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This sounds incredibly exciting!
a philanthropic fund making grants and investments to ambitious projects in order to improve humanity's long-term prospects.
What is the reason for excluding non-human sentience?
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Thank you!
We definitely include non-human sentient beings as moral patients. Future Fund focuses on humanity in our writing because we think the human trajectory is the main factor we can influence in order to benefit both humans and non-humans in the long run.
Suggestion: the Future Fund should take ideas on a rolling basis, and assess them in rounds. EA is the kind of community where potentially good ideas bubble up all the time, and it would be a real shame if those were wasted because the funders only listen during narrow windows. Having an open drop-box to submit ideas costs FF almost nothing, and makes a bias-towards-action and constant passive brainstorming much easier.
Context: this idea
The footer on your site says to post any questions as public comments on this post, so here goes (this is not directly related to the content of this post):
I noticed that a $470,000 grant to Charity Entrepreneurship, that was visible on your site as recently as August 31 (see http://web.archive.org/web/20220831210840/https://ftxfuturefund.org/our-grants/), is now no longer visible on your grants page. What happened to the grant?
I also noticed that https://ftxfuturefund.org/our-grants/ lists a grant to Michael Robkin, but that this grant is not listed at either https://ftxfuturefund.org/our-grants/?_funding_stream=open-call (open call grants) or https://ftxfuturefund.org/our-grants/?_funding_stream=ad-hoc (staff-led grants). My understanding was that everything in https://ftxfuturefund.org/our-grants/ should be listed either as an open call grant or a staff-led grant, but this does not seem to be the case. What might be going on?
Thank you!
Interesting to see Economic Growth as an area of interest. Generally the EA movement has preferred more targeted ways to improve the far future such as working to reduce specific existential risks, or differential technological development. This seems to me to be a slight deviation from the norm.
Do you have a sense of the relative importance of work on economic growth vs working on a specific existential risk such as AI or biosecurity?
Are those areas of interest on your website in rough order of importance, or is the order random?
We have a more robust interest in neglected existential risks, such as AI and bio. However, we think the issues discussed in our economic growth section are good from a longtermist POV, and we'd like to see what ideas people put forward.
Our areas of interest aren’t in order of priority, and there's internal disagreement about the order of priority.
I love the format, but I also have to voice one concern. Having to judge a potentially large number of brief proposals in a rather quick manner with a small team might entail that the eminence of the applicants ends up being used as a significant decisive factor (e.g., well-established persons at elite institutions in the US/UK or known EA organizations having a significantly better chance).
While such a bias might partially be rational, the resulting Matthew effect ('the rich get richer') would also have negative consequences. There are diminishing returns for funding absorbed by already well-funded institutions, perceived unfairness might discourage potentially great applicants in future funding rounds, and opportunities for spreading EA-relevant work into novel communities (which can leverage novel perspectives, talent, follow-up funding) might be lost.
I'm not sure what the consequence of this is for the particular call --perhaps you are well aware of these issues and committed to avoid them anyways-- but it would probably be good to keep it in mind.
Wonderful news. Do you have an idea of when the next open funding round will be? Or how often you will be open for applications, in general? I'm trying to determine how the upcoming March 21 deadline fits into my current plans for 2022.
We don't know yet. We're going to see how this one goes and then decide after that.
Hello! Is March 21st a hard deadline? If so do you plan on announcing other calls for proposals in the future and if so do you have any idea of when ( 3 months, 6 months, etc). Or is the plan to accept proposals/ideas on a rolling basis?
The first open call will end March 21. We'll probably have more calls for proposals in the future, but we’re really not sure when, and this will depend in part on how this experiment goes.
Love the well thought-trough approach and look forward to how it will unfold further into the future!
One of the questions in the application form reads: "How much $/yr could this project plausibly productively use at maximum scale down the road?"
I’m not sure how to interpret this question. Does the question for example refer to potential annual revenue of the initiative, to potential grant money the initiative would be able to effectively apply, or to a $ value to the social impact that the initiative generates?
From the "Areas of Interest" page:
We also want to enable outstanding professionals, academics, and students to step away from their current line of work or research, in order to work on issues with special relevance to protecting the long-term future. We’re excited to explore fellowships, prizes, teaching buyouts, increased compensation, start-up incubators, and any other promising mechanism for achieving this goal.
It is unclear whether you are interested in funding organizations who set up mechanisms for funding professionals or if you are also willing to fund professionals who submit an application directly. Could you please clarify?
We’d be willing to fund professionals who submit an application directly.
Hey y'all - as it's been over 14 days since the application deadline, I think most applicants are expecting to hear back by now.
I imagine the Future Fund team was overwhelmed with applications sent in right at the deadline and is working diligently to get through all of them.
Future Fund team - would it be possible to provide a broad update (via bcc email blast, twitter post, and/or post here) on where y'all are at and when folks can expect a response of some sort? I'm sure all applicants would really appreciate it :)
Seconding this, a quick BCC blast would be wonderful
And what to expect regarding the Project Ideas and Jobs applications that went alongside the main grants
Exciting! On the application form, there is an instruction to upload a video "if you are launching a new organization." What counts as "new" for this purpose? And would you recommend erring on the side of making a video if there's some question about whether you fall under the requirement or not?
Good question! We've re-written the question to say:
"If you are launching a new organization (especially one less than 12 months old), please submit a link to a one-minute video (unlisted Youtube video). Please follow the Y Combinator application video guidelines: https://www.ycombinator.com/video/ "
Feel free to use your judgment about what would be informative for borderline cases!
My University requires a postal address for the FTX Foundation in order to process my application. Could you please advise?
2000 Center St
Ste 400
Berkeley, CA 94704
Very exciting! Is this funding specifically targeting the development of new organizations or would this also fund new academic research on this topic (e.g., antecedents and impediments to the shifting of moral values across cultures; the psychological process of moralization (as applied to EA-relevant ideas and values); barriers to longtermism thinking and interventions amongst laypeople, organizational leaders, and policymakers; etc.)?
