Jess ReidelTreasurer (Board of Directors)
Field builder · Funders · Covina, California · Est. 2017
Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative (BERI) is an independent U.S. 501(c)(3) public charity founded in 2017 that provides operational infrastructure and fiscal sponsorship to existential-risk–related research and policy work, with a current emphasis on AI safety and existential risk reduction. BERI positions itself as an “operational hub” for collaborators: it handles administrative complexity (for example, financial management, HR/employment administration, grant administration, and compliance support), allowing university-affiliated and fiscally sponsored projects to focus on their mission-critical research and programs.
Its work is organized around university collaborations and fiscally sponsored projects, including program tracks such as “Technical AI Safety” (an administering role for Coefficient Giving’s Technical AI Safety RFP) and a “Kairos Project: Pathfinder” fellowship program track. BERI’s stated approach is to enable capabilities that are difficult to carry out within normal university timelines or without nonprofit infrastructure (e.g., purchasing and delivering computing infrastructure faster than university procurement cycles, or administering multi-country research support logistics).
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BERI is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity. Our mission is to improve human civilization's long-term prospects for survival and flourishing.
BERI BlogBERI is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity. Our mission is to improve human civilization's long-term prospects for survival and flourishing.
BERI BlogBERI is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity. Our mission is to improve human civilization's long-term prospects for survival and flourishing.
BERI BlogBERI is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity. Our mission is to improve human civilization's long-term prospects for survival and flourishing.
BERI BlogBERI is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity. Our mission is to improve human civilization's long-term prospects for survival and flourishing.
BERI BlogBERI is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity. Our mission is to improve human civilization's long-term prospects for survival and flourishing.
BERI BlogBERI is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity. Our mission is to improve human civilization's long-term prospects for survival and flourishing.
BERI BlogBERI is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity. Our mission is to improve human civilization's long-term prospects for survival and flourishing.
BERI BlogBERI is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity. Our mission is to improve human civilization's long-term prospects for survival and flourishing.
BERI BlogBERI is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity. Our mission is to improve human civilization's long-term prospects for survival and flourishing.
BERI BlogBERI is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity. Our mission is to improve human civilization's long-term prospects for survival and flourishing.
BERI BlogBERI is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity. Our mission is to improve human civilization's long-term prospects for survival and flourishing.
BERI’s blog post describing organizational updates after a long gap in external communications: it notes staffing changes (Special Projects Manager Lara Lincoln and Program Manager Andreas Pashos), expansion of its fiscal sponsorship program launched mid-2025, and growth in the number of active collaborations and reported grant totals for 2025 (as stated by BERI).
BERI 2023 Annual ReportBERI announces publication of its 2023 annual report and states that predictions for 2024 were published as a separate blog post for timeliness and transparency.
2024 Collaborator Survey ResultsBERI reports results from a January–February 2024 collaborator survey (anonymous, 30 responses), including reported satisfaction and quantitative feedback about what would have happened otherwise without BERI’s help.
BERI Returns All FTX FundsBERI announces that it returned funds received from the FTX Foundation (FTX Future Fund) as of January 31, 2024, and lists the 2022 project-specific grants it received before returning the funds.
BERI’s Goals and Predictions for 2024BERI publishes explicit goals and quantitative predictions for 2024, describing its approach to publishing organizational predictions in advance and including forecast ranges for areas like direct program spending, overhead rate, and staffing FTEs.
Announcing BERI’s first grants programBERI announces it received approximately $2 million in donations from Jaan Tallinn to establish a grants program and describes the committee decision-making process for early grant awards (including general support grants to MIRI and FLI).