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Alexander Berger

@albrgr.bsky.social
2K followers 653 following 457 posts

CEO of Coefficient Giving

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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Thanks to @bloombergdotorg.bsky.social for hosting us this week to talk about reducing lead poisoning, and for their leading role on this work. So grateful to our shared grantees like @pureearthnow.bsky.social and LEEP who do the hard work of measuring and reducing exposure on the ground.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
We also launched a big specific call for founders for ambitious new AI safety initiatives today: coefficientgiving.org/tailwind/ So much more to be doing here!
coefficientgiving.org
Project Tailwind
Project Tailwind is Coefficient Giving's call for founders to launch ambitious AI safety initiatives.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Ahead of the coming "third wave of philanthropy," we want to give hundreds of millions of dollars to "general managers" to lead targeted funds tackling big problems in global health and wellbeing (h/t @nanr.bsky.social for the frame). Apply by October 2: coefficientgiving.org/funds/globa...
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
None of those appeared on our website, so you would've had to know where to look. Now, posts like that will all be in one place. Subscribe: coefficientgiving.substack.org
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
3️⃣ Andrew Snyder-Beattie on four pillars for countering catastrophic biological risk, from our biosecurity team's new blog: defensesindepth.bio/the-four-pi...
defensesindepth.bio
The Four Pillars: A Hypothesis for Countering Catastrophic Biological Risk
A blog focused on protecting humanity against biological threats and exploring the offense/defense balance of the physical world.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
@deenamousa.com on why there aren't more AI radiologists, in @worksinprogress.bsky.social: worksinprogress.co/issue/the-a...
worksinprogress.co
The algorithm will see you now - Works in Progress Magazine
Radiology combines digital images, clear benchmarks, and repeatable tasks. But replacing humans with AI is harder than it seems.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
1️⃣ Lewis Bollard's great end-of-year newsletter on big wins for farmed animals: farmanimalwelfare.substack.com/p/ten-big-w...
farmanimalwelfare.substack.com
Ten big wins in 2025 for farmed animals
Advocates won reforms for billions of factory-farmed animals
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
We started a Substack: coefficientgiving.substack.com One of my favorite things about working at Coefficient is how much good public writing our staff produces. A few of my favorites from this past year ↓
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Nice editorial from Bloomberg today on the benefits of gene drives spreading resistance within mosquitos to control malaria! We fund a bunch of this work. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/art...
bloomberg.com
Can Building a Better Mosquito Finally Beat Malaria?
Almost half a million children under the age of 5 die of malaria each year. What if replacing a single amino acid in disease-carrying mosquitoes could help save them? After battling with rudimentary tools for millennia, malaria fighters are now armed with a potentially revolutionary technology. If only the public could get on board.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
They're also cheap, just a few bucks a net and a couple more for distribution costs. I'm excited to see this grant go out and for more global health grantmaking as we scale. Our full announcement: coefficientgiving.org/research/co...
coefficientgiving.org
Coefficient Giving’s Largest Grant Ever: $276 Million, Co-Funded With GiveWell, to the Against Malaria Foundation
  Coefficient Giving’s Largest Grant Ever: $276 Million, Co-Funded With GiveWell, to the Against Malaria Foundation The combined $276 million grant — $212 million from Coefficient Giving and $64 million from GiveWell — will pay for bed nets in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where malaria remains one of the leading causes of death […]
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Bed nets have gotten a lot of attention over the years, but they've stuck around because they work. The WHO estimates 14 million malaria deaths have been averted since 2000, and credits widespread net use with a 70% drop in African malaria cases between 2000 and 2015: www.who.int/teams/globa...
who.int
World malaria report 2025
Each year, WHO’s World malaria report provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of trends in malaria control and elimination across the globe
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
We just made our biggest grant yet: $212 million to @againstmalaria.bsky.social to support bed net campaigns in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with other GiveWell donors adding another $64 million. GiveWell expects these nets to avert 67,000 deaths, mostly in kids under five.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Thanks to @asteriskmag.bsky.social for hosting and writing up this fun debate I had with my friend @robreich.bsky.social about philanthropy and democracy and the coming AI giving boom (though they did me dirty with the photo choice!): asteriskmag.substack.com/p/what-shou...
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
There’s a ton of uncertainty about what the future will bring, but IMO the case for giving ambitiously today looks unusually strong. Let’s get to work!
