Attach to Form 990 or Form 990-EZ.
Go to
www.irs.gov/Form990 for instructions and the latest information.
| (i) Name of supported organization | (ii) EIN | (iii) Type of organization (described on lines 1- 10 above (see instructions)) | (iv) Is the organization listed in your governing document? | (v) Amount of monetary support (see instructions) | (vi) Amount of other support (see instructions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | |||||
|
Total |
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Calendar year (or fiscal year beginning in) ![]() |
(a) 2015 | (b) 2016 | (c) 2017 | (d) 2018 | (e) 2019 | (f) Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gifts, grants, contributions, and membership fees received. (Do not include any "unusual grant.") .. | 5,788,820 | 5,864,449 | 12,494,161 | 4,340,339 | 4,425,960 | 32,913,729 |
| 2 | Tax revenues levied for the organization's benefit and either paid to or expended on its behalf.... | 0 | |||||
| 3 | The value of services or facilities furnished by a governmental unit to the organization without charge.. | 0 | |||||
| 4 | Total. Add lines 1 through 3 | 5,788,820 | 5,864,449 | 12,494,161 | 4,340,339 | 4,425,960 | 32,913,729 |
| 5 | The portion of total contributions by each person (other than a governmental unit or publicly supported organization) included on line 1 that exceeds 2% of the amount shown on line 11, column (f).. | 25,307,856 | |||||
| 6 | Public support. Subtract line 5 from line 4. | 7,605,873 | |||||
Calendar year
(or fiscal year beginning in) ![]() |
(a) 2015 | (b) 2016 | (c) 2017 | (d) 2018 | (e) 2019 | (f) Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Amounts from line 4.. | 5,788,820 | 5,864,449 | 12,494,161 | 4,340,339 | 4,425,960 | 32,913,729 |
| 8 | Gross income from interest, dividends, payments received on securities loans, rents, royalties and income from similar sources... | 5,705 | 4,625 | 1,957 | 1,197 | 4,540 | 18,024 |
| 9 | Net income from unrelated business activities, whether or not the business is regularly carried on.. | ||||||
| 10 | Other income. Do not include gain or loss from the sale of capital assets (Explain in Part VI.).. | 2,527 | 91 | 18,675 | 11,138 | 2,016 | 34,447 |
| 11 | Total support. Add lines 7 through 10 | 32,966,200 | |||||
Calendar year (or fiscal year beginning in) ![]() |
(a) 2015 | (b) 2016 | (c) 2017 | (d) 2018 | (e) 2019 | (f) Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gifts, grants, contributions, and membership fees received. (Do not include any "unusual grants.") . | ||||||
| 2 | Gross receipts from admissions, merchandise sold or services performed, or facilities furnished in any activity that is related to the organization's tax-exempt purpose | ||||||
| 3 | Gross receipts from activities that are not an unrelated trade or business under section 513 ..... | ||||||
| 4 | Tax revenues levied for the organization's benefit and either paid to or expended on its behalf... | ||||||
| 5 | The value of services or facilities furnished by a governmental unit to the organization without charge | ||||||
| 6 | Total. Add lines 1 through 5 | ||||||
| 7a | Amounts included on lines 1, 2, and 3 received from disqualified persons | ||||||
| b | Amounts included on lines 2 and 3 received from other than disqualified persons that exceed the greater of $5,000 or 1% of the amount on line 13 for the year. | ||||||
| c | Add lines 7a and 7b.. | ||||||
| 8 | Public support. (Subtract line 7c from line 6.) | ||||||
Calendar year (or fiscal year beginning in) ![]() |
(a) 2015 | (b) 2016 | (c) 2017 | (d) 2018 | (e) 2019 | (f) Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Amounts from line 6... | ||||||
| 10a | Gross income from interest, dividends, payments received on securities loans, rents, royalties and income from similar sources.. | ||||||
| b | Unrelated business taxable income (less section 511 taxes) from businesses acquired after June 30, 1975. | ||||||
| c | Add lines 10a and 10b. | ||||||
| 11 | Net income from unrelated business activities not included in line 10b, whether or not the business is regularly carried on. | ||||||
| 12 | Other income. Do not include gain or loss from the sale of capital assets (Explain in Part VI.) .. | ||||||
| 13 | Total support. (Add lines 9, 10c, 11, and 12.).. | ||||||
| Section A - Adjusted Net Income | (A) Prior Year |
(B) Current Year (optional) |
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| 1 | Net short-term capital gain | 1 | ||||
| 2 | Recoveries of prior-year distributions | 2 | ||||
| 3 | Other gross income (see instructions) | 3 | ||||
| 4 | Add lines 1 through 3 | 4 | ||||
| 5 | Depreciation and depletion | 5 | ||||
| 6 | Portion of operating expenses paid or incurred for production or collection of gross income or for management, conservation, or maintenance of property held for production of income (see instructions) | 6 | ||||
| 7 | Other expenses (see instructions) | 7 | ||||
| 8 | Adjusted Net Income (subtract lines 5, 6 and 7 from line 4) | 8 | ||||
| Section B - Minimum Asset Amount | (A) Prior Year |
