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BERKELEY EXISTENTIAL RISK INITIATIVE

EIN 81-4820272 SAN DIEGO, CA

Browse the largest nonprofits in California

Revenue 2024
$5,758,271
Expenses 2024
$7,565,461

Program services were 94.5% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
M20
Classification
1200
Street
501 W BROADWAY STE 1540

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Other organizations at this address

19 other organizations in the IRS Business Master File list the same street address. matched by us

This address is a suite or unit (STE 1540). Organizations that share one are often clients of the same office-services firm, accountant or registered agent rather than related to each other.

We match the street line and ZIP code as the IRS gives them, ignoring case and outer spaces and nothing else, so "AVE" and "AVENUE" count as different streets and this list can miss some. A shared address can mean related organizations or a shared office, but it can also be a registered agent, a mail drop or a service provider holding mail for unrelated clients. It is not, by itself, evidence that two organizations are connected.

Mission and programs · 2024

Mission

TO IMPROVE HUMAN CIVILIZATIONS LONG-TERM PROSPECTS FOR SURVIVAL AND FLOURISHING. CURRENTLY, OUR MAIN STRATEGY IS COLLABORATING WITH UNIVERSITY RESEARCH GROUPS WORKING TO REDUCE EXISTENTIAL RISK, BY PROVIDING THEM WITH FREE SERVICES AND SUPPORT.

Activities or mission (Part I)

TO IMPROVE HUMAN CIVILIZATIONS LONG-TERM PROSPECTS FOR SURVIVAL AND FLOURISHING.

  • THE ML ALIGNMENT THEORY SCHOLARS MATS IS AN INDEPENDENT RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL SEMINAR PROGRAM THAT CONNECTS TALENTED SCHOLARS WITH TOP MENTORS IN THE FIELDS OF AI ALIGNMENT, INTERPRETABILITY, AND GOVERNANCE. FOR 10 WEEKS, MATS SCHOLARS CONDUCT RESEARCH WHILE ALSO ATTENDING TALKS, WORKSHOPS, AND NETWORKING EVENTS WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF THE BERKELEY ALIGNMENT RESEARCH COMMUNITY.

    Expenses $3,219,325 · Grants $1,633,000

  • UNIVERSITY COLLABORATIONS MAIN WE COLLABORATED WITH RESEARCH GROUPS AT UC BERKELEY, MIT, THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, UMASS AMHERST, STANFORD, AND PRINCETON, PROVIDING SERVICES FREE-OF-CHARGE TO SUPPORT THE FIELD OF EXISTENTIAL RISK REDUCTION.

    Expenses $3,732,201 · Grants $854,055

  • UNIVERSITY COLLABORATIONS TRIAL SIMILAR TO OUR MAIN COLLABORATIONS PROGRAM, BUT SMALLER, MORE EXPLORATORY, AND WITH A WIDER VARIETY OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH GROUPS.

    Expenses $196,602 · Grants $54,600

As filed on the 2024 return.

Officers and directors · 2024

As listed in Part VII of the 2024 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

  • Anthony Barrett

    SENIOR POLICY ANALYST

    Total calculated
    $231,046
    From this org
    $212,734
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $18,312
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $212,733
    Bonus
    not reported
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    not reported
    Nontaxable benefits
    $18,312
    Filer's total
    $231,045

  • Ian Baker

    MACHINE LEARNING ENGINEER

    Total calculated
    $170,830
    From this org
    $155,625
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $15,205
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $155,625
    Bonus
    not reported
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    not reported
    Nontaxable benefits
    $15,205
    Filer's total
    $170,830

  • Sawyer Bernath

    SECRETARY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $160,308
    From this org
    $150,352
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $9,956
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $150,352
    Bonus
    not reported
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    not reported
    Nontaxable benefits
    $9,956
    Filer's total
    $160,308

  • Elizabeth Cooper

    EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $129,655
    From this org
    $127,500
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $2,155
    Hours/week
    40

  • Andrew Critch

    BOARD CHAIR, PRESIDENT

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Charles Jess Riedel

    BOARD MEMBER, TREASURER

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2024
    Revenue
    $5,758,271
    Expenses
    $7,565,461
    Contributions
    $4,943,622
    Grants paid
    $2,541,655
  • 2023
    Revenue
    $7,268,852
    Expenses
    $6,952,488
    Contributions
    $6,874,811
    Grants paid
    $847,312
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $6,862,246
    Expenses
    $3,434,694
    Contributions
    $6,787,681
    Grants paid
    $515,920

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $2,796,484
    Expenses
    $2,449,349
    Assets (EOY)
    $2,447,686

  • 2020 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,951,993
    Expenses
    $2,804,516
    Assets (EOY)
    $2,092,656

  • 2019 · 990

    Revenue
    $860,570
    Expenses
    $3,505,219
    Assets (EOY)
    $3,111,458

  • 2018 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,668,068
    Expenses
    $3,839,522
    Assets (EOY)
    $5,875,157

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all.

Grants made

Where these grants went next →

Grants received

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

Related organizations

From Schedule R Part II, where a filer lists the tax-exempt organizations it is related to by control. It does not record shared board members or money.

Declared on its 2022 return

Other IRS files

Auto-Revocation List

Not listed. The IRS publishes this list for organizations whose exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file for three consecutive years.

Publication 78

Listed as of 13 October 2026, under deductibility PC.

These are two separate IRS files on two separate schedules, shown as published and not reconciled with each other. Neither is a statement about whether a contribution is deductible today: 19,245 organizations appear in Publication 78 while the IRS's own revocation file lists them as currently revoked, more than half of those revoked before 2019. Absence from Publication 78 is evidence of nothing, and presence is not evidence either. Verify current status with the IRS before relying on it.

What this page reflects

The registration facts above come from the IRS Business Master File published 13 October 2026 and read 1 November 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2024, the newest we have parsed for this organization.