Yes, we're open to funding academic research relevant to our mission and/or areas of interest.
The application form seems to be closed.
When/how can we submit applications for the next evaluation round?
We don't know yet! We're finishing up about 30 more complicated applications (of ~1700 originally submitted), and then we're going to review the process and make a decision about this.
We were very excited about this new opportunity! Just checking in to see how/when the results would be communicated. We have our confirmation email with summary but haven't had any results yet. Would an update on the progress of the submissions be possible? Thank you!
I've received a rejection notice but I submitted two proposals and the rejection notice does not identify the proposal. I'd like to understand whether both proposals were rejected or whether one is still in the running.
I have a question about the budget. Are there any costs you don't allow? In our institution we usually include overheads unless they are either a) explicitly listed by the funder as an ineligible cost, or, b) the funder sets their own limit on the max overheads we can request i.e. 5 or 10% of the total project costs. it would be really helpful to know - thanks!
I had the same question, I'm guessing every professor is wondering this
Overhead costs, like other bona fide costs of your project, are eligible for funding.
Quick addition to this: For colleges and universities, indirect costs may not exceed 10% of the direct costs. On this front, Future Fund will mimic Open Philanthropy's indirect costs policy.
Thanks, this is very helpful, Nick!
We're planning on submitting a proposal from UC Berkeley, however, our research administration team needs some info regarding the FTX Foundation, such as its address, complete name, and charitable status in the Bahamas. Could you share direct us to where we can find this information?
Hi Nick, Is the 10% limit just for colleges and universities? Or does it apply to other nonprofits as well? Thanks.
If I read the linked post literally, it should only apply to colleges and universities.
It's interesting that it would only apply to colleges and universities. I wonder why.
It's interesting that it would only apply to colleges and universities. I wonder why.
I'm 80% sure the following is correct:
Universities have a funding model that involves taking some percentage of money from the grants of their researchers/staff (you could characterize this as "skimming" off grants, though it's a little pejorative [1]).
This "skimming" is mechanically imposed by the university on everyone, at least nominally. These skimmed fees then go to the school and don't serve the purposes of the grant/project/impact, or any EA activity.
The rates used are high, 25%-40%, or even higher, see below.
However, you can get around these high rates by having the donor publicly declare a lower rate on their website.
So Open Phil declaring a 10% rate basically defeats the much higher "standard" rates the Universities charge. You could see this as giving the "grantee leverage" to negotiate a lower rate and keep more funds for themselves/project. You could also see it as forcing the University to accept lower rates and makes EA funds more cost effective.
For evidence of the above, see the following page from Stanford, and a similar page from from UBC. Note that both pages:
- Present a rhetorical name and gentle explanation ("Indirect Costs")
- Specifically give an out: "The only exceptions are...grant application form clearly states that a different indirect costs recovery rate applies to all applicants" (UBC), "Some foundations, associations, and other non-profit entities will not pay the University’s full rates...Once reviewed and approved, it will be added to the pre-approved waiver list." (Stanford).
By the way, how this de-facto system originated seems interesting and raises questions: ("Could Open Phil get away with 5%, or 0%? Could another powerful donor? Is this a new EA intervention? ", "Does this system ding unsophisticated donors, or ding specific classes of donors? Does that bias the use of money?", "This system is sort of baroque, often involving a public website/form. How did that come about?").
So why doesn't Open Phil's 10% fee on the website apply to business and non-profits?
- As above, the page is specifically there to "defeat" the University rates which are otherwise rigidly imposed. For other grantees, Open Phil can other just tell them to spend money usefully.
- Another interpretation/comment is that EAs don't want, and don't think it's impactful for grantees, to have a cap of "10% on administration fees". The related frugality/cost effectiveness is addressed elsewhere.
- ^
So, you can write a manifesto about how to see these rates. Universities are funded by tax dollars, serve social purposes, etc. The short summary is that it's a good to fix this at 10%, unless you think University monies could be effective in ways EA value (they generally are not).
This is excellent! Are there any restrictions on multiple (but discrete) proposals from a single organization? Thanks.
There aren’t restrictions on multiple discrete applications.
Thank you, Nick.
Hi FTX Future Fund,
I work at UC Santa Cruz and we recently submitted a proposal for this: https://ftxfuturefund.org/apply/
We need some information about the FTX Foundation in order to set them up as a sponsor in our database.
Could you please provide me with the following?
- Some sort of verification of the Foundation's legal existence
- Complete name
- Documentation of charitable status
- Physical address
Thank you so much!
Kevin Hagedorn Operations Manager | Office of Sponsored Projects(831) 459-1574 | officeofresearch.ucsc.eduUniversity of California, Santa Cruz
Upvoted because this comment was on -1 karma, I suspect unfairly given that the FTX Future Fund website says "Please post any questions you might have as public comments here" in lieu of a contact form.
(It’s sort of bizarre this was downvoted).
A number of institutions needed entity information. It seemed like this was a blocker for applications.
It’s not really the fault of FTX, but not immediately having this information and having a lot of people ask, might have contributed to the sentiment that lead to the recent posts clarifying FTX’s work.
Woah.
If you click the name of the UCSC person, this person has two comments, months apart. So presumably their question wasn’t answered.
The first comment has a -5 downvote.
It’s hard to rationalize this, and it’s a bad look. Maybe people didn’t like UC or “normal” non EA people or institutions applying, but it seems unlikely this would be the worst pool of applicants.
I put in an application on 21st March, but haven't yet heard back. Are some applications still being processed, or should I assume this is either a negative response or that I must have made some mistake in submitting?
Gutted to learn today that we've not been selected. Good luck everyone else!
If you don’t mind me asking. What did you apply for. A grant or funding. What was your idea. And when did you submit.
