LONG NOW FOUNDATION

Financials

From the e-filed returns the IRS publishes as XML (latest three processing years; amended returns replace the original). PDF copies at the IRS.

Officers, directors and key employees

As listed on the 990 for the year ended December 31, 2024, highest compensation first.

Address and contacts

Address (IRS master file)

2 MARINA BOULEVARD FORT MASON CENTE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123-0000

In care of

% ALEXANDER ROSE

Principal officer (990 for 2024)

REBECCA LENDL, PO BOX 475668, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94147

Signed the 990

REBECCA LENDL, Executive Director

Phone

(415) 561-6582

Website

WWW.LONGNOW.ORG

Return prepared by

Metz & Associates PLLC

California records

California keeps its own records of charities and corporations. Search them by EIN 68-0384748 or by the name LONG NOW FOUNDATION.

Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers

Registration status and filed reports (CT-TR-1, RRF-1)

Secretary of State, bizfile Online

Corporation status, entity number, agent for service

Franchise Tax Board

Entity status letter (state tax exemption, good standing)

Mission

The Long Now Foundation is a globally-recognized champion of long-term thinking and responsibility, operating within the context of the next and last 10,000 years a timespan we call the long now.

Program accomplishments

• THE INTERVAL - AN AWARD WINNING BAR, CAFE AND EVENT SPACE IN SAN FRANCISCO WITH 30,000 VISITORS ANNUALY. IT FEATURES CRAFT COCKTAILS, ARTISAN COFFEE AND TEA, A BOTTLE KEEP, A CHALK BOARD-DRAWING ROBOT, AN ART INSTALLATION BY BRIAN ENO, A LIBRARY THAT STRETCHES FROM FLOOR TO CEILING, AND EXHIBITS ON LONG TERM THINKING THAT INSPIRE CURIOSITY AND WONDER.
  Expenses $1,231,472 · revenue $833,770
• Programs - Long Now Talks, a lecture series featuring leading thinkers who share ideas with live audiences in San Francisco and millions worldwide; Centuries of the Bristlecone, an artwork by philosopher and conceptual artist Jonathon Keats commissioned by the Nevada Museum of Art in partnership with Long Now; Pace Layers, our annual journal of long-term thinking that gathers ideas, art, and insights; and other bold public projects that ignite imagination.
  Expenses $601,071 · revenue $4,381
• Communications - Marketing, promotion and distribution of content and learnings from Long Nows programs, projects, and public resources, including our video and podcast episodes, and print and digital publishing, and long term digital archive.
  Expenses $465,899
• Untitled - A Project Dedicated To Laying Foundations For A Deeper Ecosystem Of Thought Around Technology, Philosophy, And The Future.
  Expenses $412,488 · revenue $860,410
• THE CLOCK OF THE LONG NOW - AN IMMENSE MECHANICAL MONUMENT, INSTALLED IN MOUNTAIN, DESIGNED TO KEEP ACCURATE TIME FOR THE NEXT TEN MILLENIA. CLOCK PROTOTYPES CAPTIVATE MILLIONS OF VISITORS ONLINE AND AT MUSEUMS INCLUDING SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM IN LONDON
  Expenses $140,443 · revenue $145,521
• LONG NOW TALKS - THE LONG NOW TALKS, LAUNCHED BY STEWART BRAND IN 02003, HAS INVITED MORE THAN 280 LEADING THINKERS TO SHARE THEIR WORK WITH A LIVE AUDIENCE AND MILLIONS AROUND THE GLOBE TUNING IN TO OUR FREE POSCAST AND YOUTUBE CHANNEL. LONG NOW TALKS HAVE BEEN SUPPORTED BY OVER 12,000 MEMBERS ACROSS 65 COUNTRIES
  Expenses $72,215 · revenue $238,437
• Sponsored Projects - umbrella category for Long Now fiscally sponsored projects.
  Expenses $56,500 · revenue $56,500
• Deep Time - a fiscally sponsored project dedicated to landing a 700-gram (1.54 lb.) aluminum time capsule containing 24 sapphire discs on the surface of the Moon.
  Expenses $22,500 · revenue $22,500
• SPECIAL EVENTS - Fundraising and network building onsite events
  Expenses $9,898
• NEVADA - OUR NEVADA BRISTLECONE PRESERVE IS A TWO MILE LONG MOUNTAIN HABITAT OF THE WORLD'S OLDEST LIVING TREES.
  Expenses $8,853 · revenue $1,085,042
• IDEAS - Online publication on long term thinking
  Expenses $4,710
• LONG BETS - LONG BETS IS AN ONLINE ARENA FOR ACCOUNTABLE LONG-TERM PREDICTIONS WITH ALL THE STAKES GOING TO THE VICTOR'S CHOSEN NON PROFIT.
  Expenses $3,052 · revenue $650
• MANUAL CIVILIZATION - A small library of books which maybe needed to restart civilization from scratch
  Expenses $2,578
• ROSETTA PROJECT - A COLLABORATION WITH LINGUISTS TO COMPILE AN ARCHIVE OF OVER 1,500 HUMAN LANGUAGES AND MICRO-ETCH IT ONTO A SERIES OF ARTIFACTS WHICH ARE DISTRIBUTED FOR LONG-TERM PRESENTATIONS. WE MEAN SERIOUSLY DISTRIBUTED - ONE LIVES ON SURFACE OF THE MOON AND ANOTHER ON A DISTANT COMET. YOU CAN ALSO WEAR ONE AROUND YOUR NECK
  Expenses $321 · revenue $1,039
• PanLex - PanLex is a nonprofit program whose mission is to overcome language barriers to human rights, information, and opportunities. Their purpose is to make it so that nobody should have their rights restricted because of the language they speak.
• Membership - The Long Now Foundation's membership program has connected more than 11,000 long-term thinkers across more than 65 countries. Our global membership receives regular updates on key ideas around long-term thinking through our frequent talks, original writing and monthly newsletter, as well as special invitations to online video lectures and in-person gatherings. Each member also receives an etched stainless steel membership card featuring their unique member number. The Long Now membership program provides substantial financial support to the organization, its activities, and its programs.
• Organizational Continuity Project - The Organizational Continuity Project hopes to discover the lessons behind the longest lived organizations, and build a discipline of shareable knowledge that will help contemporary institutions, companies, and governments develop into robust, long-lasting structures. In turn, we hope these institutions will be better equipped to address civilizational-scale problems with multi-generational thinking.
• Future Fund - The purpose of these funds is to support efforts to convert Long Now from a successful start-up project into a sustainable institution that can survive for the long term.
  revenue $685,685
• Naming Names - a fiscally sponsored project by artists Eve Sussman and Simon Lee dedicated to investigating the act of naming through a theatrical and sonic performance connecting the Bay Area and Athens, Greece.
• Fellowship - academics, authors, researchers, artists, and others dedicated to long-term thinking.

