN NY PA X X Carolyn Footitt 2026813090 530 Divisadero St PMB 796 San Francisco CA 94117 Marcus Davis Co-CEO Director 40.00 0.00 X X 144922 0 23740 Samara Mendez Senior Economist 40.00 0.00 130985 0 34946 Abraham Rowe COO 40.00 0.00 X 140366 0 19245 Peter Hurford Co- CEO 40.00 0.00 X 147892 0 11513 William McAuliffe Senior Researcher 40.00 0.00 120683 0 26628 Greer Gosnell Senior Researcher 40.00 0.00 130236 0 9467 Amanda El-Dakhakhni Snr. 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RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED false false false true false false false false true 30892 false false 30892 false false Part II-B, Line 1i - Other Activities Description Apollo - Apollo Project Staff attended the UK AI Summit in London November 1-2, 2023. This was time spent presenting at the summit and time spent engaging with politicians or political staffers about AI risk. The Insect Institute - In 2023, the Insect Institute's only lobbying activity was writing to MPs in the UK with info on TII's position on insect farming, including a warning against modifying the TSE regulations to allow the feeding of processed insect protein to chickens and pigs. IAPS - Reported lobbying activities for 2023 encompass efforts to communicate our AI governance research to diverse stakeholders in Washington, D.C., including personnel from the U.S. Congressional and executive branches. The majority of reported hours are attributed to one staff member's work trip to Washington, D.C., where they presented findings from their October 2023 paper on AI chip smuggling, published in collaboration with the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Key activities included: Preparation for and participation in a CNAS-organized roundtable event on AI chip smuggling, aimed at educating policymakers and their staff about the report's insights. Meetings with Congressional and executive branch officials to share research findings and provide subject matter expertise. Preparation time for these engagements, including developing presentation materials. Additional recorded activities reflect time spent preparing for and conducting meetings with personnel from Congressional and executive branches, where staff members shared insights from their research and addressed questions related to their areas of expertise in AI governance and technology policy. Part IV - Additional Information Rescinded Contributions Liability 400000 400000 20897904 20897904 20897904 14326795 14326795 14326795 true East Asia/Pacific 0 11 Program services Remote research 384928 Europe/Iceland/Greenland 0 138 Program services Remote research 5018063 Europe/Iceland/Greenland 0 138 Fundraising 278588 North America 0 11 Program services Remote research 308568 South America 0 9 Program services Remote research 292738 Europe/Iceland/Greenland 0 138 Operational support 2069786 Europe/Iceland/Greenland 0 138 Community outreach 80796 North America 0 11 Operational support 298351 South America 0 9 Community outreach 399602 East Asia/Pacific 0 11 Operational support 93471 East Asia/Pacific 0 11 Fundraising 744 Middle East/North Africa 0 2 Program services Remote research 22690 Middle East/North Africa 0 2 Operational support 2971 629 629 9251296 9251296 true false true false false false true Open Collective Foundation 440 N Barranca Avenue 3717 Covina CA 91723 814004928 501(c)(3) 26566 0 research project support 1 0 Grantmaker's Description of How Grants are Used All grantees are required to regularly report on their progress on the grant, including financial reports X X X X false false false false false false false false false Abraham Rowe COO 140366 4196 15049 159611 Marcus Davis Co-CEO Director 144922 4345 19395 168662 Peter Hurford Co- CEO 147892 4345 7168 159405 Samara Mendez Senior Economist 130985 34946 165931 Form 990, Part III, Line 4d OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 4: Surveys and Data Analysis: Rethink Priorities' (RP's) Surveys and Data Analysis Department supported work in a variety of high priority causes in 2023 through conducting surveys, polling, other forms of psychological and behavioral experiments and focus groups, and data analysis. In the last two years, the team has completed over 100 projects in total, including small-scale consultations and analyses (more than 60 in 2023 alone). Of these, 42 were survey projects (some involving multiple surveys), 47 were data analysis projects, and 17 were private consultations on statistics or methodology. Some highlights include: Polling public attitudes towards important contemporary issues, such as risks associated with Frontier AI systems; Message testing to examine which messages, frames, and brandings lead to the highest levels of support for different causes among different groups; Running experiments for a number of different orgs to assess the effectiveness of different advertisements; Analyzing data for various organizations to help them have a higher impact; Conducting and consulting on academic research projects on topics such as wild animal welfare and human challenge trials. In 2023, RP published 15 reports online, sharing the results of several survey and data analysis projects. The team also supported some of RP's internal work in global health and development and animal welfare. