Recommendation

First, we receive a grant recommendation from a regrantor or donor. Regrantors are individuals we’ve selected for the purpose of recommending grant opportunities based on their expertise in cause areas of interest. Donors are individuals who have already made a contribution to Manifold for Charity, and have suggested we direct their contribution towards a particular project. Regrantors have the ability to write up grant proposals on the behalf of potential recipients or direct money towards proposals posted by grant applicants, while donors can only suggest donations to the latter.

Agreement

Next, the grantee signs a grant agreement, which, among other things, requires they not use their grant

otherwise than for the purposes which fall within the charitable purposes of the Recipient, or to undertake an activity for any purpose other than a religious, charitable, scientific, literary, educational, or other purpose specified in Section 170(c)(2)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”)

or to

To participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office, to induce or encourage violations of law or public policy, to cause any private inurement or improper private benefit to occur, or to take any other action inconsistent with Section 501(c)(3) of the IRC.

In almost all cases, they also agree not “to attempt to influence legislation, within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the IRC,” though in rare special cases we remove this clause, while keeping our overall contributions in line with the expenditure test.

Review

Next, we review the grant to ensure that it is legal, for the public benefit, and inline with our charity’s mission and values. This involves:

• reading the grant application
• reading the recommender’s reasons for recommending the grant. We tend to hold a higher standard for grants that are recommended by donors rather than regrantors.
• performing a brief background check on the grant recipient, including looking up their name and checking with the Centre for Effective Altruism’s Community Health Team

We tend to give grants that benefit the public by performing or enhancing scientific or research producing public reports on important topics. In particular, we most often give to projects that further the field of forecasting or existential risk reduction. However, we occasionally give grants that otherwise fall into the public benefit.