We applied on the 15th, with what you could describe as a solution to help organisations optimize their social impact, and to communicate and engage around such. Suggested a combination of a grant and investment.
Thanks for sharing with us and sounds like a great project. May I ask how much funding you were requesting?
Ugh! I wrote my application the very week this was announced. Was very excited. I'm now reading these comments about getting a confirmation response and... can't find any confirmation in my inbox. Second guessing myself now if I really ended up pressing the final submit button. Would be heartbroken if I missed for that reason only.
-quietly sobbing over here-
I found the auto-conformation from the google form submission in my spam with the subject "Future Fund: Application for Funding."
This was succha great read and a much-needed initiative! As a non-US national and applying from outside the US, few questions here:
1) I wonder if there are specific instructions/guidelines for projects that have international (non-US nationals) applicants submitting the application either individually or in group with US/non-US nationals?
2) Do international applicants create hurdles for their application by the virtue of being "non-US nationals"- as in is it extra hard for international applicants because of the possibly copious paperwork involved later with funding internationally if the project does go further ahead?
We're excited to share this opportunity out!
However, at our institution, we've noticed an issue with the Google application form. When we try to access it, we receive the following message: "You can't respond to Future Fund: Application for Funding. Uploading files is not permitted when data loss prevention is enabled for your domain. Contact your domain administrator if you think this is a mistake.”
According to our IT person: "It seems this is part of an all-or-nothing situation related to Google Data Loss Prevention features, with no option to bypass or disable it. I’ve found a lot of complaints in various forums, and Google’s answer is that form creators should accept links to files rather than the files directly."
Is there a remedy to this situation that you recommend? If possible, we'd like to give our faculty the opportunity to submit using their institutional credentials, as opposed to have to use a personal account.
Thanks for pointing this out; we didn’t know about this. I think the easiest solution would be for you to either (a) use a different google account or (b) create a new google account for this purpose.
You could also perhaps try not attaching any files and just spending us links to Google docs set to "anyone with the link can view."
Hi! I submitted an application a little over 2 weeks ago and have not received any update, do let me know if there is any additional information/update that would be needed/the status of the application.
Thanks in advance!
I understand Future Fund's wish to minimize overhead charges on research to be performed by universities. University of California Irvine would be happy to comply; however, we have been unable to confirm the 501(c)(3) status of the FTX Foundation, which we are required to do under State tax laws and University policy. Can you kindly email your tax exempt status letter or provide a link where we may obtain that information? In the absence of such proof, we can only submit proposals using our full federally approved F&A rate. I no
Hi Nick_Beckstead and friends
Checking in to see if there is news on timeline for hearing on recommendations and regrantor applications?
Greetings
Charlie
Hey! I missed the mentioned last date i.e 21st March to apply for a grant. Is there anything I can do now?
Some people have been discussing updates on funding decisions on Twitter. https://mobile.twitter.com/EAheadlines/status/1511294503231049732 https://mobile.twitter.com/EAheadlines/status/1511115005533564928
Hi all!
For everyone here, I found the auto-confirmation from the google form submission in my spam with the subject "Future Fund: Application for Funding." Chech there and good luck everybody!
Hi! I submitted an application but was expecting to get a copy of the application to my email - however nothing arrived. How can I check whether my application was received? Thanks!
I found the auto-conformation from the google form submission in my spam with the subject "Future Fund: Application for Funding."
The submission form keeps telling me "Your response is too large. Try shortening some answers." even though the total number of characters is significantly lower than 25,000. What should I do? Would you like me to share a link to a PDF with our answers to all questions or upload a single PDF with all of that information?
When should we expect to hear back about project idea proposals?
I have an ongoing project that I'm considering applying with, but figure that, if you don't like the project idea proposal (which casts a wide net containing my actual project), you won't like the project either.
Really exciting news!
Is the FTX Foundation a private foundation or a public foundation? I ask because there are different rules concerning funding policy advocacy in the United States, where the distinction is relevant.
We are starting an non-profit organization which will function for many years. How many years of support should we ask for ? I assume 1 is not enough and 10 is too many. Can you offer guidance?
Will all funding applications be made public? If so, is it possible for ask for specific application not to be public? No problem if actual funding will be publicized, I'm just wondering about the applications themselves. Thanks!
No, funding applications will not be made public.
Great initiative. We are likely to apply for a grant, but is is possible that this research/work could lead to revenue generating opportunities. Two questions: a) would FF have any IP rights over that work that would mean it could place limits on what could be done with the IP; and b) if the situation did arise where revenue generating opportunities arose, would FF consider investing in that at that point?
Thanks! (a) No. (b) Yes.
Quick question: in previous media about FTX philanthropy animal issues were mentioned, but I don't see anything animal related in these links. Is there a separate program that includes animal issues, or has Sam/team decided not to be involved in this space at all? Thanks!
Yes, it's not clear how much engagement FTX will have in animal advocacy but they have already made some grants in the space and probably will make more, via FTX Community.
FTX Foundation has funded some animal work in the past, and almost certainly will do so in the future. Future Fund won’t be funding animal welfare work except when we see a good case that it's one of the best ways to improve the longterm future. Basically James Ozden has it right.
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Please see our grants page: https://ftxfuturefund.org/our-grants/
Are you willing to share a list of some or all of regranting programs that were funded in the first round of the FTX Future Fund?
Hi,
I'm expecting to hear from 3 proposals I've submitted. Since it's been 3 weeks since submission, I'm wondering if others are in the same situation as me and if this is not an omission from their part.
Thanks!
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Thomas. You should have received an email yesterday, but please send me a DM if you didn't - in that case the email might have bounced, or there might be some other technical problem on your end or ours.
We are in the same circumstances. Haven’t received a confirmation notification or any updates. Would be awesome to have any type of feedback. We are so excited for the global impacted we will create should it get approved.
