RAISEimpact

Raising AI Safety Effectiveness and Impact

RAISEimpact is a program designed to help organizations working on reducing AI risks strengthen their management and leadership practices to amplify their effectiveness, retain and attract top talent, and build high-performing teams.We support organizations in addressing bottlenecks to reaching their full impact potential.

What is the opportunity and why is it important?

We conducted research into the challenges at AI safety organizations, including interviewing 25 individuals in AI safety. Clear patterns emerged around opportunities to improve management, leadership, and work culture. Some of the patterns were around the clarity of roles/responsibilities, feedback, hiring, retention, conflict, decision making, burnout / motivation, career growth, performance management, delegation and autonomy, and others. Many of these challenges are downstream of a relative lack of management experience of the leaders and people managers in the organization. 

Even high-performing orgs with incredible technical talent hit the same leadership bottlenecks that limit their impact. We believe that there is a significant amount of low-hanging fruit and hidden impact potential that can be unlocked by surfacing key blind spots.

An example of a research organization worth highlighting is Rethink Priorities. Investing in people management was a significant part of how they were able to scale rapidly and increase their impact.

What is our approach?

  • Mission-aligned: We tie our interventions to tangible positive impact on organizations’ goals, mission, effectiveness, and impact

  • Fast and focused: We deliver visible ROI within weeks, while exploring and setting the foundation for longer engagements

  • Customized: We deeply engage with organizations, learn their unique context, and establish trust

  • Collaborative: We co-create solutions grounded in evidence and best practices, with clear success metrics

  • AI safety aligned: We tailor our approach to the unique culture of organizations in the AI safety community 

  • Expert-driven: We partner with experienced coaches, organizational experts, and consultants. We provide a necessary bridge between them and the AI safety domain.

  • Culture engineering: We help teams intentionally design cultures that support truth-seeking, retention, and high performance

What is our theory of change?

The following is a condensed version of our theory of change.  

Example Interventions (not exhaustive)

  • Team retreats focused on trust and team dynamics

  • Role clarity guidance 

  • Consulting on role clarity, governance, and policy

  • Team / individual Performance system design

  • Conflict management training and facilitation

  • Hiring process consulting

  • Leadership coaching for directors and managers

  • 360 feedback process implementation

Outputs

  • Stronger manager skillsets and confidence

  • Clearer roles and responsibilities

  • Stronger governance systems 

  • New or improved systems for performance, feedback, and hiring

  • Surfaced and addressed team conflicts

  • Staff feedback / employee survey data improvements

  • Employees have documented goals and development plans

Outcomes

  • More effective leadership and decision-making

  • Healthier, more effective work culture

  • Increased organizational performance and resilience

  • Increased talent retention and attraction

  • Higher trust and motivation

  • Work better aligned with strategic priorities

  • Leaders' time optimized for high-leverage work

Impact

  • Widespread adoption of robust AI safety measures by governments and industry

  • Resilient safety ecosystem capable of adapting to emerging AI risks

  • Reduced risk of internal dysfunction

  • Sustained funding and support for AI safety

  • Consistently high impact, consistently growing impact 

  • Reduced catastrophic risks from AI

Who is leading the project?

RAISEimpact is led by Adam Tury in collaboration with Patrick Gruban at Successif. Adam is an experienced EA leadership coach who bridges organizational development with AI safety context, and a former Amazon tech leader with years of experience building high-performance teams. Patrick is a business leader, entrepreneur, COO of Successif, and is on the board of EV UK and Talos Network. 

What does it cost to participate?

We received a grant from Open Philanthropy in May 2025. As such, the costs of participating in the program will be covered for the first round of five participants. 

What are the next steps?

We’re currently identifying 8–10 organizations for initial workshops. Our criteria are AI safety organizations with 5 or more paid staff. During the workshops we will:

  • Identify hidden challenges and opportunities

  • Co-create a model of the organization

  • Highlight immediate low-hanging fruit

  • Build trust and establish the foundation for ongoing collaboration

Each participating org will receive a tailored report with findings and recommendations designed to directly enhance impact. This process is both a diagnostic and a proving ground—if the workshop creates value, we can explore deeper support.

Interested in learning more?Get in Touch.