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James Randi Educational Foundation
Type	non-profit organization
Founded	1996, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.
Headquarters	Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Key people	James Randi, Director
Industry	Education
Website	www.Randi.org

The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) is a Fort Lauderdale, Florida non-profit organization founded in 1996 by magician and skeptic James Randi. The JREF's mission includes educating the public and the media on the dangers of accepting unproven claims, and to support research into paranormal claims in controlled scientific experimental conditions.

The organization offers a prize of one million U.S. dollars which it claims it will pay out to anyone who can demonstrate a supernatural ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. The JREF also maintains a legal defense fund to assist persons who are attacked as a result of their investigations and criticism of people who make paranormal claims.

The organization is funded through member contributions, grants, sales of books and videos, and conferences. Each Friday the JREF website publishes a written commentary titled Swift: Online Newsletter of the JREF, which includes the latest JREF news and information.

Contents 1 History of the Foundation 2 The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge 2.1 History of the challenge 2.2 Judging the results 2.3 New qualification rules 2.4 Similar offers 2.5 Licauco and James Randi Controversy 3 Exploring psychic powers television show 4 The Amaz!ng Meeting 5 Podcast 6 Scholarships 7 See also 8 References 8.1 Books 8.2 Notes 9 External links 9.1 James Randi Educational Foundation 9.2 One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge

The James Randi Educational Foundation officially came into existence on February 29, 1996 (a leap year day) when it was registered as a nonprofit corporation in the State of Delaware in the United States.^[1] On April 3, 1996 James Randi formally announced the creation of the JREF through his email hotline:^[2]

THE FOUNDATION IS IN BUSINESS! It is my great pleasure to announce the creation of the James Randi Educational Foundation. This is a non-profit, tax-exempt, educational foundation under Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code, incorporated in the State of Delaware. The Foundation is generously funded by a sponsor in Washington D.C. who wishes, at this point in time, to remain anonymous.

— James Randi,  The Foundation, Randi Hotline, Wed, 3 April 1996

On November 7, 1997 The JREF officially registered with the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations as a foreign nonprofit corporation and was granted a certificate of authority to operate within the state.^[3] As a legal entity, the Foundation is referred to as a nonprofit Delaware domestic corporation and in Florida where it has its principal office, it is called a nonprofit foreign corporation (the term describes either out-of-state or out-of-the-country corporations operating in Florida). While the JREF's Delaware corporate entity address is 980 air miles north of it principal office in Fort Lauderdale,^[4] the Foundation is still bound by Florida's corporate laws as if it were a domestic Florida corporation (Florida Statute 607.1505).^[5] However, being a foreign corporation in Florida means that the State of Florida cannot legally regulate the organization or internal affairs of the JREF and the Foundation is able to take advantage of Delaware's more protective corporate laws.^[6][7]

According to the year 2007 registration information for the JREF filed with the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, the current officers of the JREF are as follows:^[8]

• Director, President, Assistant Secretary: James Randi.
• Director, Secretary, Assistant Secretary: Richard L. Adams Jr.
• Director, Secretary: Jose L. Alvarez.

In 1964, when challenged by a medium to "put his money where his mouth is", Randi put up $1,000 of his own money to the first person who could provide objective proof of the paranormal. Later he raised that to $10,000. Since then, the prize money has grown to the current $1,000,000, and the rules that surround claiming the prize are more official and legal.

To claim, one must agree to a protocol for testing, must show in a preliminary test before a foundation representative that they are likely to succeed, and finally make a demonstration in a formal test in front of independent witnesses.^[9] To date, over 1,000 applications have been filed but no one has passed a preliminary test, which is set up and agreed upon by both Randi and the applicant.

