“Build right-of-center support for aid, such as Civita’s work to create and discuss development policy recommendations with conservative Norwegian lawmakers.”
Yes, it has “right of center” in the text of the article you linked, but of course my commentary was about US politics, and a Norwegian think tank doesn’t interface with that. What is “right of center” in Norway is completely different from what is “right of center” in the US.
Commenting on the broader topic brought up by the top-level comment, I sent over the spreadsheet of all grants from Open Philanthropy in 2024 to GPT-o1-preview asking the following question:
Here is a spreadsheet of all of Open Philanthropy’s grants since January 2024. Could you identify whether any of them might meaningfully constitute a grant to a “right of center” political think tank or organization within the United States?
GPT-o1-preview responded with:
After reviewing the list of grants provided, none appear to meaningfully constitute a grant to a “right of center” political think tank or organization within the United States. The grants are primarily directed toward universities, research institutions, and non-profit organizations focused on areas such as global health, animal welfare, artificial intelligence safety, and effective altruism. While some organizations are U.S.-based, none are identifiable as right-of-center political think tanks or organizations.
It’s not perfect (and I just used the first wording that came to mind, which might be off in various ways), and of course it’s been less than a year since there was a large shift in how Open Phil related to GV and as such is under tighter constraints here, and so we shouldn’t expect there to necessarily be much counterevidence even if the underlying observation is false, but I don’t think there currently exist any counterexamples, or at least none that are publicly available.[1]
Based on the list of grants provided, there do not appear to be any organizations or grants that would serve as a counterexample to the assertion:
> Open Phil does not want to fund anything that is even slightly right of center in any policy work.
All the grants listed are directed toward organizations that are generally considered non-partisan, centrist, or left-of-center in the United States. They primarily include universities, research institutions, and non-profit organizations focused on areas such as global health, animal welfare, biosecurity, artificial intelligence safety, and effective altruism.
No grants are identifiable as supporting U.S. right-of-center political think tanks or organizations. Therefore, based on the information provided, the assertion appears to hold true within the context of U.S.-based organizations.
Since the GPT-o1-preview response reads to me as “these grants don’t look politically coded” I’d be curious if you’d also get a similar response to:
Here is a spreadsheet of all of Open Philanthropy’s grants since January 2024. Could you identify whether any of them might meaningfully constitute a grant to a “left of center” political think tank or organization within the United States?
Sure! I continued the same chat and gave it the query:
What fraction of these grants would meaningfully be described as “left of center” policy work? Apply the same standard that you applied with the right of center policy work
It’s response:
Certainly! To determine what fraction of these grants could meaningfully be described as “left-of-center” policy work in the United States, I’ll follow the same standard applied earlier for identifying “right-of-center” policy work:
Focus on U.S.-based organizations engaged in policy work that aligns with left-of-center positions.
Exclude international organizations or those not primarily engaged in policy advocacy.
Consider the political affiliations and policy areas traditionally associated with left-of-center ideologies.
Identifying Left-of-Center Policy Work Grants
After reviewing the list, the following grants meet these criteria:
YIMBY Law — General Support (2024)
Amount: $180,000
Date: June 2024
Focus Area: Land Use Reform
Description: YIMBY Law is a U.S.-based organization advocating for housing policy reforms to increase housing supply and affordability. Their work often aligns with progressive or left-of-center policy positions focused on reducing housing inequality.
YIMBY Action — Housing Advocacy in California (2024)
Amount: $120,000
Date: June 2024
Focus Area: Land Use Reform
Description: Similar to YIMBY Law, YIMBY Action promotes policies to address the housing crisis through advocacy and community organizing, aligning with left-of-center ideals on affordable housing.
Clinton Health Access Initiative — Effectiveness Improvements for Health Multilaterals
Amount: $250,000
Date: June 2024
Focus Area: Global Aid Policy
Description: The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) is affiliated with the Clinton Foundation, associated with Democratic Party figures. CHAI works on global health policies, a domain often linked with left-of-center advocacy for international aid and public health initiatives.
