REG Semiannual Report S2 2016

This is the semiannual report detailing all money moved by REG in the second half of 2016 (see the following link for our S1 2016 report).

Total Donations in S2 2016

In the second half of 2016, REG donors gave a total of $1,197,280 to effective charities.

The ‘total donations’ figure reflects all donations that have been significantly influenced by REG. That is, if a donor thinks that REG (at least) significantly influenced them to make a donation, we include it in our ‘total donations’ figure. We count donations made through REG’s website as influenced by us, as well as some instances of donors donating to REG-recommended charities directly. In the latter case, we include the donation if the donor confirms that REG’s influence was essential. This figure underestimates REG’s actual impact to the extent to which people influenced by REG’s activities donate to REG-recommended charities directly (i.e. without registering on our website) without ever getting in touch with us.

The donations in the second half of 2016 were allocated as follows:

Charity Amount (in $)
Against Malaria Foundation $785,999
Animal Charity Evaluators $1,589
Animal Ethics $1,104
Centre for Effective Altruism $5,652
Foundational Research Institute $20,802
GiveDirectly $50,536
GiveWell $326
Machine Intelligence Research Institute $99,755
Mercy For Animals $2,000
New Incentives $712
Nonhuman Rights Project $158
Schistosomiasis Control Initiative $224,315
Sentience Politics $4,053
The Humane Slaughter Associaton $279
Total $1,197,280

 

A large share of donations in S2 2016 was raised in the context of Dan Smith’s fundraiser. Daily Fantasy Sports players Martin and Tom Crowley gave a total of $1,025,000 combined to AMF, GiveDirectly, and SCI. We have not included the rest of the money raised through this fundraiser in our total donations figure as REG’s influence on these donations was less direct.

Donations allocated by REG

REG donors can choose to let REG decide where to allocate their donations[1]. These donations are used for re-granting to REG-selected charities exclusively and are not used to cover our own expenses.

REG allocated a total of $96,215 of donations made in this way in the second half of 2016, which were granted to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) to support their fundraiser. MIRI fell short of its $750,000 fundraising goal by around $160,000, so REG decided to help to close MIRI’s funding gap through these allocations.

Disclosure of conflicts of interest

Both Sentience Politics (SP) and the Foundational Research Institute (FRI) are projects incubated by the Effective Altruism Foundation, REG’s parent organization. Staff members at FRI are on the board of the Effective Altruism Foundation.

What’s next

We’ll publish our annual transparency report next week. In this report, we’ll expand on the major events of the year, elaborate on some activities that haven’t resulted in immediate donations, but are likely to lead to substantial donations soon. In addition, we’re currently writing a report on lessons learned in 2016 and our plans for 2017, to be published in February.

Footnotes:

[1] To have REG allocate their donation, donors used to mark a box called ‘unrestricted’ on our donation page. We have since changed this box to say ‘I want REG to select a charity for me’ as some donors found the “unrestricted” / “restricted” terminology confusing.