--- aliases: - Claire Zabel category: "Philanthropists & Benefactors" tags: - Person - ClaireZabel - OpenPhilanthropy - CoefficientGiving - CentreForEffectiveAltruism - EffectiveVentures - EffectiveAltruism - GlobalCatastrophicRisks - Biosecurity - Longtermism - AtlasFellowship summary: "Open Philanthropy staffer who led its effective altruism grantmaking and Capacity Building team, named investigator on grants totalling about 12.6 million dollars, and a director of Effective Ventures Foundation (UK) from 2019 to 2024." relations: - type: employed_by with: "[[Open Philanthropy]]" start: 2015-08 role: "research analyst from August 2015, later program officer for global catastrophic risks, head of effective altruism grantmaking, program director for biosecurity and pandemic preparedness and head of the Global Catastrophic Risks Capacity Building team; the organization now operates as Coefficient Giving" fn: 1 - type: director_of with: "[[Effective Ventures]]" start: 2019-07-18 end: 2024-03-28 role: "director of the English company then named the Centre for Effective Altruism, later Effective Ventures Foundation (UK)" fn: 2 - type: participant_in with: "[[Effective Altruism Foundation]]" start: 2019-07 role: "grant investigator, with Nick Beckstead, on a 1,000,000 dollar grant for research and general operations" fn: 12 - type: participant_in with: "[[Centre for Effective Altruism]]" start: 2020-01 end: 2021-01 role: "grant investigator on the 2020 grants for The Precipice and for the longtermist project incubator" fn: 16 - type: participant_in with: "[[Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative]]" start: 2020-01 end: 2021-03 role: "grant investigator on the 150,000 dollar general support grant of January 2020 and the 210,000 dollar stipend grant for the Stanford Existential Risks Initiative summer research fellowship of March 2021" fn: 15 - type: participant_in with: "[[Center for Applied Rationality]]" start: 2020-02 role: "grant investigator on the 375,000 dollar general support grant" fn: 18 - type: participant_in with: "[[Atlas Fellowship]]" start: 2022-03 role: "grant investigator on the 5,000,000 dollar grant, made via the Centre for Effective Altruism, for a summer program and scholarships for high school students" fn: 25 created: 2026-10-08 updated: 2026-10-08 --- Claire Zabel is a grantmaker in the effective altruism funding network. She joined [[Open Philanthropy]] as a research analyst in August 2015 and went on to lead its effective altruism grantmaking and its Global Catastrophic Risks Capacity Building team.[^1] She was a director of the English company then named the [[Centre for Effective Altruism]], later [[Effective Ventures]] Foundation (UK), from July 2019 to March 2024, while Open Philanthropy was that company's largest funder.[^2] ### Open Philanthropy and Coefficient Giving Open Philanthropy's team page, as captured on November 28, 2018, gives her title as program officer for global catastrophic risks and says she joined in August 2015 as a research analyst. Captures from December 12, 2019 through January 19, 2022 add that she "leads our grantmaking on effective altruism." The capture of June 17, 2024 gives the title program director, says she oversees the Biosecurity and Pandemic Preparedness team, and says she "went on to lead our Global Catastrophic Risks Capacity Building team."[^3] The capture of January 5, 2025 gives her title as program director for biosecurity and pandemic preparedness and records a bachelor's and master's degree in earth systems from [[Stanford University]], where she researched the science, ethics and governance of solar geoengineering.[^1] The organization now operates as [[Coefficient Giving]]. The address openphilanthropy.org/grants redirects to the Coefficient Giving fund pages, and the site footer carries the new name.[^4] Her Coefficient Giving biography gives her title as managing director of the Short Timelines Special Projects team, which researches and implements initiatives intended to be especially useful if transformative AI is developed soon. It says she ran the Global Catastrophic Risks Capacity Building team from 2018 to 2024 and oversaw the Biosecurity and Pandemic Preparedness team in 2018 and 2019 and again in 2023 and 2024. The same biography says that before joining the organization she was a research analyst at [[GiveWell]].[^5] ### Grants as investigator Open Philanthropy grant pages from 2018 to 2022 name her as grant investigator on a run of grants in biosecurity, in longtermist research and in the effective altruism community. The pages state that the investigator reviewed them without writing them and that the grantee's staff reviewed them before publication. The twenty pages below total about 12.6 million dollars at current amounts. In May 2018 the foundation recommended 570,000 dollars in scholarship support under the program Early-Career Funding for Global Catastrophic Biological Risks.