Clinton Health Access Initiative — Aid Efficacy Support
Amount: $743,775
Date: March 2024
Focus Area: Global Aid Policy
Description: Another grant to CHAI supporting policy work to improve the effectiveness of global health aid.
Plant Based Foods Association — Advocacy and Corporate Engagement
Amount: $2,500,000
Date: January 2024
Focus Area: Alternatives to Animal Products
Description: The PBFA advocates for policies supporting plant-based foods, including lobbying against restrictive labeling laws and promoting sustainable agriculture—positions often associated with left-of-center environmental and public health policies.
Plant Based Foods Institute — International Regranting Against Labeling Laws (2024)
Amount: $257,000
Date: January 2024
Focus Area: Alternatives to Animal Products
Description: This grant supports advocacy against laws that limit labeling of plant-based products, aligning with left-of-center views on consumer rights and environmental sustainability.
Harvard Animal Law & Policy Clinic — Global Farmed Animal Benchmark
Amount: $350,000
Date: June 2024
Focus Area: Farm Animal Welfare
Description: Engaged in policy work to improve farm animal welfare, a cause typically championed by left-of-center groups advocating for animal rights and ethical treatment.
Albright Stonebridge Group — Korean Global Aid Advocacy
Amount: $1,000,000
Date: January 2024
Focus Area: Global Aid Policy
Description: Co-founded by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a Democrat, the firm engages in policy advocacy consistent with left-of-center perspectives on international cooperation and aid.
Peterson Institute for International Economics — Indian Economic Policy Reform (2024)
Amount: $680,000
Date: April 2024
Focus Area: Global Health & Development
Description: A U.S.-based think tank that leans centrist to center-left, focusing on economic policy research and advocacy.
Government Relations Group — Global Health Aid Study Tour in Ghana
Amount: $250,000
Date: May 2024
Focus Area: Global Aid Policy
Description: Engages in policy advocacy to promote global health aid, aligning with left-of-center values on international development and public health.
Government Relations Group — Japanese Support for NTD Elimination
Amount: $40,200
Date: June 2024
Focus Area: Global Aid Policy
Description: Advocacy work to secure support for neglected tropical diseases elimination, consistent with left-of-center emphasis on global health equity.
Calculating the Fraction
Total Number of Grants Listed: 151
Number of Grants Identified as Left-of-Center Policy Work in the U.S.: 11
Fraction:
Fraction=Number of Left-of-Center Policy Work GrantsTotal Number of Grants=11151≈0.0728 or 7.28%\text{Fraction} = \frac{\text{Number of Left-of-Center Policy Work Grants}}{\text{Total Number of Grants}} = \frac{11}{151} \approx 0.0728 \text{ or } 7.28\%Fraction=Total Number of GrantsNumber of Left-of-Center Policy Work Grants=15111≈0.0728 or 7.28%
Weighted by Grant Amount
To provide a weighted perspective based on grant sizes:
Step 1: Sum Total Amount of All Grants
From the previous calculation, the total funding amount is approximately $161,888,000.
Step 2: Sum Total Amount of Left-of-Center Policy Work Grants
Adding up the amounts for the identified grants:
YIMBY Law — $180,000
YIMBY Action — $120,000
Clinton Health Access Initiative — $250,000
Clinton Health Access Initiative — $743,775
Plant Based Foods Association — $2,500,000
Plant Based Foods Institute — $257,000
Harvard Animal Law & Policy Clinic — $350,000
Albright Stonebridge Group — $1,000,000
Peterson Institute for International Economics — $680,000
Government Relations Group — $250,000
Government Relations Group — $40,200
Total Amount for Left-of-Center Policy Work Grants:
Approximately 7% of the grants are directed toward left-of-center policy work in the U.S. when considering the number of grants.
Approximately 4% of the total funding amount is allocated to left-of-center policy work in the U.S. when weighted by grant size.
