Donor FAQ

What is Manifund?

Manifund is a 501c3 charity, formally “Manifold for Charity Inc.”, EIN 88-3668801. We help a variety of projects find funding, especially projects in EA & AI safety. We prioritize transparency, moving funds quickly (<48h if needed), and an excellent grantee & donor experience.

What services does Manifund provide for large donors?

Our donors often use Manifund for:

• Fiscal sponsorship, for non-501c3 entities, including individuals, for-profits, and international organizations. This is a lightweight (”Model C”) sponsorship, where we remit funds after reviewing a project proposal.
• Investing 501c3 dollars in aligned for-profit startups. Any profits from an exit are returned to the donor's account. We prefer this setup for large grants made to startups; see this and this as examples.
• Regranting, and other custom programs for large donors.
  • We've run 3 years of AI safety regranting: experts like Neel Nanda, Ryan Kidd, and Ethan Perez make grants out of a discretionary budget provided by a donor.
  • We've run 2 rounds of ACX Grants: Scott Alexander solicits project applications and raises funding, and recommends a set of grants which we review and fulfill.
  • We've also hosted a $1m grant round with grantmaking.ai; an alignment microgrant program for Leo Gao; and various experiments with prizes, impact certs, and quadratic funding.

If I want to fund a new project, what is the process?

The standard process is:

1. You and the recipient create Manifund accounts on https://manifund.org/
2. The recipient creates a public project proposal on https://manifund.org/create
3. You deposit money with us. Once the funds arrive, we credit your account.
4. You make a donation through the site, with a public comment explaining why you're donating, noting any potential conflicts of interest.
5. We review the proposal and your comment, to ensure compliance with our mission as a 501c3 charity.
6. Once approved, the recipient withdraws the funds to their bank account.

How do I deposit money?

We can accept transfers from DAFs, or direct donations via wire, ACH, credit card or crypto. See Manifund: Deposit via DAF, ACH/wire, or crypto

What are Manifund's fees?

We typically ask donors to cover a 5% ops & fiscal sponsorship fee on donations. (Manifund is primarily self-funded, on the basis of this fee.) For example, if you would like to donate $100k to a project, please send $105k.

Do all grants have to be public?

We have a very strong preference for facilitating public grants; >99% of all grants on Manifund are conducted in public. Contact us if you have a specific reason why you or your recipient needs privacy; we may ask for a higher ops fee on anonymous grants.

Does Manifund support grants to 501c4 entities?

Yes, in certain situations, with the caveat that we are limited in how much funding we can direct to c4s, and prioritize orgs we feel are doing exceptional work. Contact us if interested.

How is Manifund related to…

Manifold?

Manifund was started by Austin in 2022 while working on Manifold, the prediction market startup. Austin left Manifold in April 2024; the two orgs are now separate entities, with no shared employees.

(We have considered renaming away from “Manifund” to make this less confusing.)

Manifest?

Manifest is an annual festival originally started at Manifold; in some past years, it's been organized with help from Manifund. Manifest is now an independent PBC, which Manifund holds equity in.

Mox?

Mox is a community space in SF, started in early 2025; Mox is formally a subproject of Manifund.

More questions? Contact us!

Reach out to hi@manifund.org with any questions you have~