Elie Hassenfeld

Elie Hassenfeld is the cofounder and chief executive of GiveWell, the charity evaluator he started with Holden Karnofsky in 2007. His GiveWell biography states that he "co-founded GiveWell in 2007 when he was unable to find data-driven recommendations for his own charitable giving," that "prior to GiveWell, he worked in the hedge fund industry," and that he has a B.A. in religion from Columbia University. He also sits on GiveWell's board.¹

Bridgewater and GiveWell

Hassenfeld and Karnofsky met as investment analysts at Bridgewater Associates, the Connecticut hedge fund run by Ray Dalio, where in 2006 they formed a group of eight colleagues to research charitable giving. In 2007 the two left their jobs, raised about 300,000 dollars from former coworkers and incorporated the organization as the Clear Fund.²³ In December 2007 both were found to have promoted GiveWell online without disclosing their affiliation; Hassenfeld posted comments on sites including Marginal Revolution and Boing Boing, among them under the name "Talia." GiveWell's board removed Karnofsky as executive director and fined him, while Hassenfeld remained at the head of the organization.⁴

Compensation and Board

The Clear Fund's returns list Hassenfeld as co-executive director and board member, paid 100,000 dollars for 2013, 120,000 for 2014 and 141,330 for 2015, each time the same or nearly the same as Karnofsky; as executive director, paid 172,378 dollars for 2016, 186,582 for 2017 and 222,900 for 2018; and as chief executive officer, paid 262,395 dollars for 2019, 286,992 for 2020, 304,439 for 2021, 355,000 for 2022, 400,000 for 2023 and 424,805 dollars plus 38,590 dollars in other compensation for 2024.⁵

Its unpaid board over those years included Cari Tuna of the foundation Good Ventures as treasurer and later board member; Karnofsky as secretary and later vice chair "thru 8/21/23"; the Stanford University political scientist Rob Reich, listed on every return from 2013 until April 2019; Greg Jensen, listed until December 1, 2017; and Julia Wise. The returns for 2023 and 2024 list Daniela Amodei, president of Anthropic and Karnofsky's wife, as a board member, with Tim Ogden as chair in 2024.⁵⁶ GiveWell's board listing of 2018 described Reich as "a Professor of Political Science at Stanford University"; in April 2024 the Commerce Department named him senior advisor to the U.S. AI Safety Institute.⁷⁸⁹

Open Philanthropy

GiveWell Labs, the joint project of GiveWell and Good Ventures, became the Open Philanthropy Project.² A document prepared for a GiveWell board meeting of June 17, 2015, stated that Tuna, as president of Good Ventures, was "a member of OP's leadership team and decides on whether to approve grants," and that "the OP leadership team also includes Elie, Alexander and Howie," meaning Hassenfeld, Alexander Berger and a third staff member.¹⁰

The Open Philanthropy Action Fund, the 501(c)(4) affiliated with Open Philanthropy, listed Hassenfeld as an unpaid director on its returns for 2017 and 2018, alongside Tuna, Dustin Moskovitz, Karnofsky and Divesh Makan, and reported that he received 186,582 dollars and 222,900 dollars in those years from a related organization, the same amounts the Clear Fund reported paying him as executive director.⁵¹¹