(B) Current Year (optional) |
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| 1 | Aggregate fair market value of all non-exempt-use assets (see instructions for short tax year or assets held for part of year): | 1 | ||||
| a | Average monthly value of securities | 1a | ||||
| b | Average monthly cash balances | 1b | ||||
| c | Fair market value of other non-exempt-use assets | 1c | ||||
| d | Total (add lines 1a, 1b, and 1c) | 1d | ||||
| e |
Discount claimed for blockage or other factors (explain in detail in Part VI): |
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| 2 | Acquisition indebtedness applicable to non-exempt use assets | 2 | ||||
| 3 | Subtract line 2 from line 1d | 3 | ||||
| 4 | Cash deemed held for exempt use. Enter 1-1/2% of line 3 (for greater amount, see instructions). | 4 | ||||
| 5 | Net value of non-exempt-use assets (subtract line 4 from line 3) | 5 | ||||
| 6 | Multiply line 5 by .035 | 6 | ||||
| 7 | Recoveries of prior-year distributions | 7 | ||||
| 8 | Minimum Asset Amount (add line 7 to line 6) | 8 | ||||
| Section C - Distributable Amount | Current Year | |||||
| 1 | Adjusted net income for prior year (from Section A, line 8, Column A) | 1 | ||||
| 2 | Enter 85% of line 1 | 2 | ||||
| 3 | Minimum asset amount for prior year (from Section B, line 8, Column A) | 3 | ||||
| 4 | Enter greater of line 2 or line 3 | 4 | ||||
| 5 | Income tax imposed in prior year | 5 | ||||
| 6 | Distributable Amount. Subtract line 5 from line 4, unless subject to emergency temporary reduction (see instructions) | 6 | ||||
| Section D - Distributions | Current Year | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Amounts paid to supported organizations to accomplish exempt purposes | ||
|
2
Amounts paid to perform activity that directly furthers exempt purposes of supported organizations, in excess of income from activity |
||
| 3 Administrative expenses paid to accomplish exempt purposes of supported organizations | ||
| 4 Amounts paid to acquire exempt-use assets | ||
| 5 Qualified set-aside amounts (prior IRS approval required) | ||
| 6 Other distributions (describe in Part VI). See instructions | ||
| 7Total annual distributions. Add lines 1 through 6. | ||
|
8
Distributions to attentive supported organizations to which the organization is responsive (provide details in Part VI). See instructions |
||
| 9 Distributable amount for 2019 from Section C, line 6 | ||
| 10 Line 8 amount divided by Line 9 amount | ||
| Section E - Distribution Allocations (see instructions) |
(i) Excess Distributions |
(ii) Underdistributions Pre-2019 |
(iii) Distributable Amount for 2019 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Distributable amount for 2019 from Section C, line 6 | ||||
|
2
Underdistributions, if any, for years prior to 2019 (reasonable cause required-- explain in Part VI). See instructions. |
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| 3 Excess distributions carryover, if any, to 2019: | ||||
| a From 2014....... | ||||
| b From 2015....... | ||||
| c From 2016....... | ||||
| d From 2017....... | ||||
| e From 2018....... | ||||
| fTotal of lines 3a through e | ||||
| g Applied to underdistributions of prior years | ||||
| h Applied to 2019 distributable amount | ||||
|
i
Carryover from 2014 not applied (see instructions) |
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| j Remainder. Subtract lines 3g, 3h, and 3i from 3f. | ||||
| 4Distributions for 2019 from Section D, line 7: | ||||
| $ | ||||
| a Applied to underdistributions of prior years | ||||
| b Applied to 2019 distributable amount | ||||
| c Remainder. Subtract lines 4a and 4b from 4. | ||||
|
5
Remaining underdistributions for years prior to 2019, if any. Subtract lines 3g and 4a from line 2. If the amount is greater than zero, explain in Part VI. See instructions. |
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|
6
Remaining underdistributions for 2019. Subtract lines 3h and 4b from line 1. If the amount is greater than zero, explain in Part VI. See instructions. |
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|
7 Excess distributions carryover to 2020. Add lines 3j and 4c. |
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| 8 Breakdown of line 7: | ||||
| a Excess from 2015..... | ||||
| b Excess from 2016..... | ||||
| c Excess from 2017..... | ||||
| d Excess from 2018..... | ||||
| e Excess from 2019..... | ||||
| Facts And Circumstances Test |
|---|
