org · Governance & Think Tanks

Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET)

HQ / base
Washington DC
Founded
2019
Money
~$140M+ from Open Phil/GVF since 2019 (55M+38.9M+15.8M+19.3M...)
Status
—

Georgetown's tech-and-security think tank, founded by Jason Matheny (ex-IARPA) with the largest grant in Open Phil history — the beachhead that professionalized AI policy in DC (chip export-control analysis, talent tracking). Alumni: Helen Toner (OpenAI board), Biden NSC staff, CAISI advisors. The core exhibit for both admirers and 'infiltration' critics.

Connections

  • Coefficient Giving (Open Philanthropy)~$140M+ since 2019 (largest-ever grants)
  • Good Ventures Foundation$19.3M (2024) via Georgetown
  • Jason Mathenyfounded (2019)
  • Helen Tonerdirector of strategy
  • Carrick Flynnfounding staff
  • US CAISI (ex-US AISI, NIST)alumni staffing
  • Tarun Chhabrafounding faculty
  • Georgetown Universityhosts CSET within the Walsh School of Foreign Service
  • Ben Buchanandirector of the CyberAI Project before entering the Biden White House
  • Dewey Murdickexecutive director; congressional testimony before House Science and Senate Homeland Security (2023)

Sources

  • https://cset.georgetown.edu/
  • https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/good-ventures-foundation/

Entity cset · last revised —

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Contents

Geography

Grant Databases & Source Records

follow the money
Primary grants database

Coefficient Giving grants database ↗

The essential searchable archive for grants made by Coefficient Giving, formerly Open Philanthropy. Use its filters to inspect grantees, focus areas, dates, and individual award pages.

Main site ↗Legacy Open Phil archive ↗
Coefficient Giving portfolios

Program-level grant trails ↗

Enter the major portfolios directly, then continue into their associated grants and strategy material.

Transformative AI ↗Farm animals ↗Biosecurity ↗Abundance & growth ↗
Global health grantmaking

GiveWell all grants ↗

Published grant pages and allocations across GiveWell’s global health and wellbeing portfolio, including top-charity and higher-uncertainty opportunities.

All Grants Fund ↗Top Charities Fund ↗
EA regranting

EA Funds grants ↗

A navigable public list of grants recommended through EA Funds, with fund, grantee, date, amount, and payout-status records.

Long-Term Future ↗Animal Welfare ↗Global Health ↗
Cross-funder index

EA Grants Database ↗

A consolidated research dataset spanning thousands of grants across major EA-aligned funders. Useful for comparing recipients and totals across separate grant programs.

Explore database ↗Method and release notes ↗
Major donor records

Good Ventures grants database ↗

The donor-side portfolio behind much of Coefficient Giving’s directed grantmaking, with searchable recipient and award records.

Portfolio overview ↗Nonprofit Explorer ↗
Independent regranting

Survival and Flourishing Fund ↗

Public recommendation rounds and award tables for SFF’s grantmaking across existential-risk, forecasting, policy, and rationalist-adjacent organizations.

Recommendation tables ↗About SFF ↗
Other large flows

FLI grant programs ↗

Grant programs and recipient announcements from the Future of Life Institute, complemented by public nonprofit and election-spending records.

FLI grants ↗FEC expenditures ↗OpenSecrets ↗

Selected Trails

click to open relevant public archive

Coefficient Giving

  • Good Ventures → Coefficient Giving$4B+
  • Navigating Transformative AI portfolio≈ $600–800M
  • CSET at Georgetown$140M+
  • FAR AI$28.7M
  • BlueDot Impact$25.6M
  • MATS$23.6M
  • GovAI≈ $20M
  • Redwood Research≈ $21M
  • Farm Animal Welfare portfolio≈ $400M+
  • Biosecurity and pandemic preparedness≈ $300M

Global health & movement

  • GiveWell-directed global health≈ $1.5B
  • Against Malaria Foundation, 2024$96.3M
  • Malaria Consortium, 2024≈ $87M
  • Helen Keller Intl, 2024$54M
  • New Incentives, 2024≈ $12M
  • SFF distributions, 2019–2025$141M
  • EA Funds public grant ledger1,600+ grants
  • Abundance and Growth Fund$120M
  • Lead Exposure Action Fund$50M
  • EA movement infrastructure≈ $100M

Independent & institutional

  • Vitalik Buterin → Future of Life Institute$665.8M SHIB
  • FLI → European affiliate$180.3M
  • FLI → Lightcone Foundation$50M
  • FLI → Future of Life Foundation$25M
  • Amazon → Anthropic$8B+
  • Google → Anthropic$3B+
  • Microsoft → OpenAI$13.75B era
  • FTX clawback from Effective Ventures$26.8M
  • Federal independent expenditureslive FEC data
  • PAC and outside-spending cross-checklive records

Note. Amounts record snapshots and retain approximation markers. Verify individual grant dates, amendments, recipient names, and current totals on the linked databases

Directory listings

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