Summary
Number of Grants: 11 out of 151 grants (~7%)
Total Funding for Left-of-Center Policy Work: $6,370,975
Weighted Fraction of Total Funding: ~4%
Conclusion
Applying the same standard as before, a small fraction of Open Philanthropy’s grants could be meaningfully described as supporting left-of-center policy work in the United States. This represents about 7% of the grants by number and 4% when weighted by grant amount.
Note: These calculations are based solely on the information provided in the grant list. The categorization of organizations as “left-of-center” is based on typical associations with political ideologies in the U.S. context. Some organizations may engage in non-partisan work or have a broader focus that spans the political spectrum.
Honestly, this response doesn’t seem great, and I might ask it to look more closely in to the AI-related grants (some of which are I think left leaning in a way o1 could figure out), but I have to head out. Someone else could also try to reproduce it (you can download the spreadsheets of all OP grants from the OP website).
I think YIMBY is not very left or right. Here’s how Claude put it:
JK: Where does the YIMBY movement fall on the left-right spectrum in the US?
The YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) movement tends to fall on the center-left to center-right of the political spectrum in the US. YIMBYs generally support increasing housing supply and density to address housing affordability, which aligns with liberal/progressive goals. However, their support for market-based solutions and property rights puts them at odds with some further left positions. Overall, YIMBY is considered a centrist or “third way” approach to housing and urban development issues.
I don’t know much about the CHAI or ASG, but given that they were founded by politicians on the US left it seems reasonable to guess they’re left of center. Like, I think if OP were recommending grants to equivalent international orgs founded by US right politicians we’d count that the other way? Though I think “political think tank or organization within the United States” doesn’t really apply.
It seems like it thinks animal advocacy and global health are left coded, which on one hand isn’t totally wrong (I expect global health and animal advocates to be pretty left on average), but on the other isn’t really what we’re trying to get at here.
https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/global-aid-policy/
“Build right-of-center support for aid, such as Civita’s work to create and discuss development policy recommendations with conservative Norwegian lawmakers.”
What you linked to is a Norwegian Think Tank.
Yes, it has “right of center” in the text of the article you linked, but of course my commentary was about US politics, and a Norwegian think tank doesn’t interface with that. What is “right of center” in Norway is completely different from what is “right of center” in the US.
Commenting on the broader topic brought up by the top-level comment, I sent over the spreadsheet of all grants from Open Philanthropy in 2024 to GPT-o1-preview asking the following question:
GPT-o1-preview responded with:
It’s not perfect (and I just used the first wording that came to mind, which might be off in various ways), and of course it’s been less than a year since there was a large shift in how Open Phil related to GV and as such is under tighter constraints here, and so we shouldn’t expect there to necessarily be much counterevidence even if the underlying observation is false, but I don’t think there currently exist any counterexamples, or at least none that are publicly available.[1]
(Asking for confirmation, GPT-o1-preview said:
)
Since the GPT-o1-preview response reads to me as “these grants don’t look politically coded” I’d be curious if you’d also get a similar response to:
Sure! I continued the same chat and gave it the query:
It’s response:
Honestly, this response doesn’t seem great, and I might ask it to look more closely in to the AI-related grants (some of which are I think left leaning in a way o1 could figure out), but I have to head out. Someone else could also try to reproduce it (you can download the spreadsheets of all OP grants from the OP website).
Thanks for trying this!
Reviewing its judgements:
I think YIMBY is not very left or right. Here’s how Claude put it:
I don’t know much about the CHAI or ASG, but given that they were founded by politicians on the US left it seems reasonable to guess they’re left of center. Like, I think if OP were recommending grants to equivalent international orgs founded by US right politicians we’d count that the other way? Though I think “political think tank or organization within the United States” doesn’t really apply.
It seems like it thinks animal advocacy and global health are left coded, which on one hand isn’t totally wrong (I expect global health and animal advocates to be pretty left on average), but on the other isn’t really what we’re trying to get at here.