2021-11-12T17:24:42-06:00 2020-12-31 390974031 WEGNER CPAS LLP 419 N LEE ST ALEXANDRIA VA 223142301 990 2020-01-01 843438375 THE MARKUP NEWS INC MARK 3477174094 PO BOX 1103 NEW YORK NY 10159 NABIHA SYED PRESIDENT 3477174094 2021-11-12 1 NABIHA SYED 999009999 GLENN MILLER CPA P00086726 7035190990 0 AAL1 IAL1 2020 2022-09-23 18:48:47Z X NABIHA SYED PO BOX 1103 NEW YORK NY 10159 10420954 0 X THEMARKUP.ORG X 2020 NY THE MARKUP IS A NONPROFIT NEWSROOM THAT INVESTIGATES HOW POWERFUL INSTITUTIONS ARE USING TECHNOLOGY TO CHANGE OUR SOCIETY. WE ARE A NEW KIND OF MEDIA ORGANIZATION, STAFFED WITH AN UNPARALLELED ROSTER OF QUANTITATIVE JOURNALISTS WHO PURSUE MEANINGFUL, DATA-DRIVEN INVESTIGATIONS. 7 7 0 7 0 0 10419995 0 959 0 10420954 0 0 3212677 57500 88175 1294372 4564549 5856405 6014280 157875 5856405 X THE MARKUP IS A NONPROFIT NEWSROOM THAT INVESTIGATES HOW POWERFUL INSTITUTIONS ARE USING TECHNOLOGY TO CHANGE OUR SOCIETY. WE ARE A NEW KIND OF MEDIA ORGANIZATION, STAFFED WITH AN UNPARALLELED ROSTER OF QUANTITATIVE JOURNALISTS WHO PURSUE MEANINGFUL, DATA-DRIVEN INVESTIGATIONS 0 0 2751104 0 0 EDITORIAL & GRAPHICS - IN 2020, THE MARKUP OFFICIALLY STARTED PUBLISHING INVESTIGATIONS AND REPORTS THAT REVEALED INEQUITIES AND HARM THROUGH TECHNOLOGY. OVER THE YEAR, THE MARKUP PUBLISHED 106 ARTICLES WHICH WERE CITED IN OVER 25 ACADEMIC JOURNALS AND REPORTS, INCLUDING THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR REVIEW AND DATA & SOCIETY. THE RESULTS OF MARKUP INVESTIGATIONS WERE ALSO CITED IN HEARINGS IN THE US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, ANTI-TRUST LAWSUITS BY VARIOUS STATE COALITIONS AND THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, AND BY OTHER MEDIA OUTLETS, INCLUDING THE NEW YORK TIMES, CNN, AND CONSUMER REPORTS. THE SUBJECTS OF MARKUP REPORTING ALSO CHANGED THEIR BEHAVIORS INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, FACEBOOK REMOVING "PSEUDOSCIENCE" AS AN AD TARGETING TERM, MEANING THAT ADVERTISERS COULD NO LONGER TARGET 78 MILLION PEOPLE ACROSS THE PLATFORM. AFTER OUR INVESTIGATION IN JUNE 2020, AMAZON REMOVED NEARLY 100 DANGEROUS LISTINGS OF GUN PARTS, INJECTING DRUGS, AND OTHER DANGEROUS AND ILLICIT ITEMS. DURING THE PEAK OF THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, WE TESTED THE ACCESSIBILITY OF, AS WELL AS THE NUMBER OF THIRD-PARTY TRACKERS ON, ALL 50 STATE GOVERNMENT CORONAVIRUS WEBSITES. SUBSEQUENTLY, MULTIPLE STATES CHANGED THEIR SITES TO INCREASE ACCESSIBILITY AND REMOVED THE NUMBER OF TRACKERS ON THE SITE. IN ADDITION TO OUR INVESTIGATIONS INTO TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES AND THE ALGORITHMS THAT AFFECT OUR LIVES, THE MARKUP PUBLISHED ARTICLES IN OUR "ASK THE MARKUP" SERIES WITH DETAILED EXPLANATIONS INTO ARCANE ISSUES OR TIMELY TOPICS. IN OUR FIRST YEAR, WE ANSWERED DOZENS OF QUESTIONS ACROSS A WIDE SPECTRUM OF SUBJECTS AND CONCERNS. SOME OF OUR MOST POPULAR INCLUDE "HOW PRIVATE IS MY PAY APP? AND "WHO'S ALLOWED TO TRACK MY KIDS ONLINE?" 