I’m seeing others who didn’t receive a confirmation response for the grant proposals but wanted to check in for additional details. I took a screenshot that it was submitted on the 21st. Nothing in junk mail. Today is day 14 so was curious if results are out or still in process. Thank you for such an amazing opportunity to partner and create massive impact.
I submitted two proposals and got only 1 acknowledgement in my spam response. I know you guys are too busy to respond to each request, but could you advise if the grants will be announced via email or twitter or what and when? Thank you so much for innovating in philanthropy.
Hi,
Really great initiative with the Future Fund!
I have 2 questions:
- We applied to the first open funding round before the deadline two weeks ago via the web form, but did not get any email or confirmation that the submission was received. Is that as expected? email used for submission: [email protected]
- We have, since then, created an alternative version of the project for a similar application in Sweden, with a reduced scope (and thus lower capital requirement). Is it possible to run that proposal by the Future Fund as well?
Thanks in advance!
Best Regards,
David
I submitted my proposal on March 19th which marks today as the end of the 14 day “deadline” that was aimed for by the ftx team. I’ve been anxiously waiting and researching for the past two weeks, and I just found this forum yesterday! I really hope to hear something soon, even if it’s a rejection email— this is an incredible opportunity and I understand if the wait time is a little longer than expected. I hope someone sees this and can provide a response that may help others as well!
Hi, I submitted a proposal to the Future Fund on Sunday 20th. The Google Form said it was accepted. However, other than that, I didn’t receive a copy of my responses from the form or any other communication confirming it was sent. Can you confirm that it was received? Thank you.
I found the auto-conformation from the google form submission in my spam with the subject "Future Fund: Application for Funding."
We submitted our application via the google forms on Monday-- but did not receive confirmation via a copy of our responses. Is there a way to confirm receipt of our submission? Thanks!
I found the auto-conformation from the google form submission in my spam with the subject "Future Fund: Application for Funding."
Hi! Hope all is wonderful! Just a quick question I submitted my application but never received a confirmation email. is there a way to know all was submitted safe and sound? So grateful! Rebecca Foon
+1 I got 'Your response has been recorded' but no confirmation email and/or option to be sent a copy of my responses (this was on the expression of interest form). Thanks!
You might need to check your spam!
It seems like the Expression of Interest form does not send a confirmation email, unlike some (all?) of the other forms.
I submitted a proposal on someone's behalf today. It all seemed straightforward and I really appreciate the simplicity of the process!
However, the form said that “A copy of your responses will be emailed to the address you provided” and no such email was received. (It did not get caught in a spam filter, as far as we can tell. I'm part of a team and pasted in the email address of the designated leader.)
I got the ‘Your response has been recorded’ screen, so I am pretty sure that submission worked, but I cannot help wondering if I made some strange error entering the email address or if there was some other glitch. If there is some good way to further confirm that our application was received and is complete that would be welcome.
Semirelated question: Do you expect to provide explicit rejection notifications for projects that you choose not to fund?
I see from your FAQ that you “usually don’t provide feedback because we have a small team and face capacity constraints”, which makes total sense. I also see that you anticipate making a ‘revise and resubmit’ decision on some proposals. I am rather asking about sending applicants a ‘Sorry not interested’ note.
It might be nice to do this, though I understand it may end up being logistically impossible.
Same thing happened to me, and wondering if the application was for sure received. It would be awesome to know from someone at FTX.
The email with the responses eventually came through, after a delay, so I am all set. Sorry for the noise.
I'm interested in submitting an application but I would need to know precisely which entity would provide the money (for complicated reasons) Can someone indicate this as soon as possible please?
We have a number of entities we can use to provide funding, and which we use depends on the exact circumstances. It could be our non-profit entity FTX Foundation Inc or it could be a DAF of one of our board members or it could be something else if it's a for-profit investment. We will work with people we support to find the best way for them to receive the funding.
Thanks very much Nick. Is it possible to name one of the organisations providing the DAF? (e.g. is it National Philanthropic Trust, or Charities Aid Foundation, or whatever). Ideally if there's one in the UK, it would be great to name them, but failing that if you could provide the name of any of them off the top of your head, that would be great.
Is the March 21 deadline to be interpreted as 23.59 on 21 March Eastern Standard Time?
Yes, but Pacific Time.
Thanks Nick!
I have a simple clarification question on the application form. Does your question "what's the most impressive thing you've done?" refer to the applicant's entire career or their work on the project only? I assume that it is the former but the context in which the question is asked makes it slightly ambiguous.
Entire career.
I have multiple project ideas that fall within the Future Fund's areas of interest. Can I submit multiple separate applications? If so, would submitting a second application significantly reduce the chances that the first application is funded even if taking on the second project would not interfere with my work on the first project? Relatedly, would being listed as a collaborator on somebody else's proposal reduce the chances that my own submission(s) get funded?
Assuming that applying for funding for multiple projects is possible, would it be better to submit a separate application for each project or to mention multiple projects in the same application?
This is really great to see and just wanted to quickly say that the website looks fantastic. Great design.
Your twitter cards don't work. This means content won't share as well.
Looking into it, thanks!
Hmm, haven't bothered to change their website yet. Doesn't it even exist?
- What do you do to prevent wars?
- What do you do for victims of russian aggression in Ukraine?
Nick and Team,
RE: Effective Altruism Project Ideas (from the global SD sector)
Good-day,
For the past 20 years I have been training and working in global Sustainable Development (SD) and Climate Change Adaptation & Mitigation around the planet, and within all 5 major sectors (e.g., public, private, IO, NGO, and academic). Your efforts, and the efforts of your group and the EA movement, were recently brought to my attention – and I am quite excited to learn more about what you are all doing and how I may play an active role in helping foster your efforts.
