Grantmaker · Funders · New York, NY · Est. 2024
Renaissance Philanthropy is a U.S. nonprofit grantmaker and institution-builder focused on science, technology, and innovation. Its mission is to “fuel a 21st-century renaissance” by increasing the ambition of philanthropists, scientists, and innovators—specifically by making it easier to fund breakthrough work through time-bound, thesis-driven philanthropic funds led by field experts.
Renaissance Philanthropy describes its core approach as operating a “fund model” in which it incubates and launches initiatives, surfaces and supports technical “big ideas,” and then shares operating lessons via playbooks and other public outputs to help others scale what works. The organization’s portfolio spans multiple program areas—including AI and education, AI for math and mathematical research tools, open-source software for science, and translational R&D for high-impact domains such as catastrophic climate risk—often combining grantmaking with partner-led program design and field-building.
The air kids breathe indoors while in school and daycare is one of the most under-addressed problems we know how to fix. The team building the Inspired Air Fund at Renaissance Philanthropy shares their lessons from phase one of fund-building.
Renaissance Philanthropy and XTX Markets Announce Additional $13.5 million to Accelerate Breakthrough Research in Mathematics — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovationExpands on its initial $18 million commitment to advance the field of AI for mathematics, bringing the AI for Math Fund total to $31.5 million. NEW YORK/LONDON, March 5, 2026 – Renaissance Philanthropy and XTX Markets today announced the next phase of the AI For Math Fund, commit
Building Public AI Infrastructure: Four Observations from an Early Experiment in Career Navigation — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovationArtificial intelligence is reshaping how people explore education, careers, and work. New tools promise more personalized guidance at unprecedented scale. At the same time, the field is still discovering what high-quality AI-enabled career navigation looks like and how to help th
The Cross-Survey Decade of Astrophysics – A Q&A with Dr. Gioia Rau — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovationAs NASA prepares to launch the Roman Space Telescope, Tom Kalil caught up with Dr. Gioia Rau to discuss the exciting opportunity to integrate observations from multiple telescopes. This interview was first published in Kalil’s Corner , on SCI PHI - Renaissance Philanthropy’s Subs
CSLib: The Lean Computer Science Library: A Q&A with Alexandre Rademaker — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovationTom Kalil recently spoke with Alexandre Rademaker about the CSLib Initiative, a new fund at Renaissance Philanthropy.
Renaissance Philanthropy Opens Applications for the Biosecurity Big if True Science Accelerator — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovationWith support from Coefficient Giving, we are opening applications for a cohort to develop scalable proposals for R&D and market-shaping efforts to increase resilience to biological threats.
From Science to Venture: Japan’s First BiTS Cohort Takes the Stage — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovationTen Fellows from Japan’s inaugural Big if True Science (BiTS) Japan Accelerator recently presented ambitious R&D programs they developed over an intensive 15 weeks, pitching to an audience of more than 90 leaders from government, venture capital, industry, philanthropy, and acade
Stopping the "Wait-to-Fail" Cycle: How Innovations In AI Can Transform Early Literacy — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovationToo often, America’s public schools are forced to wait for a child to fail before offering the reading intervention they need to succeed. This isn’t due to a lack of teacher empathy or expertise, but rather a systemic resource gap that robs educators of the time and real-time ins
Introducing the 2026 BiTS x SPRIND Cohort — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovationRenaissance Philanthropy’s Big if True Science (BiTS) Accelerator , in partnership with SPRIND , Germany’s Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation, is delighted to introduce the 2026 BiTS SPRIND cohort: eight exceptional scientists, technologists, and innovators selected to de
Charting AI’s Role in Scientific Discovery — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovationRenaissance Philanthropy, with support from Google.org , is conducting a landscape study of AI integration in scientific research — and we want your perspective.
Meet the Inaugural FRCL Founders: Building Applied, Ambitious R&D Organisations in the UK — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovationWe are thrilled to announce the inaugural founders selected for the Frontier Research Contractor Launchpad (FRCL) , powered by our Activation Partnership with the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) as part of the UK Horizons programme. The FRCL exists to build a new cl
Renaissance Philanthropy Opens Call for Ideas on Reimagining K-12 Assessments with Advanced Technologies — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovationSeeking ideas and solutions that use advanced technologies to address critical pain points and opportunities in K-12 assessment. Today’s K-12 assessment landscape often captures learning at isolated moments, measures only a narrow slice of what students know and can do, and provi
Introduced the 2026 cohort for the Big if True Science (BiTS) Accelerator in partnership with SPRIND, describing the cohort’s focus areas and program structure leading to a public showcase in Berlin.
Renaissance Philanthropy Launches Northwest Arkansas Innovation Fund to Grow Jobs and TalentAnnounced a new Northwest Arkansas Innovation Fund with an investment structure spanning two inaugural programs (Catalyze479 and Launch479), supported by the Walton Family Foundation.
Renaissance Philanthropy Launches STEP-AI To Explore AI-Enabled Teacher Coaching In Sub-Saharan AfricaLaunched STEP-AI (Strengthening Teacher Effectiveness & Practice with AI) with a Gates Foundation partnership, describing AI-enabled teacher coaching and local capacity-building in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Open Source for Science Fund Launches to Power AI-Driven DiscoveryAnnounced the launch of the Open Source for Science Fund, seeded with $20 million in anchor funding from Biohub and Wellcome and supported by named foundations and alliances; described as opening an initial RFA process.
Renaissance Philanthropy and XTX Markets Announce Additional $13.5 million to Accelerate Breakthrough Research in MathematicsAnnounced an additional $13.5 million for the AI for Math Fund, described as expanding the fund’s commitments and opening a new application round and micro-grant track.
Announced $18 million in grants from the AI for Math Fund and described the fund’s first 29 winning projects and the launch timeline.