Non-profit

Discovery Institute

Website:

www.discovery.org%20

Tax ID:

91-1521697

Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2019):

Revenue: $7,637,803
Expenses: $6,865,358
Assets: $7,719,373

Location:

Seattle, WA

Formation:

1996

Type:

Non-Profit

President:

Steven Buri

President's Salary:

$184,200 1

References

  1. Discovery Institute, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019, Part VII, Section A, Line 1a.

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Discovery Institute is a nonpartisan public policy think tank that advocates for free-market policies supporting traditional Western principles. The Institute conducts research, educates, and analyzes the role of science and technology in public policy. 1

Discovery Institute’s project areas include intelligent design, the ethics of economics, technology regulations, and education reform. 2

Activities

Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture intends to advance the idea of intelligent design through its research, educational programs, and public outreach. The Center also advocates for academic freedom, especially regarding free speech for scientists, teachers, and students. 3

Discovery Institute does not advocate for the teaching of intelligent design to be mandated by school boards. Instead, the Institute recommends broadening the scope of evolution education in K-12 curriculum to include the unresolved issues of evolutionary theory and a more critical scrutiny of evolutionary principles. Discovery Institute claims that teaching students both the strengths and weaknesses of evolution theory would be a reasonable substitute for teaching an alternative like intelligent design. 4

Discovery Institute’s Technology and Democracy Project provides analysis and recommendations on public policy issues related to technology, in support of free-market policies that would encourage investment, growth, and innovation in the information economy. 5 The Project advocates for regulatory reform for communication service providers, in order to support a more competitive market. The Project claims this would expand customer choice, stimulate both economic growth and technological progress, and lower prices. 6

Discovery Institute’s Center on Wealth and Poverty supports the principles of freedom, equality, charity, and the pursuit of happiness by applying the so-called perennial truths of economics and ethics. The Center claims that there is a practical and moral necessity for free markets and provides evidence of this through its publication Wealth & Poverty Review (WP), public lectures, a summer seminar program, and targeted outreach to policymakers. 7

Discovery Institute’s American Center for Transforming Education (ACTE) advocates for public education reform, especially as it relates to parental choice. ACTE proposes a two-phased reform strategy that would identify reform-minded states, promote school choice policy that includes charter schools, vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, and education savings accounts, and pass legislation that allows administrators more flexibility to enact changes within their schools. The second phase includes creating legislation that would appoint school boards, restructure school funding to follow the student and not the district, eliminate the teacher salary schedule, redefine graduation requirements, and modify existing teacher certification laws. 8

Funding

Discovery Institute is funded by donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations. While the Institute does not disclose its donors, tax filings confirm donations from Donors Trust ($2 million in 2019), 9 the National Christian Charitable Foundation ($651,200 in 2019), 10  and the Servant Foundation ($250,000 in 2019). 11

People

Senior Staff

Steven Buri is the president of Discovery Institute, where he formerly worked as executive director and vice president. Buri is a co-founder of Stewardship Partners and the founder of the Roanoke Conference. Buri is a former mayor of Newcastle, Washington, and formerly worked as a senior staff member for former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA). 12

John West is the vice president, a senior fellow, and the managing director of the Center for Science and Culture at the Institute. West is the former chair of the Department of Political Science and Geography at Seattle Pacific University. 13

Jonathan Witt is a senior fellow and senior project manager with the Center for Science and Culture at the Institute and the executive editor of Discovery Institute Press. Witt is a former research fellow for the Acton Institute. 14

Board of Directors

Bruce Chapman, a Republican politician who formerly served as Secretary of State of Washington, is a co-founder and chair of the board of Discovery Institute and the director of the Chapman Center on Citizen Leadership. 15

Bill Dembski is a former senior fellow at the Institute, a former academic editor at the Foundation for Thought and Ethics, and former intelligent design researcher at Baylor University. 16

Bryan Mistele is a former member of the National Transportation Policy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, the ITS Advisory Committee of the Department of Transportation, and board of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America. 17

Edmund Moy served as the 38th director of the U.S. Mint. 18

Walter Myers III sits on the advisory board at the California Policy Center. 19

Mariana Parks is president emeritus of the Slade Gorton Policy Center and former vice president of programs at the Washington Policy Center. 20

Ray Waldmann is the former vice president for international affairs at the Boeing Company, former assistant secretary for international economics at the Department of Commerce, and former deputy assistant secretary for transportation and telecommunications at the Department of State. 21

