James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) is an American grant-making institution founded in 1996 by magician and

skeptic Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the ...

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010 ...

. As a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, the mission of JREF includes educating the public and the media on the dangers of accepting unproven claims, and to support research into

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

claims in controlled scientific experimental conditions. The organization announced its change to a grant-making foundation in September 2015. The organization previously administered the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, a prize of one million U.S. dollars to anyone who could demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. JREF also maintains a legal defense fund to assist persons who are attacked as a result of investigating or criticizing those making paranormal claims. The organization has been funded through member contributions, grants, and conferences, though it ceased accepting memberships after 2015. For several years the JREF website published the blog ''Swift'', which included news and information as well as exposés of paranormal claimants.

History

The JREF officially came into existence on February 29, 1996, when it was registered as a nonprofit corporation in the State of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...

in the United States. On April 3, 1996, Randi formally announced the creation of the JREF through his email hotline. It is now headquartered in

Falls Church, Virginia Falls Church is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is included in the Washington metropolitan area. Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Ch ...

. Randi says

Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of '' The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six P ...

was a major sponsor, giving several six-figure donations. The officers of the JREF are: * Director, Secretary, Assistant Secretary: Richard L. Adams Jr., Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. * Director, Secretary: Daniel Denman, Silver Spring, Maryland. In 2008 the astronomer Philip Plait became the new president of the JREF and Randi its board chairman. In December 2009 Plait left the JREF due to involvement in a television project, and D.J. Grothe assumed the position of president on January 1, 2010, holding the position until his departure from the JREF was announced on September 1, 2014. The San Francisco newspaper ''SF Weekly'' reported on August 24, 2009, that Randi's annual salary was about $200,000. ''SF Weekly'', August 24, 2009, online version, p. 2: "One of his friends, Internet pioneer Rick Adams, put up $1 million in 1996." Randi resigned from JREF in 2015.

The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge

In 1964, Randi began offering a prize of US$1,000 to anyone who could demonstrate a paranormal ability under agreed-upon testing conditions. This prize has since been increased to US$1 million in bonds and is now administered by the JREF. Since its inception, more than 1,000 people have applied to be tested. To date, no one has been able to demonstrate their claimed abilities under the testing conditions, all applicants either failing to demonstrate the claimed ability during the test or deviating from the foundation conditions for taking the test such that any apparent success was held invalid; the prize money remains unclaimed. However, in 2015 the James Randi Educational Foundation said they will no longer accept applications directly from people claiming to have a paranormal power, but will offer the challenge to anyone who has passed a preliminary test that meets with their approval.

The Amaz!ng Meeting

From 2003 to 2015, the JREF annually hosted The Amaz!ng Meeting, a gathering of

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosop ...

s, and

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

s. Perennial speakers include

Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ...

Penn & Teller Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since the late 1970s. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic. The duo h ...

Phil Plait Philip Cary Plait (born September 30, 1964), also known as The Bad Astronomer, is an American astronomer, skeptic, and popular science blogger. Plait has worked as part of the Hubble Space Telescope team, images and spectra of astronomical objec ...

, Michael Shermer and Adam Savage.

Podcasts and videos

The foundation produced two audio podcasts, ''For Good Reason'' which was an interview program hosted by D.J. Grothe, promoting critical thinking and skepticism about the central beliefs of society. It has not been active since December 2011. ''Consequence'' was a biweekly podcast hosted by former outreach coordinator Brian Thompson in which regular people shared their personal narratives about the negative impact a belief in pseudoscience, superstition, and the paranormal had had on their lives. It has not been active since May, 2013. The JREF also produced a regular video cast and YouTube show, ''The Randi Show'', in which former JREF outreach coordinator Brian Thompson interviewed Randi on a variety of skeptical topics, often with lighthearted or comedic commentary. It has not been active since August 2012. In November 2015,