[^6] In October 2018 it recommended a gift of 20,000 pounds (26,086 dollars at conversion) to the [[University of Oxford]] for the Mathematical Ecology Research Group and the research costs of [[Andrew Snyder-Beattie]], then recently Director of Research at the [[Future of Humanity Institute]].[^7] In November 2018 it recommended 1,904,942 dollars over three years to the [[Nuclear Threat Initiative]] for projects to reduce global catastrophic biological risks, including strengthening the [[Biological Weapons Convention]].[^8] In December 2018 it recommended a 25,000 dollar contract with [[Biosecure Ltd]] to support research for a campaign against biological weapons.[^9] In May 2019 it recommended 440,525 dollars to [[Altruistic Technology Labs]], described as a new organization, for work on global catastrophic biological risk prevention including machine-learning-based attribution of engineered DNA.[^10] The same month it recommended about 547,800 dollars over four years to [[Ethan Alley]] for a PhD at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]; the page says the amount was updated in January 2022 to reflect additional funding.[^11] In July 2019 the foundation recommended 1,000,000 dollars over two years to the [[Effective Altruism Foundation]] for research and general operations. [[Nick Beckstead]] and Zabel are named as the grant investigators. The page describes the grant as an effort to encourage the foundation and its other grantees to approach longtermism with greater emphasis on objectives shared between different value systems.[^12] In September 2019 it recommended 49,676 dollars in scholarships for students whose studies relate to effective altruism, with Zabel and [[Bastian Stern]] named as investigators.[^13] In December 2019 it recommended 250,000 dollars to Stanford University for student education about global catastrophic risks, to be used by [[Stephen Luby]] and [[Paul Edwards]], who teach the course "Preventing Human Extinction."[^14] In January 2020 it recommended 150,000 dollars in general support to the [[Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative]], to help establish new collaborations.[^15] The same month it recommended 38,350 dollars to the Centre for Effective Altruism in support of [[The Precipice]].[^16] In February 2020 it recommended 180,000 dollars to the Centre to support the work of [[Jade Leung]] in developing a longtermist project incubator,[^17] and 375,000 dollars in general support to the [[Center for Applied Rationality]].[^18] In April 2020 it recommended 300,000 dollars in general support to [[LessWrong]].[^19] In September 2020 it recommended 500,000 dollars to the Centre for the incubator work. The page now records that amount as 48,736 dollars, revised after 451,264 dollars were returned to the foundation in March 2023.[^20] In January 2021 it recommended 5,915 dollars in general support to the [[Effective Altruism Debate Championship]][^21] and 1,500,000 dollars to the [[Stanford Existential Risks Initiative]] for global catastrophic risk education.[^22] In March 2021 it recommended 210,000 dollars to the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative for stipends for the Stanford Existential Risks Initiative summer research fellowship program.[^23] In May 2021 it recommended 24,000 dollars to the Stanford Existential Risks Initiative for distribution of The Precipice.[^24] In March 2022 it recommended 5,000,000 dollars to the [[Atlas Fellowship]], via the Centre for Effective Altruism, to support a summer program and scholarship funding for talented high school students.[^25] The largest general-support grants to the Centre were not credited to her. A grant of 7,500,000 dollars in February 2021 names the Committee for Effective Altruism Support as its investigator.[^26] ### Board seat and the Centre's English company [[Companies House]] lists Zabel as a director of Effective Ventures Foundation (UK), company number 07962181, from July 18, 2019 to March 28, 2024.[^2] The same register records her as a person with significant control holding more than 25 percent but not more than 50 percent of the voting rights from July 18, 2019 to February 2, 2022, and again from September 21, 2023 to March 28, 2024.[^27] The company's accounts for the year to June 30, 2023 list as trustees [[William MacAskill]] (resigned September 21, 2023), [[Toby Ord]] (resigned July 29, 2022), Zabel, [[Owen Cotton-Barratt]] (resigned February 11, 2023), Nick Beckstead (resigned August 23, 2023), [[Tasha McCauley]], [[Lincoln Quirk]] (appointed May 23, 2023), [[Eli Rose]] and J Winchell (both appointed February 9, 2024), with [[Howie Lempel]] as chief executive until December 7, 2023, and his successor R Gledhill from January 1, 2024.[^28] Note 27 to those accounts describes her as one of its trustees and states that she "is employed as a program director at Open Philanthropy, our largest funder." The same note states that "As a result of that position, Claire has significant influence over some of the funding decisions made by Open Philanthropy in relation to several of the charity's projects." In that year the charity received 39,037,949 pounds in grant income from Open Philanthropy and donations of 2,766,546 pounds from the [[FTX Foundation]]. The note also states that one of the Board of Trustees was the chief executive of the FTX Foundation during the year.