336839 0 0 PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY - PART OF OUR UNIQUE NEWSROOM IS THE CREATION AND INNOVATION OF TOOLS TO HELP US INVESTIGATE BIG TECH AS WELL AS EMPOWER OUR READERS TO LEARN ABOUT HOW PRIVATE THEIR ONLINE ACTIVITY IS. WE BUILT CUSTOM, FORENSIC TOOLS LIKE BLACKLIGHT, WHICH SCANS WEBSITES TO REVEAL DIFFERENT METHODS OF ONLINE SURVEILLANCE AND TRACKING. SINCE ITS RELEASE OVER 2 MILLION SCANS HAVE BEEN PERFORMED BY OUR READERS AND THE LARGER PUBLIC. WE ALSO BUILT CITIZEN BROWSER, A DEMOCRACY DIAGNOSTIC TOOL, DESIGNED TO AUDIT THE FACEBOOK ALGORITHM TO SEE WHICH NEWS AND NARRATIVES THE SOCIAL MEDIA GIANT'S BLACKBOX ALGORITHMS AMPLIFY AND SUPPRESS. WITH THE RESULTS OF CITIZEN BROWSER, WE PUBLISHED MULTIPLE INVESTIGATIONS THAT REVEALED THAT FACEBOOK WAS OFTEN NOT KEEPING THE PROMISES IT MADE TO THE PUBLIC AS WELL AS THE US GOVERNMENT. SENATOR ED MARKEY, AND OTHER LEGISLATORS, HAVE CITED RESULTS FROM CITIZEN BROWSER IN HEARINGS AND LETTERS TO FACEBOOK AND ITS CEO MARK ZUCKERBERG. IN ADDITION TO THE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED TOOLS, AS WELL AS EXTENSIONS LIKE SIMPLE SEARCH, WHICH HAS BEEN DOWNLOADED OVER 8,000 TIMES AND HELPS USERS REMOVE GOOGLE'S OWN PRODUCTS FROM THE TOP OF SEARCH RESULTS, THE MARKUP ALSO CREATES TOOLS FOR ITS OWN USE THAT PRIORITIZES OUR READERS' PRIVACY. WE'VE ESTIMATED THAT WE'VE SPENT AT LEAST $57,000 TO BUILD CUSTOM FORMS, VIDEO PLAYER, DONATIONS PLATFORM, AND MORE TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR READERS' PRIVACY IS PROTECTED. WE LOOK FORWARD TO SHARING SOME OF THESE TOOLS, AS WELL AS DEVELOPING MORE TOOLS, WITH THE PUBLIC. 228330 0 0 AUDIENCE - WE LAUNCHED META WITH THE MARKUP, A LIVE WEEKLY TALK SHOW, TO CONNECT DIRECTLY WITH OUR AUDIENCE AND CARRY OUR SHOW YOUR WORK ETHOS ACROSS THE ORGANIZATION. THE OVERARCHING THEME OF THE SHOW IS A DEEPER LOOK AT OUR REPORTING VIA OUR REPORTING TEAM WITH OCCASIONAL SPECIAL EPISODES DEVOTED TO SPECIAL PROJECTS, PRODUCT LAUNCHES, AND ORGANIZATION MILESTONES LIKE OUR FIRST ANNIVERSARY. WE HAVE ALSO HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIMENT WITH PLATFORMS TO FIND THE MOST NATURAL AUDIENCE AND STREAMLINE PRODUCTION AND REUSABILITY OF THE FOOTAGE. THIS LED US FROM INSTAGRAM LIVE, TO TWITCH, TO TWITTER SPACES.OUR BLACKLIGHT PRODUCT LAUNCH IN SEPTEMBER 2020 FEATURED REPORTERS, THOUGHT LEADERS, AND ARTISTS TO ENGAGE MULTIPLE POTENTIAL AUDIENCES IN CONVERSATION AROUND A SUBJECT CENTRAL TO THE MARKUP'S IDENTITY: ONLINE PRIVACY. FROM MONTH START TO FINISH, THE LAUNCH HELPED DRIVE ENGAGEMENT ACROSS SOCIAL MEDIA, RECORD FOOTPRINT GROWTH, AND A LIVE EVENT WITH OUR LARGEST CONSISTENT EVENT ATTENDANCE IN 2020. SINCE IT LAUNCHED, BLACKLIGHT AND OUR PROMOTION OF IT HAVE REMAINED CENTRAL TO OUR PUBLIC-FACING IDENTITY. THE LANDING PAGE IS ONE OF OUR TOP VISITED SITE PAGES IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS AND THE TOOL HAS GARNERED MORE THAN 2 MILLION SCANS OF WEBSITES ACROSS THE INTERNET, HELPING INFORM THE PUBLIC AND GIVE THEM AGENCY TO ENGAGE WITH BIG TECH. ADDITIONALLY, WE HAVE HEARD FROM FELLOW JOURNALISTS FROM MORE THAN ONE PUBLICATION