Global Catastrophic Risks Fund

Global Catastrophic Risks Fund is sponsored by Founders Pledge. This fund tackles far-future threats and takes action now to help protect every human being alive today. It aims to reduce the probability of large-scale catastrophic events, mitigate potential negative impacts, and improve the ability to anticipate new risks.

Global Catastrophic Risks Fund Stop the next global catastrophe in its tracks We live in an era of new perils. Humanity faces existential risks, including war between great powers, natural and engineered pandemics, thermonuclear war, threats from advanced artificial intelligence (AI), and frontier military technologies. These global catastrophic risks have the potential to kill hundreds of millions, even billions, of people alive today.

We can come together – scientists, policymakers, engineers, military leaders, and motivated citizens – to mitigate these risks. It's happened before. During the Cold War, political leaders negotiated to reduce stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.

At the turn of the millennium, scientists tracked large asteroids and comets in Earth’s vicinity. Today, countries are working together on global preparedness for the next pandemic disease. The Global Catastrophic Risks Fund (GCRF) tackles far-future threats and takes action now to help protect every human being alive today.

We aim to: Reduce the probability of large-scale catastrophic events; Mitigate the potential negative impacts of these events if they occur; Improve the ability to anticipate new and emerging risks on the horizon. Want to tackle climate change ? We have an entire Fund dedicated to it .

The Global Catastrophic Risks Fund is a philanthropic co-funding vehicle that does not provide investment returns. ▲ Photo by Cash Macanaya on Unsplash 2025 GCR Fund Impact Report Our 2025 Fund Impact Report highlights how the GCR Fund is translating concern about humanity’s most severe threats into concrete action.

In 2025, the GCR Fund supported a portfolio of high-impact grants spanning three primary streams of work: strengthening diplomatic channels, research and knowledge generation, and improving risk mitigation capacity. Read the report to see how targeted, cost-effective philanthropy can meaningfully reduce the risk of global catastrophes—today and in the decades to come.

Give to the Global Catastrophic Risks Fund Help safeguard humanity’s future by backing the most impactful, overlooked work to prevent global catastrophes. Interested in committing to multi-year support? Learn more We find opportunities to support highly impactful and neglected initiatives to reduce the probability of worldwide catastrophes and mitigate their consequences.

This is a complex mission, with an ever-changing threat landscape. We give special consideration to threats that could curtail humanity’s future, leaning towards tractable solutions today. By seeking opportunities that are neglected by other grant-makers, we can ensure that the Fund is as high-leverage as possible.

Our decision-making is guided by three core values: impact , innovation , and flexibility . To maximize impact , our grant portfolio includes both direct interventions, like funding the development of new crisis communications technology or personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as research and hits-based bets.

Hits-based bets are initiatives where success is less certain, but where there is potential to improve many more lives if successful. We are committed to innovation , including developing new and better approaches to grantmaking, and providing seed funding for novel projects. We maintain flexibility to respond rapidly to emerging crises and windows of opportunity.

We work with networks of domain experts, trusted partners, and government decision-makers to identify new opportunities, and deploy funds in the most effective ways. When evaluating potential grants, we consider several factors: Collaborating with trusted partners. Avoiding harm and information hazards.

Seizing time-sensitive opportunities and policy windows. ▲ Photo by CDC on Unsplash Direct and co-funded grants *Grants marked with an asterisk were not originally paid in USD; the amounts shown are converted reference values. Institute for Security and Technology Funding a daylong workshop on AI x nuclear risks at the Pacific Forum U.S.-China dialogs.

Council on Foreign Relations Funding a research project examining how emerging conventional capabilities (e.g., autonomous systems, hypersonics, etc.) affect nuclear escalation dynamics.

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Global Guardrails Project Launching the Global Guardrails Project to develop new and actionable ideas for international crisis management and global catastrophic risk reduction in an era of geopolitical fragmentation and eroding multilateral institutions.

These grants have been identified, evaluated and advised on by Fund Managers; resources were deployed by external philanthropists through their giving infrastructure, separately from the Fund.

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace To launch Project "Averting Armageddon" International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science Seed funding to launch the organization For the U.S.-China Strategic Nuclear Dialogues 2025 Mid-Year Impact Report Theories of Change for Track 2 Diplomacy New research and recommendations on Advanced AI Great power competition and transformative technologies report Global Catastrophic Biological Risks: A guide for Philanthropists Global Catastrophic Nuclear Risk: A guide for philanthropists Great power conflict report Call me, maybe?

Hotlines and global catastrophic risk report