References

  1.  “What We Do.” Discovery Institute. Accessed January 11, 2022. https://www.discovery.org/about/.
  2. “Programs.” Discovery Institute. Accessed January 17, 2022. https://www.discovery.org/about/programs/
  3. “About.” Discovery Institute. Accessed January 17, 2022. https://www.discovery.org/id/about/.
  4. “Discovery Institute’s Science Education Policy.” Discovery Institute, July 3, 2017. Accessed January 17, 2022. https://www.discovery.org/a/3164/.
  5. “About.” Discovery Institute. Accessed January 17, 2022. https://www.discovery.org/tech/about/.
  6. Haney, Hance. “Broadband Consumers Deserve Certainty, Not Partisan Politics.” Discovery Institute, May 15, 2018. Accessed January 17, 2022. https://www.discovery.org/tech/2018/05/15/broadband-consumers-deserve-certainty-not-partisan-politics/.
  7. “About.” Discovery Institute Center on Wealth and Poverty. Accessed January 17, 2022.   https://wealthandpoverty.center/about/.
  8. “Public Education Reform.” Discovery Institute. Accessed January 17, 2022. https://www.discovery.org/education/public-education/.
  9. Donors Trust, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019, Schedule I, Part II.
  10. National Christian Charitable Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019, Schedule I, Part II.
  11. Servant Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019, Schedule I, Part II.
  12. “Steven J. Buri.” Discovery Institute. Accessed January 11, 2022. https://www.discovery.org/p/buri/.
  13. “John G. West.” Discovery Institute. Accessed January 11, 2022. https://www.discovery.org/p/west/.
  14. “Jonathan Witt.” Discovery Institute. Accessed January 11, 2022. https://www.discovery.org/p/witt/.
  15. “Board of Directors.” Discovery Institute. Accessed January 11, 2022. https://www.discovery.org/about/board-of-directors//.
  16. “Life Work of Bill Dembski.” Bill Dembski, 2022. Accessed January 16, 2022. https://billdembski.com/life-work-of-bill-dembski/.
  17.  “Board of Directors.” Discovery Institute. Accessed January 11, 2022. https://www.discovery.org/about/board-of-directors/.
  18. “Board of Directors.” Discovery Institute. Accessed January 11, 2022. https://www.discovery.org/about/board-of-directors/.
  19.  “Board of Directors.” Discovery Institute. Accessed January 11, 2022. https://www.discovery.org/about/board-of-directors/.
  20. Mariana Parks.” LinkedIn, 2022. Accessed January 16, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianaparks/
  21. Raymond Waldmann.” LinkedIn, 2022. Accessed January 16, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/raymond-waldmann-a75058109/.
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: June 1, 1996

  • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2019 Dec Form 990 $7,637,803 $6,865,358 $7,719,373 $51,989 N $6,995,039 $480,691 $47,013 $655,786 PDF
    2018 Dec Form 990 $8,193,998 $6,303,202 $6,938,771 $43,832 N $7,925,976 $179,170 $104 $645,515 PDF
    2017 Dec Form 990 $5,583,550 $5,886,423 $5,052,972 $48,829 N $5,343,212 $147,388 $25 $654,593 PDF
    2016 Dec Form 990 $5,677,952 $5,325,118 $5,351,550 $44,534 N $5,461,966 $121,200 $25 $597,834 PDF
    2015 Dec Form 990 $5,928,826 $4,235,611 $5,022,393 $82,349 N $5,773,002 $94,727 $25 $574,312 PDF
    2014 Dec Form 990 $4,828,431 $4,577,829 $3,629,183 $46,492 N $4,698,817 $77,914 $25 $805,506 PDF
    2013 Dec Form 990 $4,074,669 $4,981,381 $3,428,628 $65,677 N $3,876,700 $59,086 $31 $816,264 PDF
    2012 Dec Form 990 $5,100,271 $4,818,768 $4,352,232 $41,707 N $4,964,321 $67,368 $371 $808,400 PDF
    2011 Dec Form 990 $5,656,478 $4,842,034 $4,169,409 $43,326 N $5,433,226 $55,456 $477 $722,755 PDF
    2010 Dec Form 990 $4,323,149 $4,425,565 $3,382,849 $71,210 N $4,221,682 $100,453 $1,984 $522,836 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)