EA Infrastructure Fund

The EA Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) is one of four expert-managed grantmaking funds operated by Effective Altruism Funds (EA Funds), a platform originally created by the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) during Y Combinator's W17 batch and launched in February 2017. The fund was initially called the EA Community Fund (also known as the Movement-building Fund), managed by Nick Beckstead of Open Philanthropy. It was later renamed to the EA Meta Fund, and then in August 2020 was renamed again to the EA Infrastructure Fund due to a trademark infringement claim. EAIF recommends grants that aim to improve the work of projects using the principles of effective altruism by increasing their access to talent, capital, and knowledge. While the other three EA Funds support direct work on causes like global health, animal welfare, and the long-term future, EAIF supports work that could multiply the impact of direct efforts. This includes projects that provide intellectual infrastructure for the effective altruism community, run events, disseminate information, conduct cause prioritization research, or fundraise for effective charities. The concept of 'infrastructure' refers to the idea that creating additional resources and support for projects aiming to improve the world can multiply their impact. In December 2023, EAIF announced a strategic shift toward 'principles-first EA,' narrowing its focus from the historically broad 'EA meta' approach to more targeted grantmaking. Under this focus, EAIF is more inclined to fund research on cause prioritization, cause-neutral projects that build communities focused on impartial and scope-sensitive altruism, and epistemic infrastructure. The fund is less inclined to fund cause-specific movement building or infrastructure. EAIF has distributed substantial funding over its history. As of August 2022, it had distributed over $9.2 million in total payouts. By late 2023, the fund reported approximately 499 grants totaling around $18.9 million since 2020. In 2024, EAIF made 40 grants totaling $1.4 million. In 2025, the fund significantly increased its grantmaking, distributing $2.4 million across 34 grants by November, with an expected year-end total of $2.8 million. Grant sizes typically range from $5,000 to $200,000, though they can be as low as $1,000 or exceed $500,000. The fund is currently managed by Harri Besceli and Jamie Harris, with advisors including Nicole Ross, Catherine Low, Jesse Rothman, Jonas Vollmer, and Peter Wildeford. In January 2026, Loic Watine joined CEA as Director of EA Funds. EA Funds operates as a project of Effective Ventures, through Effective Ventures Foundation (UK) and Effective Ventures Foundation USA Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization. In 2025, EA Funds and CEA announced a merger to spin out together from Effective Ventures as a single organization.