“AI Opportunity will focus on the intersection of AI, the economy, and the workforce—with a focus on young people in Chicago; community-centered AI development and use; and nonprofit AI applications.”In its own words: macfound.org
Chicago-based foundation that funds climate, criminal justice, local news and other areas. Its AI grantmaking includes an AI Opportunity big bet and the Technology in the Public Interest programme, which supports AI governance, evaluation, auditing and accountability work.
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A large private foundation that grants mainly through staff-designed programme strategies, built with outside experts and reviewed over time. Many programme areas do not accept unsolicited proposals. Its AI work is the 'AI Opportunity' Big Bet.
Says it gives about $562M a year (2025)
Typical grant $500k ($250k–$900k)
On applying “Many areas of MacArthur grantmaking do not accept unsolicited proposals.” macfound.org
Itemised here $54M in 95 grants
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Led by John G. Palfrey (President), Martha L. Minow (Board Chair)Checked 29 Oct 2026
Money flows
Where its money came from and where it went. Pick years and what to show; hover a box or ribbon for details, click one to focus it, click the background to see everything.
How to apply
- Applications
- By invitation
- Who can apply
- Organisations
Many MacArthur grantmaking areas do not accept unsolicited proposals; read the grantmaking guidelines (https://www.macfound.org/grants/info-for-grantseekers) to check eligibility before applying. It also has an idea-submission portal (https://macfound.fluxx.io/user_sessions/new).
Biggest recipients
- Humanity AI$17M
- AI Now Institute$3.9M
- Partnership on AI$3.3M
- Cornell University$2.4M
- Data & Society Research Institute$2.4M
- Cambridge in America$2.1M
All grants
95 grants totalling $54M, newest first. Recipients link to their own pages; people who received grants without a public profile are shown by number.
2026 8 grants · $21M
| Date | Recipient | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Humanity AI | $17M | Humanity AI (fiscally sponsored project): flexible support for US philanthropic coalition on AI's future (4 years 3 months) — MacArthur (programme not labelled on grantee page; AI Opportunity era), grantee page source |
| 2026 | Stanford University | $1.2M | Stanford Trustworthy AI Research (STAIR): research, policy, events, education (3 years) — MacArthur (programme not labelled on grantee page; AI Opportunity era), grantee page source |
| 2026 | Center for Democracy and Technology | $900k | General operating support for its artificial intelligence work (3 years) — MacArthur (programme not labelled on grantee page; AI Opportunity era), grantee page source |
| 2026 | Cambridge in America | $600k | AIxGEO at Bennett School of Public Policy (AI governance and geopolitics) (2 years) — MacArthur (programme not labelled on grantee page; AI Opportunity era), grantee page source |
| 2026 | Tech Policy Press | $600k | General operations, growth of AI-related work (3 years) — MacArthur (programme not labelled on grantee page; AI Opportunity era), grantee page source |
| 2026 | Algorithmic Justice League | $500k | Flexible support to AJL (Algorithmic Justice League) to advance its work on AI (2 years) — MacArthur (programme not labelled on grantee page; AI Opportunity era), grantee page source |
| 2026 | ACM FAccT | $150k | Flexible support for annual FAccT conference (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2026 | Black in AI | $50k | Community Pulse Survey project (1 year) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
2025 14 grants · $9.5M
| Date | Recipient | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | AI Now Institute | $2M | General operating support: AI research/policy analysis, countering commercial surveillance, concentrated corporate power, weak public accountability (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2025 | London School of Economics and Political Science | $2M | Launch a global forum on AI and the social sciences (2 years, 1 month) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2025 | Cambridge in America | $1M | Cambridge Traceable AI Pipeline (evidence synthesis for policymakers) (2 years 3 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2025 | Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting | $1M | General support for AI work incl. AI Accountability Network (2 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2025 | Distributed AI Research Institute | $800k | General operating support for DAIR (data tools, community-rooted research frameworks, alternative tech visions) (1 year, 10 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2025 | Partnership on AI | $750k | General operations support across five program areas (3 years 2 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2025 | European AI & Society Fund | $500k | Flexible support for the European AI & Society Fund (2 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2025 | ACLU Foundation | $450k | General operating support for addressing new technologies, especially AI (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2025 | AI Now Institute | $300k | Flexible support for AI Now Institute public-interest AI research incl. AI, national security, geopolitics (1 year) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2025 | Black in AI | $300k | General operating support (1 year 11 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2025 | Algorithmic Justice League | $250k | Algorithmic Justice League: flexible support for AI work (6 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2025 | Governing for Impact | $100k | Governing for Impact: AI and technology policy analysis (8 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2025 | Center for Democracy and Technology | $50k | Educational resources for AI policymaking (6 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2025 | Stanford University | $30k | AI Measurement Convening on gaps between AI performance claims and real-world capabilities (1 year 6 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
2024 13 grants · $5.9M