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
That’s nearly as much as we’ve given based on GiveWell's recs over the last decade+; we think that funding to date has saved ~100,000 lives.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I’m really excited about this: we’re increasing our support for GiveWell recs this year from $175M to $1B to help pave the way for an expected surge in funding from others. coefficientgiving.org/research/in...
coefficientgiving.org
Increasing Our 2026 Allocation to GiveWell’s Recommendations to $1 Billion
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
New CBO paper: every $1 of federal R&D returns ~$3–$4 of GDP in present value over 30 years www.nber.org/papers/w35472
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Reposted by Alexander Berger
Katharine Collins @kat-a-collins.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
I've spent my career working on vaccines, and until I joined Coefficient Giving, I'd never heard Strep A mentioned as a global health priority. The more I looked, the harder it was to understand why a disease killing 630,000+ people a year was so neglected.
globalhealthnow.org
A Vaccine for Strep A May Finally Be in Reach
Strep A—the bacterium behind strep throat and impetigo—kills hundreds of thousands of people a year, mostly young people in LMICs—yet Strep A vaccine R&D is chronically underfunded.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Cool to see this! content.govdelivery.com/accounts/US...
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Links to listen - Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/35i... Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/...
podcasts.apple.com
How Alexander Berger weighs the world’s biggest problems
Podcast Episode · Theory of Change · June 2 · 1h 6m
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Thanks @alterigoe.bsky.social for having me on @devex.com's new Theory of Change podcast. We talked about how we pick problems at Coefficient Giving, why Strep A stands out as a unique opportunity, and the challenge of making big bets across long time horizons: youtu.be/0SLzoKxQqHg
youtube.com
Theory of Change: #1: How Alexander Berger weighs the world's biggest problems
Coefficient Giving, one of the world’s largest effective-giving fun...
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Reposted by Alexander Berger
Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 26/05/2026
Looks like Eric Adams really delivered on housing production with City of Yes newyorkyimby.com/2026/05/new-...
newyorkyimby.com
New York YIMBY’s 2026 First-Quarter Construction Report Tallies a Dramatic Increase in Development - New York YIMBY
YIMBY has revealed its report on construction permit filing activity for the first quarter of 2026 across the five boroughs.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
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.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
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.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Grateful to our partners Adam and Abigail Winkel, Good Ventures, Lucy Southworth, The Patchwork Collective, 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.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
→ 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
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
I'm really excited about the >$140 million Strep A Vaccine Fund we're launching today. I think the basic case here is a great recipe for impact ↓ bsky.app/profile/kat...
bsky.app
Katharine Collins (@kat-a-collins.bsky.social)
Today, Coefficient Giving is launching the Strep A Vaccine Fund, a multi-donor initiative to accelerate vaccine development against one of the world's most neglected infectious diseases relative to its scale. Strep A kills ~639,000 people a year. There is no vaccine. I think that can change 🧵
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Great to see GiveWell CEO Elie Hassenfeld on the TIME100 Philanthropy list, well chosen! time.com/collection/...
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Full article: calmatters.org/politics/20...
calmatters.org
Governor YIMBY: In California’s unsettled race, most candidates see eye-to-eye on housing
California's gubernatorial candidates are largely united on housing: Build more, faster. It marks a radical political shift in just eight years.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Pretty cool: @cayimby.bsky.social declined to endorse anyone for California governor because all the top candidates have strong housing plans
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Full post (and more on the nature of our grantmaking work) from my colleague Luke Muehlhauser here: multipliercg.substack.com/p/ai-safety...
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
We're hiring 10+ grantmakers and senior generalists across our GCR teams. Most of our capital is bottlenecked on a tiny number of people working to identify, vet, and generate strong funding opportunities. Apply here by May 24: jobs.ashbyhq.com/coefficient...
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
I'm hopeful that the End Kidney Deaths Act — which would create a pilot program offering a $50K tax credit to people who donate a kidney to a stranger — will move forward this Congress. If you want to help, consider signing the petition at endkidneydeathsact.org
endkidneydeathsact.org
EndKidneyDeathsAct.org
The End Kidney Deaths Act will end the kidney shortage, save 10,000 lives each year, and reduce taxes by $4 billion by supporting those who donate kidneys to strangers.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
I made a similar argument when I donated my kidney back in 2011: www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/... 15 years later, 90,000+ people are still on the waiting list and thousands die every year. x.com/albrgr/stat...