| Current Year Facts and Circumstances: The Foundation qualifies as a public charity under the "facts and circumstances test, based on the facts set forth below:First, the Foundation's public support percentage is well in excess of the required 10%. For the past five years of operation (on a rolling 5 year basis), the Foundation 's public support was 23.07%. The following factors also weigh in favor of public charity status under this analysis.Fundraising activities have resulted in broad public sources of support: since its founding, the Foundation has maintained a continuous and bona fide fundraising program to attract funds from the public. The Foundation employs a full-time development staff of three or four employees per year dedicated to soliciting support from individuals, foundations, corporations and government grants. From time to time, the Foundation has also hired independent grant-writers. The Foundation also solicits in-kind product and service support from media companies, advertising services and marketing companies who can enhance promotion for the festival. Through all of these efforts, the Foundation has received financial, media and in-kind support from a diverse group of individuals, corporations, foundations and government entities. Since 2008, the Foundation has submitted multiple grant applications to over 45 foundations and government sources, including the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the NYC Cultural Innovation Fund. While not all of these grant applications were accepted, the Foundation has received significant and regular support from foundations such as the Simons Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Bill and Ann Ziff Foundation, the Kavli Foundation and the Bezos Family Foundation, as well as from the Norwegian Consulate and Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. The Foundation has also received State and City Funding from the New York City Cultural Development Fund, the New York State Department of Education and the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority. Since 2008, the Foundation has actively solicited corporate sponsors for its activities, reaching out to hundreds of corporations. As a result of this outreach, the Foundation has received financial support from corporations such as Google, Verizon, Con Edison, Credit Suisse, IBM, America's Navy, Knopf, Time Warner Cable, Cognizant, IFF, and Northrop Grumman. Although not counted towards public support, the Foundation has consistently been able to reduce its advertising expenditures through contributions of in-kind media support (valued at $131,308 in 2018) from 7 different news and media organizations and publications, including community-based news outlets WABC, WNYC as well as nationally distributed publications, such as Popular Science.The Foundation also actively seeks individual donors by hosting cultivation events and an annual Gala fundraiser. Since 2007, the Foundation has sent over 5,000 invitations to dozens of events that range in size from 20 to 200 guests. In addition, the Foundation has also hosted its annual gala benefit since 2009. Ticket prices to the gala include a portion allocable towards a charitable contribution. From 2009 through 2018, the Foundation has sent more than 23,000 invitations and funding requests in connection with the annual gala. In recent years, between 300 and 400 people attended the annual gala, and many others contributed but did not attend. The aggregate value of individual contributions from the gala has continued to grow.The Foundation has also sought smaller donations from members of the general public who are interested in attending the World Science Festival and/or visit the website. Since 2009, the Foundation has solicited donations on its website through Network for Good and/or Salesforce. From 2010-2018, the Foundation has attracted $47,609 in public support through these platforms.Beginning in 2012, the Foundation also provided an opportunity for ticket buyers to make a donation to the festival as part of their ticket purchase. This effort raised $71,257 through 2018. Composition of the Board: The Foundation's board of directors represents the worlds of education, the arts, media, non-profit management and philanthropy. Each director brings a range of expertise and perspectives to the organization, and all directors have been exceedingly generous with their time and expertise, in addition to providing financial support. Tracy Day, one of the co-founders, brings her experience as an executive producer in television journalism to all of the festival's programming. Brian Greene, also a co-founder, is a physicist, mathematician and professor at Columbia University. Because of the educational nature of the Foundation's mission and activities, the Foundation has recruited additional board members from a variety of institutions of higher learning. Gillian Small, University Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs of Fairleigh Dickinson University and an accomplished scientist and educator, joined the board in January 2012. Alan Alda, an acclaimed actor, writer and director, brings a wealth of expertise and connections from the arts to the festival and has appeared at numerous festival events as a moderator and actor. He has been a member of the board of directors since 2007. Judith Cox has a background in nonprofit management and international projects and has been on the board since 2006. Ann Ziff, a member of the board since 2010, also has significant expertise in non-profit management and fundraising from her service on several non-profit boards; while Ms. Ziff and her family provide significant financial support to the