In the conditions and rules governing the one million U.S.-dollar challenge, Randi plainly states that both parties (himself and the party accepting the challenge) must agree in advance as to what conditions of the test constitute a "success" and what constitutes a "failure." He also refuses to accept any challengers who might suffer serious injury or death as a result of the test they intend to undergo.^[10]

Since April 1, 2007 only those with an already existing media profile and the backing of a reputable academic are allowed to apply for the challenge.^[11] The resources freed up by not having to test obscure and possibly mentally ill claimants will then be used to challenge high-profile alleged psychics and mediums such as Sylvia Browne and John Edward with a campaign in the media.^[11]

Dennis Rawlins claims the challenge is insincere, and that Randi will ensure he never has to pay out. In the October 1981 issue of Fate, Rawlins quoted him as saying "I always have an out".^[12] Victor Zammit interprets this to mean Randi will never let his organization lose such a challenge.^[13] Others, noting this magazine article grew out of political infighting among the members of CSICOP, believe this quote is being misapplied, and that it refers to the fact that Randi employs safeguards against cheating. Randi has stated that Rawlins did not give the entire quotation.[2] Randi actually said "Concerning the challenge, I always have an 'out': I'm right!"[3],^[14] which carries a quite different meaning. Randi claims that the phrase "I always have an out" refers to the fact that he does not allow test subjects to cheat,^[15] and others have interpreted it to mean that Randi regards the chances of him having to pay out as zero due to his a priori assumption that so-called "paranormal phenomena" do not exist.

On Larry King Live March 6, 2001 Larry King asked Sylvia Browne if she would take the challenge and she agreed.^[16] Then Randi appeared with Browne on Larry King Live on September 3, 2001 and she again accepted the challenge.^[17] However, she has refused to be tested and Randi keeps a clock on his website recording the number of weeks that have passed since Sylvia accepted the challenge without following through. In an appearance on Larry King Live on January 26, 2007, Randi challenged Rosemary Altea to take the one million challenge. Altea refused to even answer the question of whether or not she would take challenge. This is similar to Altea and Randi's June 5, 2001 meeting on the same show, which Altea would not address the question.^[18] Instead Altea, in part, replied "I agree with what he says, that there are many, many people who claim to be spiritual mediums, they claim to talk to the dead. There are many, people, we all know this. There are cheats and charlatans everywhere."^[19]

Randi has recently challenged David R. Hawkins to win the prize with Hawkins' "arm-pressing technique" (applied kinesiology), suggesting it would only take thirty minutes of easy work, but believing that Hawkins would not even attempt to apply for the challenge for "obvious" reasons.^[20]

The official Challenge rules^[21]stipulate that the participant must agree, in writing, to the conditions and criteria of their test. Claims that cannot be tested experimentally are not eligible for the Challenge. To ensure that the experimental conditions themselves do not negatively affect a claimant's ability to perform, non-blinded preliminary control tests are often performed. For example, the JREF has dowsers perform a control test, in which the dowser attempts to locate the target substance or object using their dowsing ability, even though the target's location has been revealed to the applicant. Failure to display a 100% success rate in the open test will cause their immediate disqualification. However, claimants are usually able to perform successfully during the open test, confirming that experimental conditions are adequate. According to the JREF, despite success in these open tests, no claimants have yet been able to successfully demonstrate evidence of their claims while blinded under otherwise identical conditions. Some participants have stated afterwards that the threat of disqualification is the main factor in their apparent success in the open test. Randi has said that few unsuccessful applicants ever seriously consider that their failure to perform might be due to the nonexistence of the power they believe they possess.^{[citation needed]} The discussions between the JREF and applicants were at one time posted on a public discussion board for all to see. ^[22] Since the resignation of Randi's assistant, Mr. Kramer, and subsequent changes to challenge rules requiring applicants to have demonstrated considerably notability, new applications are no longer logged, but the JREF continues to maintain an archive of previous applicants.