For some context, I started as a university professor in environment and development. I then spent a number of years working with the feds as an advisor, report and speech-writer, and consultant on Sustainable Development Strategies (SDS’s). From there I moved overseas to begin advising the multinational tech sector in SD strategies and project development. After spending a few years overseas I began my own corp focused on SD and climate change issues. This has involved working with all 5 sectors and conducting a number of successful United Nations projects directly addressing a wide variety of UN SDGs. As a result of these various projects I now speak at UN conferences somewhat regularly (still working on my public speaking skills). At the last conference I got to attend, COP26 in Glasgow, I was admittedly let down by the general veneer of goodness portrayed by the global finance sector last November. Yet, I am enthusiastic to know about the EA community and the positive impacts it continues to increasingly make.
Given my background and network in the international SD and climate worlds I have a roster of both proven projects and project ideas ripe for appropriate support and implementation. These projects cover a wide range of SD focused areas that address: urban and rural healthcare issues; circular economies; clean energy infrastructure; education access; gender equality initiatives; income disparity; governance; food security; waterways management; conflict resolution; risk management; legal policy frameworks; space law frameworks (based upon maritime law); and proven climate change adaptation & mitigation infrastructure development.
Global Sustainable Development has been the dominant theme of my entire adult life so far. It has been a remarkable collection of unique experiences, it has been humbling, it has been challenging, and it has been rewarding. At this stage of my life and career I would love the opportunity to speak directly with your team in hopes that we can work together to take SD and EA to a whole new level.
Best Regards,
Scott
--
Scott Phipps, PhD
[email protected]
Ontario, Canada
Intriguing, passionate and timely initiatives.
I am curious how you are thinking about the psychology of the present/future (as informed by the past) in terms of EA.
For example, the future value of positively impacting how people think about the present and future could multiply the ostensibly more pragmatic use of funds, encourage individuals to think differently about risk-benefit, and lead to changes in decision-making.
In addition to understanding the psychology and working on decision-making, the threat from distortions in the current information environment ("disinformation") and the difficulty people have in evaluating information, is likely to snowball (it already is).
Given the (formally) complex dynamics involved, working out how to interact with the system is critical. It also seems to me that large public projects may be an efficient way to get traction - I understand there has been exploration into entertainment media, and I also wonder about the arts.
There is ample and growing research on the above subjects, areas for development and application. Happy to hash it out and gratitude for your devotion.
Grant H Brenner
Is or will there be a way for me to sign up for notification when Grant Applications open up again, if they do?
Seena Hawley
Berkeley, CA https://www.thebbbp.org The Berkeley Baby Book Project
I believe that with the birth of every child unimaginable potential is born in that body's brain and it is our job to maximize that potential. Right now this is not happening for all our children. We KNOW how to do so: wealthy communities and families do it ALL THE TIME: clean water, good food, shelter, safety and then -- in line with Maslow's Hierarchy -- Books, then decent educational facilities. On these last two we are failing our less-affluent and poor children every day. (Prop 13 did not help CA in that regard!!!). Books from birth in the home are the best tools in the best place at the best time to plant and nurture the roots of later Literacy -- key to full participation in shaping the institutions, policies and practices that shape our future. We need all our children to be full participants in that future. Books from birth can help stack the odds in favor of that. And Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is the best way yet to get those books into children's hands and homes FROM BIRTH in the earliest and most impactful years. AND! It is a super Joyful Program. Books arrive addressed to the child every month to age 60 months once registered. Parents love it, and children do. Not only do our communities need ubiquitous literacy, they sure can benefit from recurring, reliable moments of Joy. And Joy good for all of us, right here right now. Ubiquitous Literacy is good for all of us now AND in the future.
I think You should consider funding our efforts to make book ownership a birthright here in your backyard: Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.
Hi Seena! We'll post about it on our website if/when we do another open call. We'll also announce it on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ftxfuturefund
This is a wonderful idea.
I have an idea that I would like to submit for a grant but when I click on apply I see that the form is no longer taking submissions. Does this mean that the grants have been paused for the moment? Are they planned to be resumed?
Thank you!
Hi Alexandros, we're not currently accepting grant applications, and we don't yet know if or when we will do so in the future. If we decide to do accept grant applications in the future, i.e. to do another open call, we'll announce it on ftxfuturefund.org and here on the EA Forum. Thanks.
Team, noticed in your blog your disappointment on space governance proposals. Would like to connect to understand deficiencies and see if we can help. Our foundation has been working with anothe foundation for months about space governance and has even partnered with the Paris Peace Forum to either prepare grants or regrant initiatives.
Is there any way I can connect with someone to further discuss ?
Jose
Hi!
I got the following message after pressed Apply:
"The form Future Fund: Application for Funding is no longer accepting responses.
Try contacting the owner of the form if you think this is a mistake." at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScp_pbbqS2OeecQlo_perE6Vz8mcKBivtRAfBSfKyDicZkEiQ/closedform
Is your program closed or it is an error from my side? I wanted to apply on the topic Infrastructure to recover after catastrophes
Applications from the last round were due March 21, and are currently closed. We will update this page if and when they re-open.
Hi turchin - we're not currently accepting applications, and we don't know if or when we will do so in the future. If we do decide to accept applications again, i.e. to run another open call, we'll announce it on ftxfuturefund.org and here on the EA Forum. Thanks!
any ideas when the next application cycle will be?
Dear team at FTX Foundation,
A few weeks ago, I submitted an application for a regranting partnership in the area of innovative ideas in education with Ashoka and Leap. Are you considering that application or was I too late?
Best,
Odin
Thanks for your comment Odin! At this point, we've finished considering regranting expressions of interest and have invited the regrantors for the initial test.
Your website still says you're aiming to have more regrantors "in about a month", is that just out of date and no one should fill it in actually?
https://ftxfuturefund.org/announcing-our-regranting-program/
Hello!
Just a suggestion, maybe the Fund could provide a means to for the public to contact recipients to express interest in working on their funded idea?
