The Silicon Valley power couple – Moskovitz cofounded Facebook and is Asana’s chairman while Tuna is a former Wall Street Journal reporter – have become leading figures in philanthropy circles, known for their data-driven philanthropy and focus on underfunded causes such as lead poisoning prevention and artificial intelligence safety research. Their Coefficient Giving recently expanded its reach, securing more than $200 million in commitments from fellow billionaires including Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison and Larry Page’s wife Lucinda Southworth.
Cari Tuna is another powerful example of a megadonor who’s taken a similar approach, helping scale two of the largest U.S. philanthropies focused on global health and development, GiveWell and Coefficient Giving, which both direct large-scale, unrestricted support to organizations like Against Malaria and GiveDirectly.
Coefficient Giving will today launch a $140mn fund, backed by donors including former Facebook and Asana co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna. Its lead goal is to double the number of vaccine candidates and ready at least one for full human clinical trials by 2030.
Stanford PACS spoke with Cari about what this moment demands of philanthropy, the evolution behind Coefficient Giving, and how she thinks about the role of philanthropic capital in shaping societal outcomes.
Devex includes Good Ventures on its list of the ten largest philanthropies funding development work, noting an uptick in philanthropic spending on development despite a contracting aid landscape.
“Our intention is to take the fullest possible advantage of the opportunity we have to help others, and Coefficient’s rigorous, analytical approach — from choosing causes to making grants — gives us more confidence that we’re on track,” said Tuna, Coefficient Giving’s chair, in a statement to IP. “I’m excited to see them expand their model so more donors can amplify their impact.”
Over the past decade, Open Philanthropy has been the rare philanthropic shop with both the resources and the rigor to make a dent in some of the world’s biggest problems.
Working closely with Good Ventures — the foundation built by Facebook and Asana co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna — Open Philanthropy has directed more than $4 billion since 2014 across a wide portfolio, from global health to housing to frontier science.
More than a decade ago, when Cari Tuna and her husband, billionaire away the vast majority of their wealth (now some $20 billion) during their lifetimes, they took an effective altruist’s view of things. Instead of donating to the causes they were most passionate about, they decided to give to those likely to create the greatest impact per dollar. In support of that they cofounded Open Philanthropy and funded everything from the Malaria Consortium to the Center for AI Safety-but they largely did it themselves. And that was never really the idea.
For San Francisco-based billionaire Cari Tuna, the most important decision a philanthropist can make is deciding what cause to support. Starting Tuesday, the organization she helped found will offer help to other major donors making those choices.
Cari Tuna and Dustin Moskovitz focus on causes that are important, neglected, and tractable in their giving. They’ve donated over $4 billion through Good Ventures, with a portfolio that spans global health interventions, support for AI safety and security, and pandemic preparedness, among other areas. Recent partnerships initiatives include a $120 million Abundance and Growth Fund and a $100 million Lead Exposure Action Fund.