Another objection made by critics of the challenge is that the rules prohibit independent judging, making the success or failure of the challenge dependent on whether Randi agrees that the test has been passed. While acknowledging the prohibition of independent judges, JREF staff and affiliates point out that the nature of the experimental design makes subjective judging of results unnecessary. Since claimants agree to readily observable success criteria prior to the test, results are unambiguous and clearly indicate whether or not the criteria have been met. Critics have also claimed that Randi's degree of control over the conditions of the challenge discourages serious applicants from applying, due to a perception of bias. Randi has said that he need not participate in any way with the actual execution of the test, and he has been willing to travel far from the test location to avoid the perception that his anti-paranormal bias could influence the test results. Additionally, claimants are able to influence all aspects of the testing procedure, including location and participants, during the initial negotiation phase of the challenge.

Additional criticisms of the test and its rules include:

• Randi rejected applicant Rico Kolodzey, stating in the rejection letter that the applicant was "a liar and a fraud." The applicant in question claimed to survive without food via Breatharianism. ^[23]

Randi's response to criticism of his handling of the Kolodzey application raised by the Alternative Science website was somewhat inconsistent.^[24][25] For example, Randi and the JREF explained their outright rejection of Kolodzey based on a policy to reject any applicants who put themselves in grave physical danger. However, this clause was not added to the official Challenge rules until years after the incident.^[10]

However, on May 19, 2006, Randi made a special exception to that rule due to all of the "raucous fuss" and began private negotiations for testing with Kolodzey. After 100 days of negotiations a test procedure still could not be agreed upon by both parties. In response to the stalled negotiations, Randi publicly commented that Kolodzey was retreating from testing after strenuously objecting to the rejection of his initial application.^[26]

• As of January 2005, no offers to conduct a formal test have yet been extended by the JREF to an applicant.^[27]

No offers to conduct a formal test have been extended because the rules require that a claimant must first pass a preliminary test, which no applicants have yet passed. According to JREF, over 1,000 applications have been submitted for the Challenge. of the first 650 applications (through 1982), fifty-four preliminary tests were carried out (Randi 1982:252). Most applications do not result in preliminary testing because they fail during the negotiation of experimental protocols.

Critics have also^{[attribution needed]} referred to case of Yellow Bamboo, who claimed that he could knock down attackers by shouting. A volunteer was actually knocked to the ground during the initial test, ^[28] but this evidence was not accepted by the JREF because the test was conducted at night and resulting video tape of the event suffered from poor visibility.^[29] Upon viewing the video, several people experienced with stun-guns suggested that an electroshock weapon could have been used.^[30]

• Some claim the one million dollars does not exist, or is in the form of pledges or promissory notes.

The JREF has stated that the million dollars is in the form of negotiable bonds within a "James Randi Educational Foundation Prize Account" and that validation of the account and the prize amount can be supplied on demand. The money is held in a Goldman, Sachs & Company account. A copy of the JREF investment statement is viewable at SkepticReport, and the foundation has repeatedly mailed this evidence to high-profile claimants.

In April 2007, the JREF made several changes to the testing procedure in an effort to streamline the process and refocus it to target high-profile and professional paranormalists. The foundation now requires a demonstrated media profile as well as the support from some member of the academic community before it will discuss the challenge with claimants. The foundation has also stated that these qualifications can be essentially met by anyone who can win any of the smaller and more regional skeptics prize challenges.

Randi and his associates have stated two primary reasons for the change:

• In the opinion of the JREF, the vast majority of the applicants for the existing challenge appeared to be either mentally ill or unable to demonstrate their powers even to their own satisfaction. Many were unable to successfully fill out the application forms or coherently and consistently describe their alleged abilities. The foundation has stated that treating these applications seriously has both required an immense amount of time as well as doing a disservice to the applicants.
• The true intent of the challenge has always been to aggressively pursue the most prominent paranormalists and force them to subject their claims to scientific scrutiny in a controlled setting. Randi said that this mission had been sidetracked by the complicated and costly application process, and the foundation wished to refocus its promotional and rhetorical approach to aggressively pursue top psychics in the media, making it difficult for them to be evasive or provide an adequate reason for not accepting the challenge.