I imagine a lot of EAs are open to working on these project ideas, and formalising this process would also help the grant recipients find talent to work with. Y Combinator, for comparison, has ycombinator.com/jobs . I wouldn't expect the Fund's small team to build a full feature, but maybe just a contact option/list would be nice?
While I like the mission of the future fund, some of these grants seem wasteful. For example, the $150k Moncef Slaoui grant. Isn't that person already able to afford to write their own memoir? $150K could fund an actual project or fund 15 $10K projects. Perhaps evaluating whether or not the applicant is likely to be able to accomplish their proposal without future fund funding should be incorporated into the review process. Also, some of the grants seem unnecessarily large. Maybe many smaller proposals being funded initially and then doubling down on promising ones would be a better approach.
Hey FTX Future Fund,
I am a web3 native that studied social entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley inspired by the EA community. I would love to offer my time as a volunteer to help with anything from due diligence to operations to social media and community building!
Hello! What's the best way to get a status update on a proposal that's been submitted? (I have no idea if this is the best, or even an appropriate place to ask this question, so please feel free to redirect me if this isn't the spot.)
Thanks!
I have the same idea, we need to make something to change the world and make this a better future for all, I have a well structured plan with a really good idea that will help us to do that, where can I send it I know this can make a change In many city's and countries all around the world, we can make this dream come true together
Amazing initiative!
Having psychology background and MSc degree from Imperial College London's Business School, I'm sure that if given a chance, people cooperate instead of selfishly competing. Simply because the synergy is more beneficial to everyone involved. And it is the only good future for humanity.
I'm myself creating an AI-driven social tool for the good people, which effectively democratizes collaboration and thus creates a future where people cooperate instead of fighting, launching on 22/12/2022. Otherwise, we'd see a future where the top 1% of people rule others who have nothing.
I absolutely identify with, and frankly literally love, your worldview, so I'd like to get in touch and talk. Please, contact me at [email protected]
Jan H. Herodek
I made a submission to the FTX future fund worldview prize a while ago through the google form provided which contained the link to my article on medium. It has not been cross-linked to EA yet as mentioned on the website. Kindly check
what do you heavily weigh
is it the candidates progress, background, sincerity, project idea and impact. what would make you guys say a resounding yes.
for yc its team and market size. how do you treat solo founders
For an applications still being considered, would an update regarding ongoing work be useful?
Hi, my name is Stephanie Beasley. I report on global philanthropy at Devex. Wondering if the foundation has a comms officer. I would love to be in touch. https://twitter.com/Steph_Beasley
Hi,
I work at UC Santa Cruz and we recently submitted a proposal for this: https://ftxfuturefund.org/apply/
I'm hoping that you can help me out with some information that is required to set the FTX Foundation up as a sponsor in our sponsor database.
Could you please provide me with the following:
- Some sort of verification of the Foundation's legal existence
- Complete name
- Documentation of charitable status
- Physical address
You can email the info to me at [email protected]
Thank you so much!
Kevin
Hello, curious if the application for HeliosDAO was received. I did not initially receive a confirmation email so I resubmitted the entire grant, though I did not receive any confirmation email the second time either.
I've checked my spam as well as both emails included on our form but no confirmation or any other correspondence from FTX (other than for our corporate crypto account).
(I've reviewed the comments here and searched for the precise keywords listed, however there is nothing in either the base email used to submit or the email entered on the form).
email used was [email protected]
any update or information would be greatly appreciated, thank you!
Hi there - I've submitted an application for the FTX Future Fund and now secured a key partner, which I believe really improves the project - is there any way to update my application at all? Many thanks, Michelle
Dear FTX team,
I am shocked to understand that we missed the date to submit. I'm the founder and inventor of 121giving.com and I am kicking myself for not knowing or being able to find this submission period link.
If you are considering delayed entries, please do let me know. It would be an honor and I believe you'll find of tremendous value to the world and a great compliment to your portfolio for good.
I would appreciate the opportunity to submit our investor kit , upon your consideration.
With Gratitude,
Mark
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markcourtney/
Patent (for the geek in all of us :) ):
https://patents.google.com/patent/US10318998B2/en?oq=14%2f452094
What is 121Giving?
Early street interviews:
https://vimeo.com/291993326
How it works:
From the heart before we launched at SX in 2015:
https://vimeo.com/359399130
Hi! I also got the „Your response is too large“ error yesterday despite my word count being way below 6000. So I attached a Word Document with all the answers, made a note about it in the „Describe your project in 100 words“ question, and left all other fields in the form blank. That worked.
So it would be awesome if you could not discard seemingly blank submissions right away, but check for attachments! Thank you!
Hello, I submitted an application yesterday (by the deadline of 03/21/2022). However, in reviewing my application packet I noticed that one of my attachments did not successfully upload. The attachment provides a much more concrete sense of our past performance and general strategy, and as such I'd love for it to be included in our application.
Is there anyway I could email this to someone involved in the administration/review of the FTX Future Fund submissions so that it could be included with the rest of my application? The attachment is an excel spreadsheet.
Many thanks in advance for any information you can provide.
What is the minimum amount of money a project should require?
From reading on your website, I somehow get the intuition that you are rather interested in relatively big projects, say requiring $30k+, rather more.
In particular, it does not seem to me like you are looking for applications like "Hey, could you give me 5000$ to fund my research project I plan to do the next months?". But I may be mistaken and I haven't read anything explicit about it not being possible (maybe I just overlooked it).
(And yes, I know there's the LTFF for such things, I'm just curious regardless.)
Under the first FAQ question on the Apply page: “In order to distribute labor and keep ourselves focused, we don’t accept applications seeking less than $100,000.”
Ooops I missed that, thanks!
