Cari Tuna and Dustin Moskovitz
Credit - Tuna: Courtesy Jerry Yoon; Moskovitz: Courtesy Kofa Boyah
Former Wall Street Journal reporter Cari Tuna and husband Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Facebook and the productivity platform Asana, launched their foundation Good Ventures in 2011 with an ambitious mission to 'improve as many lives as possible, as much as possible' in an effort to help humanity 'thrive.' The couple, both Giving Pledge signatories, are also among the founders of Open Philanthropy, a grantmaker that advises major donors, including Tuna and Moskovitz, on how to maximize the impact of their giving.
Good Ventures and Open Philanthropy are governed by the principles of effective altruism, which favors a data-centric approach, intended to direct dollars to causes where they can do the most good. Tuna, who is co-founder and chair of Good Ventures and chair of Open Philanthropy, says that approach involves considering three key criteria in deciding which causes to focus on: neglectedness, importance, and tractability (how hard it might be to solve). She says, "If we are only giving to the things that are important to us as donors then we are missing a whole swath of other opportunities to improve people's lives, especially the causes that are affecting the most disadvantaged people in the world."
That strategy has led Tuna and Moskovitz to direct their money to a wide range of causes they consider underfunded, including the prevention of lead poisoning and illness due to poor air quality. Open Philanthropy is also one of the biggest philanthropic funders of research on AI safety. In March, Open Philanthropy also launched a $120 million fund, with half of the money coming from Good Ventures, to fund research, philanthropy, and advocacy to reduce regulatory and other barriers to housing and green energy infrastructure development.
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