Main article: List of prizes for evidence of the paranormal

• Association for Skeptical Enquiry is offering a £13,000 prize.
• Australian Skeptics offers AUD $100,000 for proof of psychic or paranormal powers.
• Abraham Kovoor's challenge, an award of Rs. 100,000 for proof of supernatural or miraclous powers.
• Indian Skeptic 100,000 Paranormal Challenge Indian Rupees 100,000 (just over US $1,200). Sponsored by Basava Premanand.
• Prabir Ghosh of India is offering $50,000.
• Tampa Bay Skeptics $1,000 Challenge US $1,000.
• North Texas Skeptics Paranormal Challenge US $12,000.
• The late Philip J. Klass offered US $10,000 for proof of an extraterrestrial visit to the Earth.
• After investigating psychic phenomena in 1922, Scientific American made two US $2,500 offers: (1) for the first authentic spirit photograph made under test conditions, and (2) for the first psychic to produce a "visible psychic manifestation." (Christopher 1975:180).
• The Swedish Humanist Association is offering a prize of SEK 100,000 that will be awarded to anyone who can demonstrate beyond doubt that they possess a paranormal or supernatural talent that cannot be explained by conventional science.

Some of these are listed at.^[31]

Randi met his nemesis, Jaime Licauco of the Philippines. Randi debunked claims in Licauco's Philippine Daily Inquirer column entitled "INNER AWARENESS" (October 24, 2006). Randi, inter alia, challenged Licauco to apply for the JREF $ 1 million dollar prize, since the latter claimed that "he has paranormal abilities". With point-by-point reply ("Setting the record straight", Inquiret.net, January 15, 2007), Licauco forthwith anwered Randi's attacks. Licauco claimed that Randi "participated in the cover-up of a botched scientific investigation of Michel Gauquelin’s conclusion that there was a significant statistical correlation between birth dates of athletes and the position of Mars in the heavens". Licauco further said that "Randi’s group denounced Gauquelin’s finding only to eat their words later. To save face, they went so far as to manipulate scientific data to conform to their preconceived notion that astrology was pure hogwash".^[32][33]

Exploring Psychic Powers Live! was a television show aired live on June 7, 1989, wherein Randi examined several people claiming psychic powers. The show offered $100,000 (Randi's then $10,000 prize plus $90,000 put up by the show's syndicator, Lexington Broadcasting^[34] ) to anyone who could demonstrate genuine psychic powers. The show is a good illustration of how claimants and Randi agree to test protocols and how no "judging" is required.

• An astrologer claimed that he was able to guess correctly a person's astrological sign after talking with them for a few minutes. He was presented with twelve people, one at a time, each with a different astrological sign. The people could not tell the astrologer their astrological sign or birth date, nor could they wear anything that would indicate it. After the astrologer talked to the people, he had them sit in front of a sign that the astrologer thought was theirs. By agreement, the astrologer needed to get ten of them correct to win. He got none correct.

• The next psychic claimed to be able to read auras around people. The psychic claimed that auras were visible at least five inches from the people. The psychic chose ten people who had a clearly visible aura. The people were to stand behind screens and the psychic agreed that the aura would be visible above the screens. The screens were numbered 1 through 10, and people were selected whether or not to stand behind their screen at random. The psychic was to tell whether or not a person was standing behind each screen, by seeing the aura above. Since random guessing would be expected to get about five correct, the psychic needed to get eight of the ten right. The psychic stated that she saw an aura over all ten screens, but people were behind only four of the screens.

• A dowser claimed that he could locate water, even in a bottle inside a sealed cardboard box. He was shown twenty boxes and the dowser was to indicate which boxes contained a water bottle. He indicated that eight of the boxes contained water, but only five did.

