OVERVIEW: The Thiel Foundation supports science and technology, new inventions, and mimetic theory across social sciences.
IP TAKE: The Thiel Foundation is best known for “disrupt[ing] the traditional path to success” with its Thiel Fellowships. While Thiel considers himself a libertarian, much of the foundation’s past giving skews conservative. Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen goes further in her article, “The Thiel Foundation: Contrarian Philanthropy.” Thiel has also delivered eschatological lectures linking institutions like the United Nations and ICC, climate change and environmentalism, AI restrictions, financial regulation, and the Giving Pledge to civilizational collapse.
This mix of thinking about technology and religion appears to guide the Thiel Foundation’s approach to philanthropy. The foundation is a highly idiosyncratic, founder-driven grantmaker backing frontier science, unconventional talent, and heterodox intellectual work. Rather than operating like a traditional programmatic foundation, it functions as a network builder, funding individuals, ideas, and intermediaries aligned with Thiel’s long-standing interests in technology, philosophy, and “hard problems.”
While its core interests — science, technology, and contrarian thinking — have not changed, 2024 filings suggest a smaller, more selective portfolio and somewhat greater emphasis on direct individual funding. At the same time, continued use of donor-advised funds and fiscal sponsors means a meaningful portion of its giving remains opaque, with downstream beneficiaries difficult to track. The foundation continues to use DonorsTrust as an intermediary. It also made a major $3 million grant to fiscal sponsor New Venture Fund in 2021, although New Venture Fund does not appear in the latest grant schedule.
In recent years, the foundation has narrowed its giving to core programs, reducing its web presence to a single page. While the meaning of its statement is unclear, it suggests openness to hearing from grantseekers. Named programs accept applications via their individual websites.
For grant seekers who’ve been following Thiel, Breakout Ventures should no longer be treated as a foundation program. It grew out of the former Breakout Labs and is now an independent venture-capital firm, although the foundation still held investments in Breakout funds at year-end 2024. Young builders and Girardian scholars with work relevant to Imitatio have real opportunities Everyone else is likely stuck looking at a relationship-driven prospect where fit with Thiel’s technology, intellectual and “hard problems” networks matters most.
PROFILE: Thiel Foundation is a private foundation in West Hollywood founded in 2006 by Peter Thiel. The Thiel Foundation seeks to “support science, technology, and long-term thinking about the future.” After attending Stanford for undergrad and law school, the German-born and conservative donor Thiel served as an appeals court clerk and a derivative trader for Credit Suisse before founding Thiel Capital Management, PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and the Founders Fund. PayPal eventually went public and was later sold to eBay, making Thiel’s shares worth roughly $55 million. Thiel used part of this fortune to found Clarium Capital, a global macro hedge fund. He also co-founded Founders Fund, a venture capital firm, with other PayPal cofounders. Thiel was also an early backer of Facebook, OpenAI, DeepMind, and Cognition Labs.
The Thiel Foundation focuses on two programs: Imitatio and The Thiel Fellowship.
Grants for Technology, Science and Cell Research
Funding for technology and the sciences has held steady in 2024, but overall, has become less transparent about where funding is going. More than funding individual researchers, the Thiel Foundation invests in an intellectual ecosystem organized around futurism, philosophy, and ideas production. The Thiel Foundation’s website is a bare-bones single page, but it lists separate funding programs that focus on:
The Thiel Fellowships provides $250,000 of funding over two-years for young people to drop out of school to build new things.
Fellows are located all over the world and the fellowship is open to applicants aged 22 or younger. There are about 20 to 30 fellows each year. Read the FAQ before applying.
Considering the nature of the Thiel Fellowships, the Foundation has given to several colleges and universities in the past. It is important to remember, however, that higher education does not appear to have received any real support since Thiel established the fellowships. Nevertheless, past grantees include Leland Stanford Junior University, Claremont Mckenna College, King’s College, Haverford College, and Cambridge.
- According to Forbes, the Thiel Fellowships have yielded positive results.
