Thanks to @asteriskmag.bsky.social for hosting and writing up this fun debate I had with my friend @robreich.bsky.social about philanthropy and democracy and the coming AI giving boom (though they did me dirty with the photo choice!): asteriskmag.substack.com/p/what-shou...
I’m really excited about this: we’re increasing our support for GiveWell recs this year from $175M to $1B to help pave the way for an expected surge in funding from others. coefficientgiving.org/research/in...
Increasing Our 2026 Allocation to GiveWell’s Recommendations to $1 Billion
coefficientgiving.org
New CBO paper: every $1 of federal R&D returns ~$3–$4 of GDP in present value over 30 years www.nber.org/papers/w35472
I've spent my career working on vaccines, and until I joined Coefficient Giving, I'd never heard Strep A mentioned as a global health priority. The more I looked, the harder it was to understand why a disease killing 630,000+ people a year was so neglected.
A Vaccine for Strep A May Finally Be in Reach
Strep A—the bacterium behind strep throat and impetigo—kills hundreds of thousands of people a year, mostly young people in LMICs—yet Strep A vaccine R&D is chronically underfunded.
globalhealthnow.org
Thanks @alterigoe.bsky.social for having me on @devex.com's new Theory of Change podcast. We talked about how we pick problems at Coefficient Giving, why Strep A stands out as a unique opportunity, and the challenge of making big bets across long time horizons: youtu.be/0SLzoKxQqHg
Theory of Change: #1: How Alexander Berger weighs the world's biggest problems
Coefficient Giving, one of the world’s largest effective-giving fun...
youtube.com
Looks like Eric Adams really delivered on housing production with City of Yes newyorkyimby.com/2026/05/new-...
New York YIMBY’s 2026 First-Quarter Construction Report Tallies a Dramatic Increase in Development - New York YIMBY
YIMBY has revealed its report on construction permit filing activity for the first quarter of 2026 across the five boroughs.
newyorkyimby.com
I'm really excited about the >$140 million Strep A Vaccine Fund we're launching today. I think the basic case here is a great recipe for impact ↓ bsky.app/profile/kat...
Katharine Collins (@kat-a-collins.bsky.social)
Today, Coefficient Giving is launching the Strep A Vaccine Fund, a multi-donor initiative to accelerate vaccine development against one of the world's most neglected infectious diseases relative to its scale. Strep A kills ~639,000 people a year. There is no vaccine. I think that can change 🧵
bsky.app
Great to see GiveWell CEO Elie Hassenfeld on the TIME100 Philanthropy list, well chosen! time.com/collection/...
Pretty cool: @cayimby.bsky.social declined to endorse anyone for California governor because all the top candidates have strong housing plans
We're hiring 10+ grantmakers and senior generalists across our GCR teams. Most of our capital is bottlenecked on a tiny number of people working to identify, vet, and generate strong funding opportunities. Apply here by May 24: jobs.ashbyhq.com/coefficient...
Nobel laureate Al Roth has a great piece in @washingtonpost.com today on why we should compensate kidney donors. Kidney failure disproportionately hits Black and low-income Americans, costs Medicare $55B+/yr, and most people who need a transplant will die without one. 🧵
This piece reflects my updates over the last couple years really well www.update.news/p/the-table...
The tables have turned on AI sceptics
Epistemic conservatism no longer favours long timelines
update.news
How long do you have to work to afford basic commodities? @humanprogress.bsky.social's Simon Abundance Index has tracked "time prices" for 50 resources since 1980. Every single one has gotten cheaper! Full report: humanprogress.org/the-simon-a...
The team behind my favorite graph - @ourworldindata.org - is hiring a writer. If you can explain complicated things in ways that change how people think AND you want that skill pointed at the world's largest problems, consider applying: ourworldindata.org/hiring-writ...
The FDA accidentally froze Strep A vaccine development for 27 years. @asimovpress.bsky.social explains what happened and where things stand now. press.asimov.com/articles/strep
How to Build a Strep A Vaccine
After decades of scientific and regulatory delays, several Strep A vaccine candidates are entering clinical trials. Without further funding for phase 3 studies, however, many will be hamstrung.
press.asimov.com
In the coming years, billions in new philanthropic capital could be unlocked. Whether that money is matched to the highest-impact opportunities is far from guaranteed. At CG, we’re hiring for a Managing Director, Philanthropic Advisory to make this influx of capital go as well as possible.
I usually end up mostly reading fiction because it's easier and more fun than most nonfiction. But I read "And the Band Played On" recently and loved it. Incredibly info-dense, but extremely well-written and page-turning. Any recs for other great readable nonfiction like this?
Great reporting from @chronphilanthropy.bsky.social on our grantee @cureswithinreach.bsky.social, which runs small trials testing whether existing, approved drugs might work for entirely different diseases.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy@chronphilanthropy.bsky.social · 4mo ago$12 million in grants. $145 million in follow-on funding. The math behind Cures Within Reach is simple: fund the studies no one else will, and bigger funders follow. https://phlnthrp.com/4dsNCFk
Coefficient Giving recently passed $5 billion in total grants directed since we started in 2014. A few things about what that number actually represents 🧵
Turns out "let people build homes" is a pretty intuitive political message! calmatters.org/housing/202...
Some of our best grants have been in talent, helping people find their way to high-impact careers. We think there's way more room to grow here, so we're launching an open RFP. If you run an org that helps people have an impact with their career, apply! coefficientgiving.org/funds/effec...
RFP on Effective Careers
We are excited to announce a new Request for Proposals (RFP) for effective career organizations, defined as initiatives devoted to providing mentorship, advice, and opportunities to help people pursue highly impactful careers. Through this RFP, we aim to identify and support additional efforts in the effective careers space and streamline the application process for potential […]
coefficientgiving.org
Coefficient Giving directed over $1b in 2025, the most in our history. I wrote a more personal annual letter this year, focusing on what a decade of grantmaking has taught me, how I'm thinking about AI, and how we're grappling with giving at this scale. 🧵 Linking the PDF here: tinyurl.com/3sh3mwhp
Very cool coverage of this project we're cofunding with the sloanfoundation.bsky.social: www.nature.com/articles/d4...
Pop-up journals for policy research: can temporary titles deliver answers?
Nature - Journals that focus on specific research questions could help to bridge the science–policy gap, if they can attract researchers.
nature.com
I have gradually been converted to lesswrong-ism by noting that as time has gone on I have been more wrong, and them less.
New on our blog: a Q&A with Clare Donaldson of the Lead Exposure Elimination Project (LEEP) discussing a massive, solvable problem that still gets surprisingly little attention. 🧵 coefficientgiving.org/research/ho...
China had almost 30 million births in the 1960s, but they have since fallen to less than 8 million. Since US and Indian births haven't fallen as much, this will have geopolitical consequences later this century. www.update.news/i/187511992/...
"Now we have a special box of electricity that turns Reddit comments and old toaster manuals into cogent conversations about Shakespeare and molecular biology." Great piece from Gideon Lewis-Kraus on state of LLMs 10 years after his NYT article on Google Translate. www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
What Is Claude? Anthropic Doesn’t Know, Either
Researchers at the company are trying to understand their A.I. system’s mind—examining its neurons, running it through psychology experiments, and putting it on the therapy couch.
newyorker.com
Excited to share: the Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) Fund officially launched this week as an independent nonprofit. Coefficient Giving is proud to be an anchor funder. 🧵
