The Global Catastrophic Risks (GCR) Fund

Fund Objective:

To help prevent the most severe global catastrophes

We live in a time of perils. Humanity faces large risks, including war between great powers, natural and engineered pandemics, thermonuclear war, threats from advanced artificial intelligence (AI), and emerging risks from frontier military technologies. These global catastrophic risks have the potential to kill hundreds of millions, even billions, of humans alive today.

Scientists, policymakers, and the public can come together to mitigate these risks. We’ve done it before. During the Cold War, leaders cooperated to reduce stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. At the turn of the millennium, scientists spearheaded an unprecedented effort to compute and track the threat of large asteroids and comets in Earth’s vicinity to protect humanity from catastrophic impacts. A growing global movement now seeks to reduce the risks from climate change and increase pandemic preparedness.

The Global Catastrophic Risks (GCR) Fund will identify and fund interventions to reduce the largest known risks to humanity today. This Fund is designed both to tackle far-future threats, and to take action now and help protect every human being alive today. We aim to:

  • Reduce the probability of large-scale catastrophic events;

  • Mitigate the potential negative impacts of these events;

  • Improve our ability to anticipate new and emerging risks on the horizon.

To contribute to the GCR Fund, email us at funds@founderspledge.com or — if you're not a Founders Pledge member — donate via every.org or Giving What We Can.

Note: the Fund is a philanthropic co-funding vehicle that does not provide investment returns.

Plan for the Year

Launch the Fund: We have set up the philanthropic infrastructure and are seeking contributions to seed and grow the Fund from Q4 2022.

Identify Open Policy Windows: Working with our network of domain experts and policymakers, we will seek to identify open policy windows of opportunity and seize these opportunities with flexible and time-sensitive grants.

Q4 2022
Q4 2023

Make Initial High-Impact Grants: Our Fund Manager will make initial disbursements from the Fund, covering a range of global catastrophic risks.

Create Innovative Grantmaking Processes: Along the way, we will innovate on and improve grantmaking processes, seek new ways of quantifying impact, and collaborate with trusted partners.

Join our private member community for Global Catastrophic Risks

Enjoy grant review sessions and curated events focused on the issues you care about

Fund Grantees

Our Global Catastrophic Risks (GCR) Fund aims to give to charities on a rolling basis. For an example of the kind of projects that the Fund will support, see Founders Pledge’s recent seed funding for the Berkeley Risk and Security Lab (BRSL).

You can read more about our giving strategy in the Fund Prospectus. Check back here for regular updates on Fund grantees.

Date Recipient Amount Description
January 2023 Center for a New American Security $100,000 To support a one-year project on an "International Autonomous Incidents Agreement," as described in Founders Pledge's report on Autonomous Weapons and Military AI (pages 39-40).
December 2022 Vox Media $10,000 To support efforts that will facilitate the reporting and publication of articles on the Ninth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention and thereby educate the general public and leaders about the continued threat to public safety, international security, and the future of humanity posed by biological weapons.
November 2022 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists $5,000 To support efforts that will facilitate the reporting and publication of articles on the Ninth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention and thereby educate the general public and leaders about the continued threat to public safety, international security, and the future of humanity posed by biological weapons.

Meet our Fund Manager

Join Us

To donate to the Fund, contact your Community Manager or Advisor, or email us at funds@founderspledge.com.

If you’re not a Founders Pledge member, you can donate through every.org or Giving What We Can.