Foundation, they are not the Foundation's largest donors. Broad Public Participation in Programs: The Foundation's educational programming targets a worldwide audience of adults and children. Most programming is designed for non-scientists. Attendance at the World Science Festival in New York City (the Foundation's annual live event spanning five or six days) has grown from 120,000 in 2008 to a cumulative total of over 2.5 million visitors in twelve years. In an effort to reach a broader public, the Foundation began streaming some of its festival programs via the internet in 2011. Since then, the Foundations live-streaming viewers reached a total of 476,500 global viewers through the 2018 Festival.Over time, the Foundation has dedicated increased resources to presenting digital video content from the festival, as well as original educational material, on its website, www.worldsciencefestival.com, and on the World Science Festival YouTube channel. The Foundation sends newsletters to its community of 213,000 subscribers to keep them informed of World Science Foundations digital programming.In FY 2018, the website was visited by over 435,194 users, generating over 1,058,676 page views. The Festivals YouTube views in 2018 totaled 13,744,541 million, generating 315,420,974 million minutes of watch time over the fiscal year, and bringing the festivals total cumulative views on YouTube to 48.5 million views and 742.6 million minutes of total watch time, while millions more watched on Facebook. Our subscriber list grew 218% to reach 213,000. Broadcast, online and print impressions from major news outlets reached 2.45 billion. Through a vigorous program of social media outreach and regular communications to our followers, the festival has established over 380,000 fans on Facebook (a 10.70% increase from previous year) and built a strong presence on Instagram and other social media outlets.The Foundation also relies on large numbers of volunteers during the festival. For the 2018 festival, over 228 volunteers donated their time to ensure a successful event. |
| Return Reference | Explanation |
|---|
| Software ID: | 17005038 |
| Software Version: | 2017v2.2 |
Attach to Form 990 or 990-EZ.
Go to www.irs.gov/Form990 for the latest information.
| Return Reference | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Form 990, Part VI, Line 2: Description of Business or Family Relationship of Officers, Directors, Et | Tracy Day (CEO) and Brian Greene (Chairman) are married. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Line 11b: Form 990 Review Process | Management reviewed a draft of the form 990 and provided edits to the tax preparer. After this process was performed, the form 990 was sent to the full board of directors prior to being filed with the IRS. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Line 12c: Explanation of Monitoring and Enforcement of Conflicts | The Foundation's outside General Counsel distributes the conflict of interest policy and conflict of interest questionnaire to each officer, director and key employee on an annual basis, and follows up with each individual to ensure that the questionnaire has been completed. Each officer, director and key employee is asked to certify annually that he/she has reviewed the Foundation's conflict of interest policy and has disclosed any potential or actual conflicts on the questionnaire. The outside General Counsel reviews the responses to the questionnaire to determine if there is anything disclosed that should be brought to the attention of the Board. The questionnaires are maintained with the books and records of the Foundation. In addition to filling out the questionnaire, pursuant to the Foundation's policy, each officer, director and key employee is required to alert the other members of the Board if a transaction or fact arises that could be covered by the Foundation's policy after the individual has completed his or hear annual questionnaire. If the outside General Counsel identifies any transaction that might present a conflict of interest, actual or perceived, she would confer with the President and Chair to discuss how it should be disclosed to the rest of the Board. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Line 15b: Compensation Review and Approval Process for Officers and Key Employees | A compensation review is done at the time an increase or new hire compensation package is proposed for officers or key employees. A review of comparable salaries based on a recognized study, information from 990s of other organizations and a review of the performance of the officer or key employee is performed to determine if the proposed salary falls within comparable salary ranges. After a deliberation of this matter, a new proposed salary and benefit package is voted on. The minutes of the board of directors reflect the nature of this process. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Line 19: Other Organization Documents Publicly Available | Documents are available upon request. |
| Software ID: | 17005038 |
| Software Version: | 2017v2.2 |