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Anthropic commits 5% of its shares to public benefit fund

Anthropic announced on October 18 that it is committing part of its equity to the newly created Anthropic Public Benefit Fund. Subject to stockholder approval, 5% of its shares go in now. For every 50% increase in the company's value above a set baseline, the board can add another 2%.

By: Mikola Máté Patrik · · 3 min read

Anthropic Public Benefit Fund announcement illustration with sky and wildflowers
Image: Anthropic · Press kit · Official announcement image from the Anthropic newsroom · Source

How the fund works

Anthropic is a public benefit corporation. Most of its mission work has so far happened inside the company: AI safety and interpretability research, applied biomedical research, and discounted Claude access for nonprofits and scientific institutions (Anthropic).

The new fund is meant to be more flexible. As examples, the company mentions large donations to traditional nonprofits and direct distributions to specific populations. The key elements:

  • Starting stake: 5% of shares, subject to stockholder approval.
  • Growth: an additional 2% at the board's discretion for every 50% increase in company value above a set baseline.
  • Structure: a wholly owned LLC rather than a 501(c)(3), to allow switching between different forms of giving.
  • Limit: none of the Anthropic equity held by the fund will be used for lobbying or political giving, in the US or abroad.

First focus: the labor market

The company points to AI's impact on jobs as one example. AI may create enormous economic value but could also destabilize work for many people. Anthropic has already committed $200 million to studying and addressing this. Given the pace of AI progress, it says bolder approaches may be needed, and the fund is designed to pursue them.

Roughly 20% in total

At founding, Anthropic's co-founders pledged to donate 80% of their equity. The company also runs an equity donation match program for employees, and about half of staff participate. Combined with today's announcement, roughly 20% of Anthropic's shares will be dedicated to the public good, plus whatever the valuation milestones add later.

Anthropic notes that tech companies commonly give executives escalating equity awards as the company grows. It says it is directing that growing equity to the public benefit instead.

What comes next

In the coming months the company will share more about the fund's structure and governance, including the valuation milestones that may increase its stake. It will also publish a public benefit report on progress against its mission.

The timing is notable: Axios reported on October 15 that Anthropic had shared its third-quarter numbers with prospective IPO investors. The announcement does not mention IPO plans. In practice, the real size of the commitment will depend on the baseline value and where the milestones are set.

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