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 5: Global Health and Development: Rethink Priorities' (RP's) Global Health and Development (GHD) Department conducts high quality research on important global health, international development, and climate issues and uses its research to influence relevant stakeholders, such that they move resources towards more cost-effective interventions to ultimately increase wellbeing in lower- and middle- income countries (LMICs). GHD completed ~30 reports in 2023 on topics such as mental health, climate change, and medicine in the developing world. GHD also significantly expanded its work with GiveWell in 2023 as well as formally launched its consulting services work. The GHD team also hosted a global health and development strategy forum, an event which brought together ~20 different stakeholders from the EA GHD community, and they hosted a series of roundtable discussions with other EA organizations doing work in the climate space. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 6: Special Projects: RP's Special Projects (SP) team supports priority projects that RP fiscally sponsors, incubates, or directly launches. Since the SP program launched in July 2022, some notable achievements include: 71 fiscal sponsorship expressions of interest received; 12 projects supported; $5.1m total direct costs of supported projects in 2023 alone; 7 sponsee hiring rounds completed; 71 sponsee staff onboarded (total) of which 42 sponsee staff recruited directly by SP; 20 visa sponsorship applications (UK & US); 8 in-person events; 23 days of on-site event support; and 219 total event attendees. In 2023, the following projects were fiscally sponsored or incubated at RP: Epoch, Existential Risk Alliance (ERA), Apollo Research, Effective Altruism Consulting Network (EACN), Quantified Uncertainty Research Institute (QURI), Condor Camp, The Insect Institute, and Insect Welfare Research Society. The SP team also supported founder search for field building for AI Policy and provided event planning services to the Cooperative AI Foundation. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 7: Worldview Investigations - Rethink Priorities' (RP's) Worldview Investigations Team (WIT) exists to improve resource allocation by focusing on tractable, high-impact questions that bear on philanthropic priorities. WIT builds on RP's work as a multi-cause, stakeholder-driven research organization and aims to take action-relevant philosophical, methodological, and strategic problems and turn them into manageable, modelable problems. RP formally launched WIT in January 2023. Some of the research reports produced in 2023 by WIT include: Why Neuron Counts Shouldn't Be Used as Proxies for Moral Weight; Do Brains Contain Many Conscious Subsystems? If So, Should We Act Differently?; Rethink Priorities' Welfare Range Estimates; The Risks and Rewards of Prioritizing Animals of Uncertain Sentience; How Can Risk Aversion Affect Your Cause Prioritization?; Charting the precipice: The time of perils and prioritising x-risk; Uncertainty over time and Bayesian updating; Is x-risk the most cost-effective if we count only the next few generations?; Rethink Priorities' Cross-Cause Cost-Effectiveness Model (CCM): Introduction and Overview; How Rethink Priorities is Addressing Risk and Uncertainty. RP's work was referenced by external partners, presented at 15 different academic institutions, including New York University and Princeton, and also picked up by 11 news outlets. A book reporting the results of the project is forthcoming from Oxford University Press. Form 990, Part VI, Section A, Line 4 Yes - our charitable purposes and mission were updated (to the version outlined above), as were rules on board member compensation (to allow us to pay a board member up to a few hours a week to help administer to duties of the board). Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b The board of directors will electronically review Form 990 and audited financial statements prior to submission. Submission will only occur upon majority vote by the board of directors. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c All staff and board members declare conflicts of interest annually. Prior to financial decisions and programmatic decisions, conflicts are reviewed and adressed as relevant. Restrictions include TDOKEs recusing themselves from decision making processes. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15a Salaries for comparable roles at all levels of RP's title structure were pulled from similar organizations. RP uses a formula for setting most compensation, and exec compensation was compared to these salaries, with a target of salaries falling between the 25th and 75th percentile. Executive salaries are independently reviewed and approved by the board. This process occurred in 2023. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15b Salaries for comparable roles at all levels of RP's title structure were pulled from similar organizations. RP uses a formula for setting most compensation, and staff compensation was compared to these salaries, with a target of salaries falling between the 25th and 75th percentile. This process occurred in 2023. Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 Governing documents and the conflict of interest policy are available upon request. Financial statements are available on the organization's website. 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