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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Long-Term Benefit Trust.md

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+---
+category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
+aliases:
+  - "Anthropic Long-Term Benefit Trust"
+  - "LTBT"
+tags:
+  - Organization
+  - Anthropic
+  - Governance
+  - EffectiveAltruism
+summary: "Body of financially disinterested trustees empowered to elect a growing share of Anthropic's board, founded in 2023 with trustees from RAND, Effective Ventures and the AI-safety world; a board majority from 2026."
+start: 2023-09-19
+relations:
+  - type: head_of
+    with: "[[Neil Buddy Shah]]"
+    reverse: true
+    role: "chair"
+    start: 2023-09
+    fn: 1
+  - type: member_of
+    with: "[[Jason Matheny]]"
+    reverse: true
+    start: 2023-09
+    end: 2023-12
+    fn: 1
+  - type: member_of
+    with: "[[Zach Robinson]]"
+    reverse: true
+    start: 2023-09
+    end: 2026-01
+    fn: 1
+  - type: member_of
+    with: "[[Richard Fontaine]]"
+    reverse: true
+    start: 2025-05
+    fn: 1
+  - type: member_of
+    with: "[[Ben Bernanke]]"
+    reverse: true
+    start: 2026-07
+    fn: 1
+created: 2026-09-22
+updated: 2026-09-23
+---
+
+The Long-Term Benefit Trust is the governance body of [[Anthropic]], announced on September 19, 2023, as "an independent body of five financially disinterested members with an authority to select and remove a portion of our Board that will grow over time (ultimately, a majority of our Board)." An earlier version, the "Long-Term Benefit Committee," had been written into the Series A investment documents of 2021. The structure was designed with [[John Morley]] of [[Yale Law School]], lawyers from [[Wilson Sonsini]], and [[Noah Feldman]] and [[Seth Berman]] of [[Harvard Law School]] and [[Ethical Compass Advisors]].[^1]
+
+### Trustees
+
+The initial trustees were [[Jason Matheny]], chief executive of the [[RAND Corporation]]; [[Kanika Bahl]], chief executive of [[Evidence Action]]; [[Neil Buddy Shah]], chief executive of the [[Clinton Health Access Initiative]], as chair; [[Paul Christiano]], founder of the [[Alignment Research Center]]; and [[Zach Robinson]], interim chief executive of [[Effective Ventures]] US. Matheny stepped down in December 2023 "to preempt any potential conflicts of interest that might arise with RAND Corporation's policy-related initiatives," and Christiano in April 2024 to become head of AI safety at the U.S. [[AI Safety Institute]]. [[Richard Fontaine]], chief executive of the [[Center for a New American Security]], joined in May 2025; [[Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar]], president of the [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]], in January 2026, when Bahl and Robinson left; and [[Ben Bernanke]], former chairman of the [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]], in July 2026.[^1] Fontaine also sat on Anthropic's [[Anthropic National Security and Public Sector Advisory Council|National Security and Public Sector Advisory Council]].[^2]
+
+### The Board
+
+In April 2026 the trust appointed [[Vas Narasimhan]], chief executive of [[Novartis]], to Anthropic's board, and with his appointment "Trust-appointed directors now make up a majority of the Board."[^3]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: Anthropic, "The Long-Term Benefit Trust," September 19, 2023, with later updates on changes in the trust's composition. https://www.anthropic.com/news/the-long-term-benefit-trust
+[^2]: Anthropic, "Introducing the Anthropic National Security and Public Sector Advisory Council," August 27, 2025. https://www.anthropic.com/news/introducing-the-anthropic-national-security-and-public-sector-advisory-council
+[^3]: Anthropic, "Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust appoints Vas Narasimhan to Board of Directors," April 14, 2026. https://www.anthropic.com/news/narasimhan-board