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Read his full piece here: www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/20...
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Nobel laureate Al Roth has a great piece in @washingtonpost.com today on why we should compensate kidney donors. Kidney failure disproportionately hits Black and low-income Americans, costs Medicare $55B+/yr, and most people who need a transplant will die without one. 🧵
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
This piece reflects my updates over the last couple years really well www.update.news/p/the-table...
update.news
The tables have turned on AI sceptics
Epistemic conservatism no longer favours long timelines
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
How long do you have to work to afford basic commodities? @humanprogress.bsky.social's Simon Abundance Index has tracked "time prices" for 50 resources since 1980. Every single one has gotten cheaper! Full report: humanprogress.org/the-simon-a...
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
The team behind my favorite graph - @ourworldindata.org - is hiring a writer. If you can explain complicated things in ways that change how people think AND you want that skill pointed at the world's largest problems, consider applying: ourworldindata.org/hiring-writ...
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
The FDA accidentally froze Strep A vaccine development for 27 years. @asimovpress.bsky.social explains what happened and where things stand now. press.asimov.com/articles/strep
press.asimov.com
How to Build a Strep A Vaccine
After decades of scientific and regulatory delays, several Strep A vaccine candidates are entering clinical trials. Without further funding for phase 3 studies, however, many will be hamstrung.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
This is one of the most important roles I’m hiring for this year - if you’re in doubt, please apply!
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
The application form is here: jobs.ashbyhq.com/coefficient...
jobs.ashbyhq.com
Managing Director, Philanthropic Advisory
Coefficient Giving is hiring a Managing Director, Philanthropic Advisory to lead our growing partnerships work, build a new advisory practice from the ground up, and help shape our organizational strategy as a member of our leadership team https://coefficientgiving.org/about-us/team/#leadership. We face a historic opportunity to scale philanthropic giving to the highest-impact causes, from global health and biosecurity to AI safety and beyond. We want to build the infrastructure to make that happen, with a goal of eventually directing more than $1 billion annually from donors beyond our founding partner, Good Ventures https://goodventures.org/. Your job is to build the bespoke advisory practice that supports the next generation of major philanthropists, while overseeing and expanding our current funds and partnership offerings. While the advisory function spans our full portfolio, we expect AI safety and biosecurity philanthropy to be a key part of your work. ABOUT COEFFICIENT GIVIN
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
We’re not looking for a conventional fundraising background. We want someone with the capability and drive to be a “general manager” of directing new funding to impactful causes (h/t Nan Ransohoff) nanransohoff.substack.com/p/there-sho...
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
The ideal candidate is: • Strategically sharp and substantively deep on CG’s cause areas • An effective executive that can build a strong team • An excellent external representative of CG’s work to major donors
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
This person will build a bespoke advisory practice from ~scratch, lead our partnerships team (12 people and growing), and sit on our leadership team.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
In the coming years, billions in new philanthropic capital could be unlocked. Whether that money is matched to the highest-impact opportunities is far from guaranteed. At CG, we’re hiring for a Managing Director, Philanthropic Advisory to make this influx of capital go as well as possible.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
I usually end up mostly reading fiction because it's easier and more fun than most nonfiction. But I read "And the Band Played On" recently and loved it. Incredibly info-dense, but extremely well-written and page-turning. Any recs for other great readable nonfiction like this?
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Great reporting from @chronphilanthropy.bsky.social on our grantee @cureswithinreach.bsky.social, which runs small trials testing whether existing, approved drugs might work for entirely different diseases.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
And in case you missed it, more on my thoughts after 15 years as a grantmaker + where we're headed next: coefficientgiving.org/research/20...
coefficientgiving.org
2025 Letter from the CEO
Coefficient Giving directed over $1 billion in 2025, the most in our history. This significant milestone is the result of extraordinary dedication from our funders, staff, and grantees, who share the conviction that effective philanthropy can be a powerful lever for making the world a much better place.
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Alexander Berger @albrgr.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
I'm grateful to Cari and Dustin for their partnership over the last decade, to our 170+ (and growing!) staff, and to our grantees doing this work on the ground. Here's to the next $5B going faster and further than the previous.
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