2021-08-13T07:55:40-07:00 2020-09-30 134036703 SCHALL & ASHENFARB CPAS 307 5th Ave 15th Floor NEW YORK NY 10016 990 2019-10-01 432095418 World Science Foundation WORL 2123481400 475 Riverside Drive New York NY 10115 Tracy Day CEO/Secretary 2021-08-13 true Michael Schall P02024184 2122682800 2019 2022-09-23 18:48:47Z Tracy Day 475 Riverside Drive 950 New York NY 10115 4665930 false X www.worldsciencefestival.com X 2006 DE To cultivate a general public informed by science, inspired by its wonder, convinced of its value, and prepared to engage with its implications for the future. 6 3 208 207 0 7921275 4297160 589616 362538 3828 1769 2215 4463 8516934 4665930 0 0 3167156 2152860 0 230942 4229084 2157804 7396240 4310664 1120694 355266 9001338 9692360 315668 651424 8685670 9040936 To cultivate a general public informed by science, inspired by its wonder, convinced of its value, and prepared to engage with its implications for the future.The World Science Festival brings together great minds in science and the arts to produce live and digital content that presents the wonders of science and the drama of scientific discovery to a broad general audience. The festivals flagship live event, launched in 2008, is an annual weeklong celebration and exploration of science. Through gripping debates, original theatrical works, interactive explorations, musical performances, intimate salons, and major outdoor experiences, the festival takes science out of the laboratory and into the streets, parks, and museums, libraries, and performing arts venues of New York City. World Science U is the Foundations online education arm where students and lifelong learners can dive more deeply through artfully produced digital education content presented by world-renowned scientists. false false 3339922 362538 The festival creates novel, creative, and artfully produced programs and interdisciplinary events. From compelling presentations of cutting-edge scientific research and captivating hands-on demonstrations for kids, to works in theatre, film and the arts inspired by science, the festival dramatically raises the profile of science. Festival programs are taped, edited and made available year-round on the Festival's website, together with complementary content, dramatically expanding the reach and impact of the festival and building a growing archive of educational science programming. World Science U provides a unique educational experience for students, with world-renowned professors leading the way, accompanied by state-of-the-art production. The diverse course offerings let students spend minutes, hours, days, or months on a subject. 3339922 true true false false false false false false false false true false false false false true true false false false true false false false false false false false false true false false false false false true true true false false false false false false false false false true 113 0 true 208 true false false false false false false false 0 false false false false false false false X 6 3 true false false false false false false true false false false true true true true true true true true false NY X Stan Kroder 2123481400 475 Riverside Drive 950 New York NY 10015 Tracy Day CEO/Secretary 40.00 0.00 X X 215000 0 0 Mark German Dir. of Ed. Strat 40.00 0.00 167929 0 26646 Debra Nir Dir., Live Events 40.00 0.00 132498 0 12107 Judith Cox President&Treas 40.00 0.00 X X 69120 0 21688 Brian Greene Chairman 40.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Alan Alda Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Gillian Small Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Tamsen Ann Ziff Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 584547 60441 3 false true false Q A Events and Production LLC 892 Bergen St 9a Brooklyn NY 11238 Production Management 256866 Eleventh Dimension Media 410 Riverside Drive Apt 142 New York NY 10025 Consulting Services 118462 The Interchurch Center PO Box 78000 Detroit MI 48278 Rent & Labor 175364 Metrovision Production Group LLC 130 Commerce Road Carlstadt NJ 07072 Media Services 178499 WestEd PO Box 399001 San Francisco CA 94139 Consulting Services 103988 5 18860 4278300 4297160 Program Income 900099 362538 362538 362538 1769 1769 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Miscellaneous 900099 4463 4463 4463 4665930 362538 6232 X 0 0 0 0 321687 139506 128675 53506 0 1499072 1135376 261702 101994 1922 1355 408 159 173560 131147 32750 9663 156619 110420 33229 12970 0 44908 44908 0 0 0 0 1205839 1149038 48666 8135 86444 74427 2183 9834 147202 50008 93422 3772 117461 111189 4511 1761 0 200378 141271 42512 16595 36835 27925 8774 136 0 1575 1575 0 0 110564 77950 23457 9157 20341 14341 4315 1685 Program & Production Supplies 175969 175969 Bad Debt Expense 10288 10288 0 4310664 3339922 739800 230942 497421 57755 3626844 5680284 4184875 3355878 98632 68383 0 0 0 0 4470 1539273 1041061 566188 498212 0 0 0 0 27378 27378 9001338 9692360 315668 268924 382500 315668 651424 X 3550761 4049788 5134909 4991148 8685670 9040936 9001338 9692360 355266 X false true X false false X 12494161 4340339 4425960 7921275 4297160 33478895 0 0 12494161 4340339 4425960 7921275 4297160 33478895 26118409 7360486 1957 1197 4540 3828 1769 13291 0 18675 11138 2016 2215 4463 38507 33530693 2438814 0.21950 0.22410 X 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 21.95%. 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 employees dedicated to soliciting support from individuals, foundations, corporations and government grants. From time to time, the Foundation has also hired independent development specialists. 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 ResearchDevelopment 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 $120,803 in 2020) from online platforms. The Foundation also actively seeks individual donors by hosting cultivation events and an annual Gala fundraiser. Since 2007, the Foundation has sent over 5,500 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 2019, the Foundation has sent more than 23,700 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. 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 Foundation's 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 196,901 subscribers to keep them informed of World Science Foundation's digital programming. In 2020, the website was visited by over 561,648 users, generating over 1,032,594 page views. The Festival's YouTube views in 2020 totaled 35,385,803 views, generating 1,041,106,266 minutes of watch time over the calendar year, and bringing the festival's total cumulative views on YouTube to 101.0 million views and 2.1 billion minutes of total watch time, while millions more watched on Facebook. Our subscriber list grew 73.4% to reach 685,800. Through a vigorous program of social media outreach and regular communications to our followers, the festival has established over 350,000 fans on Facebook and built a strong presence on Instagram and other social media outlets.The Foundation also relies on large numbers of volunteers during the festival and throughout the year. For 2020, 207 volunteers donated their time to ensure successful events hosted by the Foundation. RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 765305 443019 322286 334597 233671 100926 439371 364371 75000 498212 X 4786733 120803 120803 4665930 4665930 4431467 120803 120803 4310664 4310664 Part X : FIN48 Footnote The Foundation does not believe its financial statements include any material, uncertain tax positions. Tax filings for periods ending September 30, 2017 and later are subject to examination by applicable taxing authorities. East Asia and the Pacific 0 0 Collaboration Agreement Educational Programming 33754 33754 33754 false false false false false false X X X false false false false false false false false false Mark German Dir. of Ed. Strat 167929 26646 194575 Tracy Day CEO/Secretary 215000 215000 Brian Greene Chairman 105000 Consulting false Schedule L, Part V Supplemental Information In September 2016, the Foundation entered into an agreement with an entity (the "Company") that is owned by the Foundation's co-founders, who currently serve as the Foundation's CEO, Tracy Day, and Board Chair, Brian Greene. The agreement provides for compensation to the Company for Brian Greene's ongoing and substantial consulting, advisory and creative services to the Foundation. These services are outside the scope of his duties as Board Chair. The term of the agreement commenced as of the effective date of January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2019 and has been renewed through December 31, 2021. 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 15a: Compensation Review & Approval Process - CEO, Top Management A compensation review is done at the time an increase or new hire compensation package is proposed for the CEO or top management. A review of comparable salaries based on a recognized study, information from 990s of other organizations and a review of the performance of the CEO or top management 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 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.