Kumar Garg

8 yrs @WHOSTP44, 7 yrs with @EricSchmidt, now leading @RenPhilanthropy.

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

Today, I was asked for any documents that explain "how your team got so much done" in Obama White House. I sent them this -> https://t.co/5YW48GKJ8z

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

Worth a read. I’m bullish on field leaders like @jenniferdoleac recognizing their potential as world-class deployers of philanthropic capital - and the moment we are in.

[Jennifer Doleac @jenniferdoleac]

It’s time for another big leap! I’m leaving @Arnold_Ventures this summer. Ready for a new adventure. ✨

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

It has been amazing to watch the AI and math research community continue to grow and build momentum. And we are happy to help.

[American Mathematical Society @amermathsoc]

Nominations are open for the inaugural Milestone Prize for Foundational Work in Formal Verification.

Supported by the AI for Math Fund, run by @RenPhilanthropy, and funded by @xtxmarkets, the prize aims to spotlight influential achievements and accelerate the growth of formal verification in mathematical research.

Submissions due June 30, 2026.

Learn more. Link in comments.

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

UPDATE: We are scoping a new fund focused on K-12 science education, and the opportunity to use it as a sandbox for skill-building in the age of AI.

I am excited about the two leaders we’ve recruited to drive this work, and support from the @Hewlett_Found for this phase of work.

[Renaissance Philanthropy @RenPhilanthropy]

Only 22% of U.S. high school seniors are proficient in science. The curriculum exists but current systems are not designed to deliver it consistently and equitably.

Jim Short and Angela DeBarger are incubating the Catalyst Fund at @renphilanthropy, to address this structural gap.

Read more about this work in @KumarAGarg's Q&A with Jim and Angela: https://t.co/Tx2EFnArcs

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

Strongly agree with this public-goods framing, and the examples:
- production of novel datasets
- prizes for outcomes with high social value
- active experimentation for better public services delivery

And more of this precise agenda-setting work.

[Séb Krier @sebkrier]

This recent @ezraklein piece has a nice bit about getting private AI labs to work on public goods. Perfect time to re-share the @IFP proposal I wrote with @zhengdongwang!

https://t.co/xuKpaAnSdm

https://t.co/C6PvlrpFau

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

My thanks to everyone who designed the COTS program, and to everyone in government that fought to keep it going.

Good public policy matters.

[Lori Garver @Lori_Garver]

I was berated by most @NASA leaders, congress, astronauts, industry & much of the space community for advancing innovative risk-sharing govt policies. Being a visionary didn't translate into promotions or spaceflights or IPO shares, so shout outs like this are much appreciated!

[Tom Kalil @tkalil2050]

Congrats to the @deliverome team for launching this important project, @AsteraInstitute for backing it, and @IFP for highlighting! I hope more philanthropists and foundations will support this initiative to improve targeted delivery of novel therapies.

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

I like the focus on scientific instruments. High-leverage area for public investment and a push for new performers.

[U.S. National Science Foundation @NSF]

Today, NSF announced $250 million to restart its NSF Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer programs, including a $40 million pilot initiative focused on next-generation scientific instrumentation and advanced experimental platforms. https://t.co/TeV57Jh5Tj

#NSFSBIR

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

I’m really excited about the partners we are working with. They have scale and ambition - and our technical team can help them stretch into the opportunity.

[The Learning Agency @tlearningagency]

STEP-AI, a program of @RenPhilanthropy in partnership with the @gatesfoundation, brings together Room to Read, Rising Academies, and TeachFX to build AI coaching tools for teachers in Ghana and South Africa.

🔗 Read the announcement: https://t.co/kI2tgitpbe

#AIinEducation #GlobalEd

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

Worth a read.

[Wojciech Zaremba @woj_zaremba]

AI will transform the economy and jobs, creating opportunities while also bringing new challenges.

At OpenAI Foundation, we are launching a program to better understand shifts, support the transition, and build long-term economic security.

Starting with $250M dedicated
https://t.co/7GUw9KaA64

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

UPDATE: I am thrilled that a leader like Daniel Yu is taking on this mission. The potential upside of such interventions is very high.

If you are interested in helping, definitely reach out.

[Renaissance Philanthropy @RenPhilanthropy]

We're delighted to announce the launch of the Africa Jobs Fund, housed at @RenPhilanthropy.

A new initiative aiming to mobilize $100m to create high-productivity jobs for Africa’s next generation, led by Daniel Yu, founder of @wasoko_official, and Ben Hyman, with @SamanthaJPower and Iyinoluwa Aboyeji advising.