[^29] The [[Charity Commission]] opened a statutory inquiry into the charity on December 19, 2022 after it reported that two trustees were connected with FTX. The report published on May 22, 2024 records that one trustee was the chief executive of the FTX Foundation and the other an unpaid adviser to the [[FTX Future Fund]]; that the trustees were not required to disclose potential conflicts of interest on joining the board until October 2022; and that it found no evidence of unmanaged conflicts regarding funds received from the FTX Foundation. It does not name the trustees or mention Open Philanthropy.[^30] The officer tables of the Form 990 filings of Effective Ventures Foundation USA (EIN 47-1988398) for six filing years as published by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer do not list her.[^31] ### Footnotes [^1]: Open Philanthropy, "Claire Zabel," team biography, Wayback Machine capture of January 5, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20250105212156/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/team/claire-zabel/ [^2]: Companies House, "Effective Ventures Foundation (UK)," company number 07962181, register of officers filtered to resigned officers, entry for Claire Zabel (appointed July 18, 2019; resigned March 28, 2024), viewed October 8, 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07962181/officers?filter=resigned [^3]: Open Philanthropy, "Claire Zabel," team biography, Wayback Machine captures of November 28, 2018 (https://web.archive.org/web/20181128192541/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/team/claire-zabel), December 12, 2019 (https://web.archive.org/web/20191212003145/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/team/claire-zabel), February 27, 2021 (https://web.archive.org/web/20210227063817/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/team/claire-zabel), January 19, 2022 (https://web.archive.org/web/20220119041801/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/team/claire-zabel) and June 17, 2024 (https://web.archive.org/web/20240617074758/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/team/claire-zabel). [^4]: Open Philanthropy grants index, openphilanthropy.org/grants/, which redirects to coefficientgiving.org/funds/; footer "2026 Coefficient Giving," viewed October 8, 2026. https://coefficientgiving.org/funds/global-catastrophic-risks-opportunities/ [^5]: Coefficient Giving, "Claire Zabel," team biography, viewed October 8, 2026. https://coefficientgiving.org/team/claire-zabel/ [^6]: Open Philanthropy, "Early-Career Funding for Global Catastrophic Biological Risks: Scholarship Support (2018)," award date May 2018, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/early-career-funding-for-global-catastrophic-biological-risks-scholarship-support-2018/ [^7]: Open Philanthropy, "University of Oxford: D.Phil. Support for Andrew Snyder-Beattie," award date October 2018, amount 20,000 pounds ($26,086 at conversion), grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/oxford-university-d-phil-support-for-andrew-snyder-beattie/ [^8]: Open Philanthropy, "Nuclear Threat Initiative: Projects to Reduce Global Catastrophic Biological Risks," award date November 2018, amount 1,904,942 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/nuclear-threat-initiative-projects-to-reduce-global-catastrophic-biological-risks/ [^9]: Open Philanthropy, "Biosecure Ltd: Campaign Against Bioweapons Research," award date December 2018, amount 25,000 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/biosecure-ltd-campaign-against-bioweapons-research/ [^10]: Open Philanthropy, "Altruistic Technology Labs: Work on Biological Risk Prevention," award date May 2019, amount 440,525 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/altruistic-technology-labs-work-on-biological-risk-prevention/ [^11]: Open Philanthropy, "Global Catastrophic Risks Scholarships: Scholarship Support (2019)," award date May 2019, amount 547,800 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/global-catastrophic-risks-scholarships-scholarship-support-2019/ [^12]: Open Philanthropy, "Effective Altruism Foundation: Research and Operations," award date July 2019, grant investigators Nick Beckstead and Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-research-and-operations/ [^13]: Open Philanthropy, "EA Scholarships: Scholarship Support (2019)," award date September 2019, amount 49,676 dollars, grant investigators Claire Zabel and Bastian Stern, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/ea-scholarships-scholarship-support-2019/ [^14]: Open Philanthropy, "Stanford University: Global Catastrophic Risk Education," award date December 2019, amount 250,000 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/stanford-university-global-catastrophic-risk-education/ [^15]: Open Philanthropy, "Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative: General Support," award date January 2020, amount 150,000 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/berkeley-existential-risk-initiative-general-support/ [^16]: Open Philanthropy, "Centre for Effective Altruism: Support for The Precipice," award date January 2020, amount 38,350 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of October 28, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20251028024853/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-support-for-the-precipice/ [^17]: Open Philanthropy, "Centre for Effective Altruism: Support for Jade Leung," award date February 2020, amount 180,000 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/?p=1561 [^18]: Open Philanthropy, "Center for Applied Rationality: General Support (2020)," award date February 2020, amount 375,000 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/center-for-applied-rationality-general-support-2020/ [^19]: Open Philanthropy, "LessWrong: General Support," award date April 2020, amount 300,000 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/?p=1448 [^20]: Open Philanthropy, "Centre for Effective Altruism: Longtermist Project Incubator (September 2020)," award date September 2020, amount 48,736 dollars "updated to reflect $451,264 returned to us in March 2023," grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of October 24, 2025 (https://web.archive.org/web/20251024104819/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-longtermist-incubator-september-2020/); the capture of 2024 (https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/?p=1305) shows the original amount of 500,000 dollars. [^21]: Open Philanthropy, "Effective Altruism Debate Championship: General Support," award date January 2021, amount 5,915 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/?p=1132 [^22]: Open Philanthropy, "Stanford Existential Risks Initiative: Global Catastrophic Risk Education," award date January 2021, amount 1,500,000 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/?p=1136 [^23]: Open Philanthropy, "Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative: SERI Summer Fellowships," award date March 2021, amount 210,000 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/?p=7033 [^24]: Open Philanthropy, "Stanford Existential Risks Initiative: Distribution of The Precipice," award date May 2021, amount 24,000 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/?p=1090 [^25]: Open Philanthropy, "Atlas Fellowship: Scholarships and Summer Program for Students," award date March 2022, amount 5,000,000 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine captures of 2022 and 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/atlas-fellowship-scholarships-and-summer-program-for-students/ [^26]: Open Philanthropy, "Centre for Effective Altruism: General Support (2021)," award date February 2021, amount 7,500,000 dollars, grant investigator "Committee for Effective Altruism Support," Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/?p=1179 [^27]: Companies House, "Effective Ventures Foundation (UK)," company number 07962181, persons with significant control, entry for Claire Zabel (notified July 18, 2019, ceased February 2, 2022; notified September 21, 2023, ceased March 28, 2024), viewed October 8, 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07962181/persons-with-significant-control [^28]: Effective Ventures Foundation (UK), Trustees' Report and Financial Statements for the year ended June 30, 2023, "Reference and administrative details of the Company, its Trustees and advisers," page 1 (trustees printed with initials: W D MacAskill, T D G Ord, C Zabel, O Cotton-Barrat, N M Beckstead, T McCauley, L Quirk, E Rose, J Winchell), read from the scanned filing. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07962181/filing-history/MzQxNDkzNjQ2NGFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf [^29]: Effective Ventures Foundation (UK), Trustees' Report and Financial Statements for the year ended June 30, 2023, filed at Companies House March 21, 2024, note 27 ("Related party transactions"), page 48, read from the scanned filing. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07962181/filing-history/MzQxNDkzNjQ2NGFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf [^30]: Charity Commission for England and Wales, "Charity Inquiry: Effective Ventures Foundation UK," published May 22, 2024, sections on background, findings and conflicts of interest (marked on the page as withdrawn on May 27, 2026). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-effective-ventures-foundation-uk/charity-inquiry-effective-ventures-foundation-uk [^31]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Effective Ventures Foundation USA," EIN 47-1988398, full filing text of Form 990, Part VII officer tables, filings listed at https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/471988398, viewed October 8, 2026.