THAT THEY ARE ACTIVELY USING THIS MARKUP-MADE TOOL TO INFORM THEIR OWN REPORTING.IN NOVEMBER 2020, THE AUDIENCE DEPARTMENT LED ON PROMOTING OUR PRESIDENT NABIHA SYED'S AMICUS BRIEF TO THE SUPREME COURT REGARDING VAN BUREN V. THE UNITED STATES. THROUGH DIRECT OUTREACH TO OUR OWN COMMUNITY'S INFLUENCERS AND A SMALL MERCHANDISE CAMPAIGN, WE BROKE THROUGH CONVERSATION BUBBLES TO GET THE CLEAR MARKUP MESSAGE THAT "SCRAPING IS NOT A CRIME" BEYOND OUR OWN COMMUNITIES AND INTO WIDER INTERNET CONVERSATIONS. 0 0 3316273 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 X 39 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 NY X NABIHA SYED 3477174094 PO BOX 1103 NEW YORK NY 10159 DAVID BOARDMAN CHAIR 1.00 X 0 0 0 MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY DIRECTOR 1.00 X 0 0 0 STUART KARLE DIRECTOR 1.00 X 0 0 0 PAUL OHM DIRECTOR 1.00 X 0 0 0 DELE OLOJEDE DIRECTOR 1.00 X 0 0 0 NICOLE WONG DIRECTOR 1.00 X 0 0 0 JASON YURASEK DIRECTOR 1.00 X 0 0 0 NABIHA SYED PRESIDENT 40.00 X 200036 0 33216 JULIA ANGWIN EDITOR IN CHIEF 40.00 X 200092 0 15065 EVELYN LARRUBIA MANAGING EDITOR, INVESTIGATIONS 40.00 X 143425 0 15397 543553 0 63678 3 0 1 0 JUSTWORKS 55 WATER STREET NEW YORK NY 10041 PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYER ORGANIZATION 2278682 1 10419995 10419995 959 959 10420954 0 0 959 X 448409 385719 62690 2210463 1904790 305673 27573 21963 5610 183741 152499 31242 342491 311485 31006 105169 46471 58698 57500 57500 652705 333631 289074 30000 102277 99069 3208 34386 34386 19010 18985 25 277480 277480 11292 11075 217 20791 5426 15365 2211 2211 15472 15472 DUES & SUBSCRIPTIONS 53579 44145 8784 650 4564549 3316273 1160101 88175 1186613 4377102 175000 145108 12945 2337 0 10608 0 119849 0 6014280 118399 0 39476 0 157875 X 5469964 386441 0 5856405 0 6014280 5856405 0 X 0 1 X 1 0 X 10419995 10419995 10419995 10419995 10419995 959 959 10420954 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 9924 2127 7797 3021 210 2811 10608 DEFERRED RENT 39476 39476 8351604 0 8351604 2069350 2069350 10420954 4564549 0 4564549 0 4564549 PART XI, LINE 4B - OTHER ADJUSTMENTS: PART VIII, LINE 1F - TRANSFER OF ASSETS FROM NEO 2,069,350. X X X X X 1 GALLAGHER GROUP 750 COLUMBUS AVENUE 11K NEW YORK NY 10025 PROFESSIONAL FUNDRAISING 0 0 20000 -20000 DEBRA GOLDBERG 344 WEST 38TH STREET APT 12D NEW YORK NY 10018 PROFESSIONAL FUNDRAISING 0 0 37500 -37500 57500 -57500 SCHEDULE G, PART I, LINE 2B, COLUMN (V) AMOUNTS PAID TO PROFESSIONAL FUNDRAISERS REFLECT CONTRACT FEES FOR THE PROFESSIONAL FUNDRAISING FEES INCURRED. X X X 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NABIHA SYED PRESIDENT 200036 0 0 0 0 0 2250 0 30966 0 233252 0 0 0 JULIA ANGWIN EDITOR IN CHIEF 200092 0 0 0 0 0 2251 0 12814 0 215157 0 0 0 EVELYN LARRUBIA MANAGING EDITOR, INVESTIGATIONS 143425 0 0 0 0 0 2377 0 13020 0 158822 0 0 0 FORM 990, PART V, LINE 2A THE MARKUP NEWS, INC. LEASES EMPLOYEES FROM A PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT ORGANIZATION, JUSTWORKS. THE EMPLOYEES ARE CONSIDERED COMMON LAW EMPLOYEES OF THE MARKUP