| Date | Recipient | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Data & Society Research Institute | $1.4M | General operating support: AI on the Ground, Labor Futures, Trustworthy Infrastructure, Public Technology Leadership Collaborative (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2024 | Human Rights Data Analysis Group | $900k | HRDAG: technical assistance to accountability bodies; statistical and ML research on justice (2 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2024 | Upturn | $900k | General operating support: tech and automation in criminal courts, housing, labor, public benefits (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2024 | European Digital Rights | $600k | General operating support: AI governance, platform power, state surveillance (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2024 | Stanford University | $500k | Launch STAIR's Evaluation and AI Governance project (public-interest study of generative AI) (2 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2024 | Brennan Center for Justice | $450k | Liberty and National Security program: limits to government AI use (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2024 | Trinity College Dublin | $400k | Establish AI Accountability Lab: public-interest AI audits, policy research, frameworks for justice-oriented audits (4 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2024 | Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting | $300k | Flexible support for the AI Spotlight Series (2 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2024 | Tech Policy Press | $300k | General operating support (news/analysis, policy knowledge, new voices; AI governance central) (2 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2024 | Aspen Institute | $50k | Events on AI and national security for media (1 year) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2024 | TechEquity Collaborative | $50k | Event educating lawmakers and staff about AI (8 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2024 | Upturn | $30k | December 2024 convening and related work on U.S. AI policy (1 year, 1 month) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2024 | ACM FAccT | $25k | 2024 FAccT conference, Rio de Janeiro (3 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
2023 18 grants · $5.4M
| Date | Recipient | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Cornell University | $750k | AI, Policy, and Practice Initiative (AIPP): research community, social impacts of AI, policy translation (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | The Leadership Conference Education Fund | $600k | Flexible support for Media and Technology Program (AI rights, platform oversight, misinformation) (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | Ada Lovelace Institute | $500k | Ada Lovelace Institute research/policy on data and AI for societal benefit (2 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | Cambridge in America | $500k | Geopolitics & AI Project at the Bennett Institute (3 years 2 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | European AI & Society Fund | $500k | Flexible support for the European AI & Society Fund (2 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | University of California, Berkeley | $500k | Foundations of Machine Learning Lab's Algorithm Auditing Project: audit case studies, practitioner resources, policy guidance on algorithmic accountability (4 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | Distributed AI Research Institute | $450k | Flexible support for DAIR Institute (project of CS&S) (11 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | ACLU of Illinois (Roger Baldwin Foundation) | $400k | Privacy, Technology, and Surveillance project (biometrics, automated tools, generative AI) (2 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | Black in AI | $300k | General operating support (2 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | REAL ML | $300k | REAL ML algorithmic accountability community (2 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | Algorithmic Justice League | $250k | Flexible support for Algorithmic Justice League (project of CS&S) (1 year) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | University of Chicago | $200k | Data Science Institute: Responsible ML and the Social Impact of AI (1 year 8 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | Institute for Advanced Study | $50k | Sept 2023 workshop, AI Governance and Policy Working Group (international AI governance) (1 year) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | ACM FAccT | $40k | 2023 FAccT conference, Chicago (5 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | Data & Society Research Institute | $40k | Research/policy analysis supporting implementation of White House AI Bill of Rights blueprint (1 year) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | Upturn | $25k | Strategy meeting and related work on federal AI policy (1 year, 1 month) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | REAL ML | $19k | REAL ML event on generative AI (1 year) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2023 | TechEquity Collaborative | $19k | December 2023 AI Summit on California AI policy (3 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
2022 6 grants · $910k
| Date | Recipient | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Partnership on AI | $750k | General operating support across five program areas (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2022 | REAL ML | $50k | December 2022 REAL ML virtual workshop (3 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2022 | Center for Democracy and Technology | $40k | Research on federal procurement reforms for AI-related technologies (4 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2022 | The Leadership Conference Education Fund | $40k | Report/public awareness on implementing the AI Bill of Rights blueprint (7 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2022 | ACM FAccT | $20k | Second EAAMO conference, Washington DC (5 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2022 | ACM FAccT | $10k | 2022 FAccT conference, Seoul (1 year) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
