The Roots of Progress

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
863502300
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Beaverton, OR, USA
Phone
6507816281
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,908,185
Expenses
$957,960
Assets
$1,249,923
Liabilities
$21,096

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JASON CRAWFORD (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JASON CRAWFORD (PRESIDENT): $200,000 total reported compensation
  • HEIKE LARSON (VP OF PROGRAMS): $168,418 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The roots of progress is a non profit organization in the state of Oregon. Our mission is to provide research and education on the history and nature of human progress. 'progress' is that which allows people to live better lives: anything that increases health, happiness, wealth, freedom, knowledge, peace, and the choices and opportunities open to each individual. Our mission is to define and communicate a new philosophy of progress for the twenty-first century. We study the nature, value, and causes of progress, and prescribe ways that humanity can accelerate and steer it. We will allocate 100% of our time towards our activities; which are the following: research: essays on the history of technology and industry, and on the nature of scientific, technological, industrial, economic, and social progress. Most of the results of this research will be made freely available to the public on our website. Writing: sponsoring writers to create books and magazine/journal articles on the same to

What it reported doing in 2024

Writingfounder and president jason crawford published 17 essays in 2024, totaling over 37,000 words. About half of the essays were chapters and excerpts from his book-in-progress, the techno-humanist manifesto. These were also some of the longest and most in-depth pieces.the most popular pieces, based on likes and comments, were: "announcing the techno-humanist manifesto" "what is progress?" "why you, personally, should want a larger human population" "biological risk from the mirror world"overall, his readership and online reach grew significantly. Email subscribers on substack increased 82% to nearly 33,000, while followers on the social network x (formerly twitter) rose 17% to 36,700. Crawford also expanded his presence on other platforms, including farcaster (3,400 followers), bluesky (1,700), and threads (over 1,000). Across all channels, his work received about 360,000 unique views on substack and 192,000 page views on the legacy roots of progress blog.talks and interviewscrawford gave multiple talks and interviews throughout the year, including at: progress conference 2024 abundance 2024 foresight institute's vision weekend

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 48
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 66
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 36%; rating input score 36
  • Program expense ratio: 70.7%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 49.8%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.3; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 38.5%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 60% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 77.8% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 46% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 36% of revenue deployed · 70.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $677K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $200K · 4 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 36/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 41/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 51/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.