• A psychometric psychic claimed to be able to receive personal information about the owner of an object from the object. In order to avoid ambiguous statements, the psychic agreed to be presented with a watch and a key from twelve different people. The psychic was to match keys and watches belonging to the same person. According to the prior agreement, the psychic had to match nine out of the twelve sets, but she succeeded in only two of the cases.

• During the program, another psychic was doing a run of 250 Zener cards, guessing which of the five symbols was on each one. Random guessing should result in about fifty correct guesses, so it was agreed in advance that the psychic had to be right on eighty-two cards. Her actual score was fifty correct guesses (Polidoro 2003:19-24).

Since 2003, the JREF has annually hosted The Amaz!ng Meeting (TAM), a gathering of scientists, skeptics, atheists, and other freethinkers, with noted speakers from the community.

Perennial speakers include Christopher Hitchens, Penn & Teller, Phil Plait, Michael Shermer and Julia Sweeney. Richard Dawkins and Joe Nickell appeared at the 2005 TAM 3. TAM 4 in 2006 saw ACLU president Nadine Strossen, planetary scientist with the Voyager program Carolyn Porco, popular TV personalities the MythBusters, author of the Skeptic's Dictionary Robert Todd Carroll, and Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann.

TAM 5, held January 18 – January 21, 2007, included regulars Michael Shermer, Penn & Teller, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Wiseman, MythBuster Adam Savage, and Phil Plait. Also presenting was Eugenie Scott, Peter Sagal, Neil Gershenfeld, Nick Gillespie, John Rennie, Lori Lipman Brown, and Margaret Downey. South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone also appeared.

The 2008 meeting will be held on June 19 to 22 in Las Vegas.

The JREF also is affiliated with The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast, where James Randi has a weekly commentary section.

In 2007 the JREF announced that it would award critical thinking scholarships to college students.^[35]

• An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural (by Randi)
• List of prizes for evidence of the paranormal
• America's Psychic Challenge
• Pigasus Award
• Rationalist Prabir Ghosh increases his challenge amount to $50,000 against any claim of paranormal, after surviving nine assassination attempts.
• Skeptic's Dictionary by Robert Todd Carroll

• Christopher, Milbourne (1975), Mediums, Mystics, & the Occult, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., ISBN 0-690-00476-1

• Polidoro, Massimo (2003), Secrets of the Psychics: Investigating Paranormal Claims, Prometheus Books, ISBN 1-59102-086-7

• Randi, James (1982), Flim-Flam!, Prometheus Books, ISBN 0-87975-198-3

• James Randi Educational Foundation — Official website
• The Amaz!ng Meeting — information on past and upcoming Amaz!ng Meetings and Amaz!ng Adventures.
• An "Amazing" Time — Review of 2003's "Amazing Meeting" by Marc Berard
• James Randi in Australia - Episode from an Australian TV show shot in the 1980s showing Randi conducting a test of water dowsers for his earlier $10,000 challenge
• MySpace — The officially approved MySpace tribute page.

• The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge — Official website
• Current contenders for the prize, discussed in a public chat forum as their applications come in.
• NESS Participates in the Randi Psychic Challenge — Describes the type of testing performed for the One million dollar challenge
• Top Excuses for not taking the Randi Challenge
• Criticism of Randi's Challenge on Alternative Science by Richard Milton and Randi's response.
• A Challenge to James Randi — A criticism of the Randi challenge, and a challenge toward Randi to explain a number of the studies he has dismissed and Randi's rebuttal.

v • d • e Skeptic organizations

Australian Skeptics • Bihar Buddhiwadi Samaj (India) • Center for Inquiry • Committee for Skeptical Inquiry • Dakshina Kannada Rationalist Association (India) • Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham (India) • Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations • Irish Skeptics Society • James Randi Educational Foundation • New England Skeptical Society • Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science • Science and Rationalists' Association of India • Skepchick International • The Skeptics Society • Tarksheel Society (India)