I am trying to submit a video file with my application. I have never done it before. It is on the project itself. It says on your site that it can be submitted somewhere on the application form could you please tell me where I might add my video. Thank you
Are you not asking about the first question in the ‘Other’ section at the end?
I.e. “one-minute video (unlisted Youtube video). Please follow the Y Combinator application video guidelines: https://www.ycombinator.com/video/ ”.
It appears that they want applicants to upload a video, set it to private, and then paste in a link (rather than sharing a video file directly).
Re: EA-aligned Movies and Documentaries
I happen to know a well-established documentary filmmaker, whos areas of interest overlap with EA topics. I want to pitch him to work on a movie about x-risks. Do you have any further info about the kinds of documentaries you'd like to fund? Anything that's not obvious from the website.
Wish you guys luck! I am a filmmaker as well, working on Web3 and a documentary film for EA. Hope we somehow connect down the line. Serious serendipity going on right now with networking and resources. Time to influence the culture for the better for sure.
Is there a specific time of day on March 21st that the application is due, ie. 11:59pmPDT?
He answered this below. if PDT = PST you are correct SER.
Are you able to give grants to residents of Russia? Citizens of Russia? Citizens of Russia who left their country in the last 3 weeks and are not planning to return? Or are there sanctions-related legal reasons you can't do that?
this is a wonderful initiave. One small question:where do we upload the budget file? In the ' If you have further materials for us to read, please feel free to upload them here' section?
thanks
This is absolutely sterling! Congratulations on a much-needed initiative!
Small request, possibly pedantic: In the Google form, could you please change the space below the question "Does this proposal fall under one of the areas in our "Areas of Interest" page?" from a "single line" to a "para"? Anything more than a few words as a response there (e.g. if there are a few areas of interest to be mentioned), reformats everything in a single, long line.
Many thanks!
Thanks so much for opening up this amazing opportunity.
Are there any length limits (either from FF or Google) on individual entry fields, or overall, aside from question 2 under "Your project" and question 2 under "Other"?
Not from us, but please try to keep your answers brief. Not sure about Google!
It's so refreshing to see such a lean approach to funding good work, thanks!
We are launching a process to build/activate innovation ecosystems, grounding them on a specific mission and fostering a community to supports top talent (fellows), which then go on to launch new impact ventures. We'll start with sustainability for the blue economy in Africa, with a strong focus on climate resilience.
Having said that, we believe the approach (assuming we make it work!) will be repurposed to other impact missions beyond climate action, including longtermism ones.
Would the scaling and extending of that type of program be elegible for funding?
If the project idea is eventually a for-profit organization, does the organization need to be already incorporated?
If we're funding a for-profit organization to do something profitable, we'd like to receive equity. If you can arrange for that, we're all set.
Dear friends, dear Sam Bankman-Fried, hello!
Someone said: the shackles of habit begin to be felt when they are hard to break. Therefore, we have come up with and have already developed a vaccine against mental illness - an application with a creative product, located at the intersection of creativity, science and technology. It is much more profitable, more effective and easier to prevent a serious illness from the beginning than to heal for a very long, expensive and painful time later. And it's not a fact that you'll be healed. It is much more effective to initially nurture mentally healthy people, even if they live in a dysfunctional family, a dysfunctional area, or are not well off, than to go to a psychologist for years and still not sure what will help. In addition, a mentally unhealthy person not only lives painfully, he also tortures his loved ones, and the whole society suffers and suffers.
I am convinced that all of humanity's problems stem from insanity, ignorance and unconsciousness.
It all starts with supposedly harmless fears in childhood, over the years all these fears, limitations and delusions only develop and intensify, turn into anger and aggression, from here we see: child bullying, depression, violence and bullying, mass executions, domestic violence, suicide, war.
And everything that we, society, do in a very limited way - the struggle with the consequences, which can be fought endlessly, and as in the situation with fears, the situation will only get worse.
But, of course, in order for the work to be effective, it is necessary to work on all fronts at the same time, and immediately, correctly, “reconnected” to those who are already in trouble and to help and encourage, otherwise it will become an endless process.
Since everything starts in childhood, and the most universal, versatile and effective antidote to all evil is creativity, we started making a project:
App -
interactive animated series on developing emotional intelligence and mental health for children ages 4 to 12 to the global market.
The production of such content, such a project, in Russia is several times cheaper than in America or Europe.
The child will not just passively observe, but will be a full-fledged accomplice of what is happening: he will answer simple questions in a test format in real time, he will change the scenario of events and become a co-creator, etc. Thus, the child consolidates the acquired knowledge, learns to think and analyze, to make decisions independently, to influence the course of things, to take responsibility, to look for causes and not to name consequences, to overcome fears and not to run away from them, and learns to think critically.
Education can only overcome poverty, while mental health makes a person truly happy, successful, and rich. A mentally healthy person can learn and develop lifelong with love, an educated person usually only up to the age of 23 and then "under pressure". I'm not talking about the consequences we draw from the lives of mentally ill people.
Traditional medicine in general, and psychotherapy in particular, does not and cannot bring the desired results: first, a psychotherapist is not available to everyone; secondly, and this problem follows from the first, when everything is fine in one area and everything is not very good in the neighboring area, envy and misunderstandings, disagreements arise, and this is an even greater evil; thirdly, in traditional medicine, unfortunately, there are many charlatans and simply incompetent specialists; Fourth, as you know, traditional medicine cures one and spoils the other.
For some reason, we are initially wary of people. There are probably many reasons, here are some of them: parents from early childhood tell us - do not open the door to strangers, do not name your address, do not talk to strangers on the street, do not get into a car with strangers. Society initially teaches us distrust. And even if a person has the opportunity to turn to a psychologist, there is an understanding, desire and need for his help, he goes to him with distrust, without even realizing it. And since we want everything at once, here and now, we demand quick results. But the psychologist must first overcome this mistrust, this resistance. A month passes, a lot of time, effort and money have been spent, but there are still no results, the ice has not yet been melted, trust has not yet been won. And the client says: come on, you just spent my time and money. It doesn't work.