What it must file and when

IRS records say it files Form 990 or 990-EZ. Based on its last return; a smaller organization may file the 990-N. Its accounting year ends in December, so each return is due on the 15th day of the 5th month after that.

IRS record

EIN

68-0384748

Tax-exempt status

501(c)(3): Charitable, religious, educational or scientific organization

Foundation status

Publicly supported organization (170(b)(1)(A)(vi))

Donations deductible (Pub 78)

Public charity, 50% deduction limit

Exempt since

1998

Accounting year ends

December

Files

Form 990 or 990-EZ

Category (NTEE)

Education (B70)

Assets (IRS master file)

$20,463,072

Income (IRS master file)

$5,683,378

Filing history

990-N: the IRS bulk file holds only the latest e-Postcard per organization; earlier years come from archived copies of that file since 2020 and can have gaps (the IRS e-Postcard search lists every one). 990, 990-EZ, 990-PF, 990-T: every e-filed return in the IRS e-file index since 2019; XML for the latest three processing years, amounts from the IRS Statistics of Income extracts before that. PDF copies and determination letters at the IRS (search EIN 68-0384748).

Questions about LONG NOW FOUNDATION

What is the EIN of LONG NOW FOUNDATION?

The employer identification number (EIN) of LONG NOW FOUNDATION is 68-0384748.

Is LONG NOW FOUNDATION tax-exempt?

Yes. The IRS lists it as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) since 1998.

Are donations to LONG NOW FOUNDATION tax-deductible?

Yes. It is listed in IRS Publication 78 (Public charity, 50% deduction limit).

Which annual return does LONG NOW FOUNDATION file?

Form 990 or 990-EZ. Based on its last return; a smaller organization may file the 990-N.

When is the next return of LONG NOW FOUNDATION due?

The return for tax year 2025 (the year ending December 31, 2025) is due May 15, 2026. Form 8868 extends it by six months; the 990-N cannot be extended.

When did LONG NOW FOUNDATION last file with the IRS?

The latest return in the IRS public files is the 990 for the year ended December 2024.

Who is the principal officer of LONG NOW FOUNDATION?

The 990 for the year ended December 31, 2024 names REBECCA LENDL.

Who are the officers and directors of LONG NOW FOUNDATION?

The 990 for the year ended December 31, 2024 lists 24 people; 6 received compensation from the organization, the highest $275,146 (REBECCA LENDL, Executive Dir.).

How much revenue does LONG NOW FOUNDATION have?

On its 990 for the year ended December 31, 2024 it reported revenue of $4,223,399, expenses of $4,177,609 and total assets of $20,463,072 at year end.

Other nonprofits in SAN FRANCISCO

• UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION
  EIN 94-2829914 · last filed 990 for 2025
• UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO
  EIN 94-1156628 · last filed 990 for 2025
• SHINE BC-LA
  EIN 84-3947799 · last filed 990 for 2025
• WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION ORG
  EIN 20-0049703 · last filed 990 for 2025
• KIPP FOUNDATION
  EIN 94-3362724 · last filed 990 for 2025
• CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS
  EIN 94-1156485 · last filed 990 for 2025
• FIVE KEYS SCHOOLS AND PROGRAMS
  EIN 81-0622701 · last filed 990 for 2025
• BRILLIANT CORNERS
  EIN 56-2379862 · last filed 990 for 2025

All nonprofits in SAN FRANCISCO · California · Education