NEWS, INC., HOWEVER, JUSTWORKS IS THE EMPLOYER OF RECORD AND EMPLOYEES RECEIVE THEIR W2S FROM JUSTWORKS. FORM 990, PART VI, SECTION B, LINE 11B **** NEED WORDING FROM CLIENT *** FORM 990, PART VI, SECTION B, LINE 12C PER THE ORGANIZATION'S POLICY: YOU ARE REQUIRED TO DISCLOSE IN GOOD FAITH AND IN WRITING TO THE COMMITTEE AT THE ORGANIZATION'S HEADQUARTERS ALL MATERIAL FACTS RELATED TO CONFLICTS OF INTEREST (INCLUDING THOSE THAT IMPLICATE AN OTHER RELATED PARTY BUT NOT A COVERED PERSON) (INCLUDING THE NATURE OF YOUR OR THE OTHER RELATED PARTY'S INTEREST AND INFORMATION ABOUT ANY PROPOSED TRANSACTION OR OTHER ARRANGEMENT). DISCLOSURES SHOULD BE MADE IN ADVANCE, BEFORE ANY ACTION IS TAKEN ON THE MATTER. CONFLICT IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS CAN BE DIFFICULT AND, THEREFORE, YOU ARE AT ALL TIMES EXPECTED TO ERR ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION AND DISCLOSE ALL INSTANCES WHERE A CONFLICT OF INTEREST OR THE APPEARANCE OF A CONFLICT EXISTS. EACH CURRENT DIRECTOR, OFFICER AND KEY PERSON OF THE ORGANIZATION, AS WELL AS NOMINEES FOR ELECTION AS DIRECTOR (PRIOR TO HIS OR HER INITIAL ELECTION), MUST SUBMIT TO THE SECRETMY OF THE ORGANIZATION OR A DESIGNATED COMPLIANCE OFFICER AT LEAST ONCE PER YEAR (AND UPDATED AS APPROPRIATE) A QUESTIONNAIRE SUBSTANTIALLY IN THE FORM OF THE APPENDIX TO THIS POLICY. THE SECRETARY OF THE ORGANIZATION OR THE DESIGNATED COMPLIANCE OFFICER SHALL PROVIDE COPIES OF ALL COMPLETED STATEMENTS TO THE CHAIR OF THE COMMITTEE. THE COMMITTEE WILL REVIEW ALL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS AND DETERMINE WHETHER TO APPROVE OR RATIFY ANY SUCH MATTERS; HOWEVER, A TRANSACTION WITH A RELATED PARTY MAY PROCEED WITHOUT COMMITTEE REVIEW IF THE TRANSACTION: (I) IS OF LIMITED MONETARY VALUE; (II) WOULD NOT USUALLY BE REVIEWED BY THE BOARD IN THE ORDINARY COURSE OF BUSINESS AND IS AVAILABLE TO OTHERS ON THE SAME OR SIMILAR TERMS; OR (III) PROVIDES A CHARITABLE BENEFIT TO A MEMBER OF A CHARITABLE CLASS WHERE THE BENEFIT IS AVAILABLE TO OTHERS ON SIMILAR TERMS. THE COMMITTEE MAY ONLY APPROVE THE UNDERLYING MATTER IF IT DETERMINES THAT SUCH MATTER, UNDER THE TERMS AND WITHIN THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND CONDITIONS PRESENTED, IS FAIR, REASONABLE, AND IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE ORGANIZATION AT THE TIME OF SUCH DETERMINATION. FORM 990, PART VI, SECTION B, LINE 15A EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION WAS EVALUATED BY FUNDERS WHILE IN FISCAL SPONSORSHIP IN 2019 AND INTO 2020 USING COMPARABLE ORGANIZATIONS, AND THEN APPROVED BY FULL BOARD FORM 990, PART VI, SECTION C, LINE 19 THE ORGANIZATION MAKES ITS GOVERNING DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC UPON REQUEST. FORM 990, PART IX, LINE 11G CONSULTING FEES: PROGRAM SERVICE EXPENSES 290,312. MANAGEMENT AND GENERAL EXPENSES 139,043. FUNDRAISING EXPENSES 30,000. TOTAL EXPENSES 459,355. OTHER PROFESSIONAL FEES: PROGRAM SERVICE EXPENSES 43,319. MANAGEMENT AND GENERAL EXPENSES 150,031. FUNDRAISING EXPENSES 0. TOTAL EXPENSES 193,350.