Harriet Hall Harriet A. Hall (born July 2, 1945) is a U.S. retired family physician, former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon and skeptic who writes about alternative medicine and quackery for '' Skeptic'' and ''Skeptical Inquirer''. She writes under the name ...

produced a series of ten lectures called ''Science Based Medicine'' for the JREF. The videos deal with various complementary alternative medicine subjects including

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a d ...

chiropractic Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the spine. It has esoteric origins and is based on several pseudosci ...

acupuncture Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientif ...

and more. The JREF posted many of its educational videos from The Amaz!ng Meeting and other events online. There are lectures by

Neil DeGrasse Tyson Neil deGrasse Tyson ( or ; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia University. From 1991 to 1994, he was a p ...

Carol Tavris Carol Anne Tavris (born September 17, 1944) is an American social psychologist and feminist. She has devoted her career to writing and lecturing about the contributions of psychological science to the beliefs and practices that guide people's l ...

Lawrence Krauss Lawrence Maxwell Krauss (born May 27, 1954) is an American theoretical physicist and cosmologist who previously taught at Arizona State University, Yale University, and Case Western Reserve University. He founded ASU's Origins Project, now c ...

, live tests of the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, workshops on cold reading by Ray Hyman, and panels featuring leading thinking on various topics related to JREF's educational mission on the JREF YouTube channel. JREF past president D.J. Grothe has claimed that the JREF's YouTube channel was once the "10th most subscribed nonprofit channel of all time", though its status in 2013 was 39th and most non-profits do not register for this status. The foundation produced its own "Internet Audio Show" which ran from January–December 2002 and was broadcast via a live stream. The archive can be found as mp3 files on the JREF website and as a podcast on iTunes.

Forum and online community

As part of the JREF's goal of educating the general population about science and reason, people involved in their community ran a popular skeptic based online forum with the overall goal of promoting "critical thinking and providing the public with the tools needed to reliably examine paranormal, supernatural, and pseudoscientific claims". On October 5, 2014, this online forum was divorced from the JREF and moved as its own entity to International Skeptics Forum. Skepticality Interview of Julia Sweeney 2007.jpg, Swoopy from Skepticality podcast interviews actress and comedienne

Julia Sweeney Julia Anne Sweeney (born October 10, 1959) is an American actress, comedian, and author, who gained fame as a cast member on '' Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1994. She played Mrs. Keeper in the film '' Stuart Little'' and voiced Brittany in ...

at The Amazing Meeting Van Praagh Zombies JREF million dollar check October 2011.jpg, Two zombies hold a check for one million dollars for James Van Praagh if he can prove he can talk to the dead. Origami Pigasus.jpg, Origami Pigasus invented for the JREF by Richard Saunders In 2007 the JREF announced it would resume awarding

critical thinking Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to form a judgement. The subject is complex; several different definitions exist, which generally include the rational, skeptical, and unbiased ana ...

scholarships to college students after a brief hiatus due to the lack of funding. The JREF has also helped to support local grassroot efforts and outreach endeavors, such as SkeptiCamp,

Camp Inquiry The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a US nonprofit organization that works to mitigate belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal, as well as to fight the influence of religion in government. History The Center for Inquiry was established in 199 ...

and various community-organized conferences. However, according to their tax filing, they spend less than $2,000 a year on other organizations or individuals.

JREF Award

The JREF award "is given to the person or organization that best represents the spirit of the foundation by encouraging critical questions and seeking unbiased, fact-based answers." The 2017 award was given to

Susan Gerbic Susan Gerbic (born 1962) is an American studio photographer who became known as a scientific skepticism activist, mostly for exposing people claiming to be mediums. A columnist for ''Skeptical Inquirer'', she is the co-founder of Monterey Cou ...

References

External links

*
International Skeptics Forum
{{Authority control 1996 establishments in Delaware Organizations established in 1996 Prizes for proof of paranormal phenomena Skeptic organizations in the United States 501(c)(3) organizations Non-profit organizations based in Virginia