Read more here: https://t.co/C3ntWXRIQn

Get in touch at [email protected]

[Tom Kalil @tkalil2050]

The Mathlib Initiative, a program of @RenPhilanthropy , is launching Formal Frontier! This project, supported by Alex Gerko and XTX Markets, will promote the open-source, AI-driven autoformalization of mathematics in a way which is genuinely useful for researchers. Congratulations to Johan Commelin and his team. Learn more at https://t.co/wlLiEUxh4V

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

Excellent get for OAIF.

[Yo Shavit @yonashav]

On Friday, I resigned from OpenAI. Today is my first day at the OpenAI Foundation, where I'm helping build out our AI Resilience program.

There is a great deal to do before superintelligence, and little time to do it. If you were debating when to pivot to help, it's time.

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

NEW: There is growing interest and momentum on the role of open-source in the future of AI and math, and we are excited to lean in.

[Renaissance Philanthropy @RenPhilanthropy]

Launching today: Formal Frontier from the Mathlib Initiative, a program of @RenPhilanthropy and funded by @xtxmarkets.

Formal Frontier will focus on responsible, scalable, and open-source AI-driven autoformalization of mathematics.

Read more and learn how to get involved: https://t.co/wuQdiEbr4K

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

It is just awesome how quickly the ecosystem of thesis-driven time-bound philanthropic funds is growing.

And this one is excellent - on thesis (huge need, technology making a cohort of approaches possible), talent (the go-to person), and fundraising momentum.

[Alexander Berger @albrgr]

I’m really excited about the Strep A Vaccine Fund we’re launching today. IMO the basic case here is a great recipe for impact:

→ A huge problem: ~1% of total annual deaths worldwide (>600k)
→ Super neglected: ~$14M/yr of R&D globally before this, ~50x less than malaria which has similar mortality
→ Newly tractable: new human challenge models and earlier diagnostics should speed the path to an approved vaccine

Grateful to our partners Adam and Abigail Winkel, Good Ventures, Lucy Southworth, @ThePatchworkCLT, and a few anon donors for getting us to >$140M at launch. We’re continuing to actively fundraise and think we could effectively spend >$200M over the next few years. Our goal is to double the number of Strep A vaccine candidates in clinical trials and have at least one ready for Phase 3 trials by the end of 2030.

And I’m thrilled to be betting on Katharine’s vision here! As a grad student, she co-invented the R21 malaria vaccine that’s now reaching millions of kids. I’m hoping to see hundreds of millions of future Strep A vaccine doses with her fingerprints on them.

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

This is excellent work.

[Eric Gilliam @eric_is_weird]

This week's @nanransohoff piece posed a fun question: how can the coming wave of tech philanthropists convert risk appetite into huge outcomes?

Warren Weaver, history's best R&D philanthropist, had a unique answer. Today's piece breaks down his approach. https://t.co/7iV2k64pdR

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

We are excited about the potential of such investments. Stay tuned for more.

[CGIAR @CGIAR]

💰 🌾 Food security philanthropy is evolving.

@RenPhilanthropy's CRISPR-based rice initiative with @CIMMYT, @irri and Jennifer Doudna’s lab aims to improve nutrition without sacrificing yield.

A strong example of philanthropy and science working together for farmers.

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

I like this idea.

[Andrew Gerard @andrewmgerard]

Every country should get their own IFP. Big countries like India should get one for each state.

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

Strongly agree.

A big part of @RenPhilanthropy work is to build out the ecosystem of field-leaders and thesis-driven philanthropic funds to effectively absorb and deploy this coming surge of capital.

[Nan Ransohoff @nanransohoff]

New blog post: The third wave of American philanthropy

Hundreds of billions of dollars in new philanthropic capital will soon become liquid. The OpenAI Foundation holds 26% of OpenAI, worth about $220B at today’s valuation. Anthropic’s seven co-founders have pledged to give away 80% of their wealth and have instituted the most aggressive donor matching program for employees in tech history.

How much does this all add up to? And how meaningful is that in the context of philanthropy today?

I was doing some simple napkin math to wrap my head around the scale of what’s coming, and radicalized myself in the process. I had dramatically underappreciated the scale of the philanthropic capital that’s about to become available and the corresponding gap in talent and organizations that will be needed to make the most of it.

This piece aims to directionally sketch the scale of what’s coming, the gap in operational capacity needed to absorb it, and what we can do to fill it.

(Link to full post in reply)

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

I want to create awards for best-in-class allocators of philanthropic capital. Danny’s nose for good technical ideas is worth other knowing about / learning from.

[Sloan Foundation @SloanFoundation]

Goroff’s grantmaking at the Foundation has shaped entire fields, from providing foundational support for J-PAL North America to funding the development of differential privacy, a framework for protecting privacy that was adopted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the 2020 census.