The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) is an American grant-making institution founded in 1996 by
magician and
skeptic James Randi. As a
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
, 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.
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 James Randi Educational Foundation (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 U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...
in the United States. On April 3, 1996,
James Randi formally announced the creation of JREF through his email hotline.
JREF is now headquartered in
Falls Church, Virginia
Falls Church City is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is ...
.
Randi stated that
Johnny Carson
John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, and writer best known as the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson is a cultural phenomenon and w ...
was a major sponsor, giving several six-figure donations.
From 2003 to 2015, JREF annually hosted
The Amazing Meeting (styled as The Amaz!ng Meeting), a gathering of
scientist
A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences.
In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...
s,
skeptics, 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 included
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...
,
Penn & Teller
Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since 1975. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic.
The duo has bee ...
,
Phil Plait,
Michael Shermer
Michael Brant Shermer (born September 8, 1954) is an American science writer, historian of science, executive director of The Skeptics Society, and founding publisher of '' Skeptic'' magazine, a publication focused on investigating pseudoscientif ...
, and
Adam Savage
Adam Whitney Savage (born July 15, 1967) is an American special effects designer and manufacturer, fabricator, actor, educator, television personality, and producer, best known as the former co-host, with Jamie Hyneman, of the Discovery Channe ...
.
In 2008, the astronomer
Philip Plait became the new president of JREF, and Randi became its board chairman. In December 2009, Plait left 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 organization was announced on September 1, 2014.
The San Francisco newspaper ''SF Weekly'' reported in August 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.
As of January 2024, JREF leadership consisted of:
* President:
Banachek
Banachek (born Steven Shaw; 30 November 1960) is an English Mentalism, mentalist, magician (illusionist), magician, and thought reader.
He first came to public attention as a teenager for his role in James Randi's Project Alpha (hoax), Project ...
(Steven Shaw) of
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
* Secretary: Daniel Denman of
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...
* Treasurer / Assistant Secretary: Richard L. Adams Jr. of
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at 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 was later increased to US$1million in bonds and was administered by JREF. Since its inception, more than 1,000 people applied to be tested.
The Challenge was eventually terminated, with JREF noting in 2015, "We can no longer justify the resources to interact with these people." No applicants managed to demonstrate their claimed abilities under the testing conditions, with 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; thus, the prize was not awarded.
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
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...
,
superstition
A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic (supernatural), magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly app ...
, and the
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 ...
had had on their lives. It has not been active since May, 2013.
The JREF also produced a regular video cast and
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
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 (July 2, 1945 – January 11, 2023) was an American family medicine, family physician, U.S. Air Force flight surgeon, author, Science communication, science communicator, and scientific skepticism, skeptic. She wrote about alterna ...
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 or homeopathic physicians, believe that a substance that ...
,
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 is based on several pseudoscientific ideas.
Many c ...
,
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 astrophysics, astrophysicist, author, and science communication, science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia Univ ...
,
Carol Tavris,
Lawrence Krauss, 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 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 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
The JREF has also helped to support local grassroot efforts and outreach endeavors, such as
SkeptiCamp,
Camp Inquiry, 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." Some of the recipients include the following:
* 2017:
Susan Gerbic
* 2018:
Jen Gunter
* 2020:
Sarah McAnulty
* 2022: Kathleen Dyer and
Raymond Hall
* 2023: Janyce Boynton
* 2024:
Office for Science and Society
The Office for Science and Society (OSS) is an organization dedicated to science education, operating from Montreal's McGill University. Its staff and contributors use courses, mass media, special events and books to debunk Pseudoscience, pseud ...
See also
* ''
An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural'' (by Randi)
*
Debunker
*
List of prizes for evidence of the paranormal
*
Pigasus Award
The Pigasus Award is the name of an annual tongue-in-cheek award, which was presented by the late James Randi, a skeptic. The purpose of the award was to expose parapsychological, paranormal, and psychic frauds whom Randi had noted over th ...
* Rationalist
Prabir Ghosh increases his challenge amount to $50,000 against any claim of paranormal, after surviving nine assassination attempts.
* ''
The Skeptic's Dictionary'', by
Robert Todd Carroll
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*
International Skeptics Forum
{{Authority control
Articles containing video clips
Non-profit organizations based in Falls Church, Virginia
Organizations established in 1996
Prizes for proof of paranormal phenomena
Skeptic organizations in the United States
1996 establishments in Delaware
501(c)(3) organizations
Scientific skepticism organizations