The supply of such knowledge and skills through creativity and technology does not meet this resistance, there is no initial mistrust. There is no stranger who still has to earn trust, everything is beautiful and cheerful, everything is very friendly. And everything that a child sees, and even an adult, goes directly into the subconscious, without encountering any resistance. Consciousness does not resist, there is no reason for this, it does not see the danger.
And all physical complaints are only a consequence of mental illnesses, since they arise and arise precisely on the mental level.
In addition, it is financially very profitable. Unfortunately, this is a huge problem worldwide: According to experts, by 2025 every third person on earth will suffer from depression.
We have to work immediately on all fronts, from all sides at the same time, for as large an audience as possible. This is the only way we have the chance to really change something. Changing this globally in a small, single area doesn't change anything.
Mental illness is the biggest killer of human potential. Imagine how the world will change if not 1-2% mentally healthy people live in it, but at least 11-12%.
We will unite in one product: spiritual development, mental health, education, upbringing, entertainment, technology.
And for the implementation of our unprecedented project we need financial support.
We want to help people, connect the spiritual world with the material. To give mankind the rules that will make them happy, en masse, everywhere.
Pitch deck by link - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_0gLHA6MU0MhROPRBeJOOXgUmET-M3FG/view?usp=sharing
With respect and hope for attention and support,
Viktor Smolin
spare mail: [email protected]
Telegram / WhatsApp +7 902 893 08 10
Hello,
it look perhaps surprising at first but I think that to make humanity better people should all learn how our emotional and sensation "system" is secretly working :
https://kalcoeur.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/the-equilibrium-constraint/
If everybody knew and integrate that well, the world would undoubtedly be much better, so an good project would be to spread and explain it to .. everybody ! :)
F.
Hello,
I have a recommendation for a donation that would be highly impactful for families. The Wildland Firefighter Foundation supports firefighter families when they are hurt or killed fighting wildland fires. The wildfire crisis we are currently in is directly affecting civilization throughout the US. We as firefighters are on the front lines of climate change. I’m sure your very aware of this rapidly escalating issue.
I’m a professional Wildland Firefighter that is volunteering for this foundation. Several of us that hold very high wildland firefighting positions started a chapter in Montana. I’m very interested in finding a pathway to further help families as this fire season gets underway.
Would you have a recommendation on how best to apply for funding? Thank you! Justin
Dear FF team,
As Chairman and co founder of the Commonwealth Insurance Forum Ltd (Not for Profit)in London we are set up to expand on education,knowledge and connectivity in insurance.
We seek funds for Social Media ,Podcast,TV interviews etc.at the least.
There are 58 Commonwealth Nations and some 2.45 bn people in the Commonwealth most of whom speak English and follow English legal principles.
Insurance covers everything we all do ,or can do from Micro insurance to Country weather Catastrophic insurance and everything in between so a very wide canvas to paint on.
Africa is a prime target area but not the only one.
Your advice on fundraising appreciated.
Sincerely,
Francis de Zulueta
Chairman
CIF.
How can we apply for a grant?
Hi! when is the next call? I have a project to develop an app to reduce the risk of bankruptcy for restaurants and bars in Mexico. Since 8 out of 10 businesses in Mexico go bankrupt in less than 3 years. I have incubated the project and I would use the money to hire developers. Can I apply to the call?
Hi Hector, we don't yet know if or when we'll have another open call. If we decide to do another open call, we'll announce it on ftxfuturefund.org and here on the EA Forum. Thanks.
Let's go!!!!! I submitted early hoping to hear back early as we are BUIDLing already. The world needs this longtermism perspective and purpose. Good luck to all projects! I assume we hear back 1-2 weeks from today and not from when we submitted?
Hello bro, can you give me some details about how to contact sam bankman.
This looks wonderful, congrats. Dumb question on my end - there seems to be a lot of overlap in some areas with causes that Openphil target. My impression was Openphil wasn’t funding constrained in these areas and had more money to deploy than projects to put it into (maybe that’s not accurate though)
If it is - what do you see the marginal add of the Future fund being? E.g will it have a different set of criteria from Openphil such that it funds thing Openphil has seen but wouldn’t fund, or are you expecting a different pool of candidate projects that Openphil wouldn’t be seeing?
Reasonable question! Our work is highly continuous with Open Phil’s work, and our background worldview is very similar. At the moment, we’re experimenting with our open call for proposals (combined with our areas of interest and project ideas) and a regranting program. We'll probably experiment with prizes this year, too. We're hoping these things will help us launch some new projects that wouldn't have happened otherwise.
I also endorse Jonas's answer that just having more grantmaking capacity in the area will probably be helpful as well.
I'm not involved in Future Fund but I can attempt an answer. A few things to note on how this differs from Open Phil. Firstly Future Fund is:
Such mega projects seem to have been neglected in the EA community. This is partly due to a lack of money, but I'm not sure why Open Phil hasn't tended to fund such projects.
Also, the Future Fund seems to be engaging in active grantmaking where they propose particular project ideas that people can take on. Open Phil seems to focus more on funding existing projects/organisations.
Hopefully someone from Future Fund answers your question though as it's a good one and I may be off the mark here. It does seem to me though that Future Fund is a great addition to the EA funding ecosystem!
I think Open Phil is actually doing the things you say they aren't doing. I think the main value-add of the Future Fund is additional grantmaking capacity and experimenting with different mechanisms (such as prizes and regranting pools).
OK you may well be right, although I'm not sure Open Phil is as public about specific project ideas they want to be funded as Future Fund is?
The other thing I'd say is that I don't actually think the cause areas between Open Phil and Future Fund overlap that much. Open Phil isn't solely longtermist and the main overlap between the two orgs seems to be AI and biosecurity.