2021 3 grants · $280k
| Date | Recipient | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | New York University | $250k | Center on Race, Inequality and the Law: flexible support and AI/criminal legal system network (1 year, 6 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2021 | ACM FAccT | $15k | Inaugural EAAMO'21 conference (3 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2021 | Columbia University | $15k | Lecture series on race and data science, Data Science Institute (1 year) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
2020 10 grants · $3.4M
| Date | Recipient | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Data & Society Research Institute | $900k | General operating support: AI on the Ground, Media Manipulation, Labor Futures, Health Data & Equity (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2020 | Partnership on AI | $800k | General operating support across six thematic pillars (2 years 6 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2020 | Cornell University | $750k | Initiative on AI, Policy and Practice: interdisciplinary research on social/ethical dimensions of AI (3 years 6 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2020 | Algorithmic Justice League | $500k | Algorithmic Justice League: AI bias research and advocacy (2 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2020 | Black in AI | $300k | General operating support (2 years 10 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2020 | Electronic Frontier Foundation | $26k | Workshop on government AI decision-making in public benefits; AI transparency litigation in California (3 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2020 | Algorithmic Justice League | $25k | Algorithmic Justice League team participation in 2020 Sundance Film Festival (Coded Bias premiere) (2 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2020 | Cornell University | $25k | AI Policy and Practice Initiative: governing high-stakes algorithms (kidney allocation case) (8 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2020 | AI for the People | $20k | Landscape analysis on race, technology, social justice (5 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2020 | ACM FAccT | $10k | Fourth FAccT conference (virtual 2021) (2 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
2019 9 grants · $1.1M
| Date | Recipient | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Movement Alliance Project | $750k | Media Mobilizing Project: community control over automated decision systems (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2019 | Black in AI | $150k | Black in AI annual workshop at NeurIPS 2019 and long-term planning (1 year) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2019 | Algorithmic Justice League | $45k | Study and white paper on sociotechnical considerations in human-centered computer vision datasets (6 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2019 | AI Now Institute | $40k | Two litigating algorithms workshops by AI Now Institute (US and EU) (5 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2019 | ACM FAccT | $30k | Third FAT* conference, Barcelona (1 month) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2019 | WITNESS | $25k | Report on risks from synthetic media and deepfakes (4 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2019 | Movement Alliance Project | $20k | Convening data scientists and organizers on algorithmic accountability (8 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2019 | Data & Society Research Institute | $12k | AI.Assembly workshop for artists, academics, technologists of color on AI (8 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2019 | Partnership on AI | $5k | Event on ethics and AI at NeurIPS 2019, Vancouver (1 month) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
2018 5 grants · $660k
| Date | Recipient | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Human Rights Data Analysis Group | $600k | HRDAG: AI in public interest, ML encoding social bias (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2018 | ACM FAccT | $20k | FAT* conference, Atlanta, January 2019 (2 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2018 | ACLU Foundation | $15k | Strategy meeting on AI's effects on civil liberties (3 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2018 | New York University | $15k | X-Grant: workshop on litigating algorithmic decision-making systems (1 month) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2018 | WITNESS | $10k | Expert meeting on countering AI-generated fake video and audio (7 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
2017 8 grants · $5.9M
| Date | Recipient | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | AI Now Institute | $1.5M | AI Now Institute: general support for AI research, policy analysis, public engagement (4 years, 3 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2017 | Partnership on AI | $1M | General operations support (2 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2017 | University of Washington | $1M | Core support for Tech Policy Lab research on AI in the public interest (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2017 | Cornell University | $900k | Initiative on AI in the Social Interest: AI and fairness, equality, dignity, privacy (3 years 2 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2017 | Princeton University | $750k | General support for CITP work on AI and public policy (5 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2017 | Upturn | $750k | General operating support to expand work on public interest impacts of AI (3 years) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2017 | Cornell University | $20k | Conference on legal/policy implications of ML and AI, Feb 2018 (5 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
| 2017 | AI Now Institute | $10k | Information Law Institute: 2017 AI Now Symposium at MIT Media Lab (4 months) — MacArthur Technology in the Public Interest, grantee page source |
2016 1 grant · $25k
| Date | Recipient | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | AI Now Institute | $25k | 2016 AI Now Symposium (4 months) — MacArthur (programme not labelled on grantee page), grantee page source |