Imitatio promotes the idea that imitation drives human behavior. René Girard served as a professor in the French and Italian departments at Stanford University, who wrote on several topics from culture to philosophy. Influenced by Girard’s mimetic theory — which holds that human desire is not autonomous, but copied — Thiel learned to categorize behavior across disciplines. In this light, Thiel cofounded Imitatio in 2007 with Robert Hamerton-Kelly to further Girard’s work across disciplines:
These grants further research and application of René Girard’s mimetic theory across the social sciences.
Grantseekers can apply here.
- Breakout Ventures, formerly Breakout Labs, reflects a partnership between Thiel and Lindy Fishburne to start a seed fund for bioscience. However, Breakout Ventures is not a current Thiel Foundation program.
- In 2026, Breakout Ventures describes itself as an investment firm backing science-driven companies and has just raised a $114 million Fund III. More than a traditional grantmaking opportunity, BV provides vc-backing for bioscience entrepreneurship. BV provides companies with up to $350,000 and two years of mentorship, helping to develop a growth strategy and attract funders. BV has a portfolio of several dozen science companies that have raised over $1 billion in follow-on funding.
- It is not listed among the Thiel Foundation’s programs.
- The Thiel Foundation’s 2024 tax records reports investment holdings of about $1.82 million in Breakout Ventures LP and $2.98 million in Breakout Ventures II LP; but those are foundation investments, not charitable grants or grant opportunities.
- The Thiel Foundation also makes other grants outside of its three . Most of these have gone to science and technology-focused organizations.
- The foundation gave $3.5 million to the Methuselah Mouse Prize foundation’s anti-aging research and heavily supported Methuselah Foundation. It gave $1.627 million to Machine Intelligence Research Institute.
- Thiel has also given over $1 million to the Seasteading Institute to support building floating communities on the ocean. It has also given to mimetic organizations such as the Colloquium On Violence and Religion and The Cornerstone Forum.
Grants for Democracy and Civic Engagement
According to a recent interview, Thiel “has lost interest in democracy.” Direct donations for candidates aside, the foundation has provided funding for think tanks and conservative policy groups in the past.
- In 2024, the Leo Strauss Foundation received $100,000 in 2023, pointing to continued interest in political philosophy and intellectual history.
- The foundation has given at least $400,000 to The Ayn Rand Institute the Center for the Advancement of Objectivism, a nonprofit think-tank dedicated to promoting the work and ideas of the controversial writer.
- It has also given to Preaching Peace and Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace.
- According to 990s, the foundation has consistently funded Mercatus, a right-wing think tank based at George Mason University. In 2018The foundation continues to use DonorsTrust as an intermediary. It also made a major $3 million grant to fiscal sponsor New Venture Fund in 2021, although New Venture Fund does not appear in the latest grant schedule. Mercatus launched Emergent Ventures with a $1 million grant from Thiel’s foundation.
Faith-based Grants
While this is not a major area of giving, it is a growing trend reflected in 2023 tax filings. Much of this funding is an extension of Thiel’s conservatism and background in Mimetic Theory. Recent grantees include the multi-year grantee Lumen Christi Foundation.
Important Grant Details:
While the Thiel Foundation is currently focused on the fellowships and Imitatio grants, in past years, annual grantmaking has averaged $3.5 million to $8 million. $50,000 is the most common amount. In 2024, this funder had about $45 million in assets.
- Total giving has dropped from a peak of roughly $11M in 2021 to about $3.4M in 2024, indicating a more constrained grantmaking approach.
- This funder makes grants all over the U.S., but has also made grants globally to foundations in Italy, Zurich, Brazil, the Netherlands, Mexico, Ireland, and the U.K.
- While it makes grants nationally, this funder concentrates funding in California, specifically in the Bay Area.
- Thiel does not accept unsolicited proposals or requests for funding; however, it does provide a way to contact the foundation with questions to Clare O’Brien, foundation administrator.
- Please direct press inquiries to jeremiah@torchcomllc.com
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