GaryJJSpate: Standing correction: OrganisationInfobox -> InfoboxOrganisation

2026-08-05T13:02:17Z

Standing correction: OrganisationInfobox -> InfoboxOrganisation

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:02, 5 August 2026
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	{{~~OrganisationInfobox~~		{{InfoboxOrganisation
	\|name=James Randi Educational Foundation		\|name=James Randi Educational Foundation
	\|type=Non-profit skeptical organisation		\|type=Non-profit skeptical organisation

GaryJJSpate at 21:49, 2 August 2026

2026-08-02T21:49:15Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:49, 2 August 2026
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	[[Category:Organisations]]		[[Category:Organisations]]
	[[Category:Scientific skepticism]]		[[Category:Scientific skepticism]]
	[[Category:United States]]		[[Category:United States of America]]
	[[Category:1996 establishments]]		[[Category:1996 establishments]]
	[[Category:2015 disestablishments]]		[[Category:2015 disestablishments]]

GaryJJSpate: Created page with "{{OrganisationInfobox |name=James Randi Educational Foundation |type=Non-profit skeptical organisation |founded=1996 |founders=James Randi |location=United States |known_for=The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge; The Amazing Meeting (TAM) |status=Converted to a grant-making foundation (2015) }} The '''James Randi Educational Foundation''' (JREF) is an American non-profit organisation founded in 1996 by stage magician and professional skeptic James Randi, dedicated..."

2026-08-01T23:05:01Z

Created page with "{{OrganisationInfobox |name=James Randi Educational Foundation |type=Non-profit skeptical organisation |founded=1996 |founders=James Randi |location=United States |known_for=The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge; The Amazing Meeting (TAM) |status=Converted to a grant-making foundation (2015) }} The '''James Randi Educational Foundation''' (JREF) is an American non-profit organisation founded in 1996 by stage magician and professional skeptic James Randi, dedicated..."

New page

{{OrganisationInfobox
|name=James Randi Educational Foundation
|type=Non-profit skeptical organisation
|founded=1996
|founders=James Randi
|location=United States
|known_for=The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge; The Amazing Meeting (TAM)
|status=Converted to a grant-making foundation (2015)
}}

The '''James Randi Educational Foundation''' (JREF) is an American non-profit organisation founded in 1996 by stage magician and professional skeptic James Randi, dedicated to promoting critical thinking and investigating claims of the paranormal, pseudoscientific and supernatural.<ref name="cfic">{{cite web |title=Farewell To The Amazing Randi |url=https://centreforinquiry.ca/farewell-to-the-amazing-randi/ |website=Centre for Inquiry Canada}}</ref> The foundation is most widely known for administering the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, and converted to a grant-making foundation in September 2015 following Randi's retirement.<ref name="wiki-jref">{{cite web |title=James Randi Educational Foundation |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi_Educational_Foundation |website=Wikipedia}}</ref>

== Background ==
Randi had co-founded the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) in 1976, alongside founding members including Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan.<ref name="cfic" /> Following a $15 million lawsuit brought against Randi and CSICOP by psychic Uri Geller in 1991, CSICOP's leadership grew uncomfortable with the litigation risk posed by Randi's outspoken public criticism of Geller specifically, and Randi resigned from the organisation rather than moderate his public commentary.<ref name="cfic" /> He went on to found JREF in 1996 as an independent non-profit, with television host Johnny Carson among its early major sponsors.<ref name="cfic" /> CSICOP itself later merged with a humanist organisation in 1991 to become the Center for Inquiry (CFI), the organisation with which [[Joe Nickell]] was separately affiliated as senior research fellow — JREF and CFI are related in lineage and shared skeptical mission, but were always distinct, separately-run organisations.<ref name="cfic" />

== The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge ==
The Challenge's roots trace to 1964, when Randi, challenged during a radio panel discussion to "put his money where his mouth is," personally offered $1,000 to anyone who could demonstrate a paranormal ability under proper test conditions.<ref name="psi-challenge">{{cite web |title=The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge |url=https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/one-million-dollar-paranormal-challenge/ |website=Psi Encyclopedia}}</ref> The prize grew over the following decades — to $10,000 under Randi's own funding, and briefly to $100,000 in 1989 when broadcaster Lexington Broadcasting added $90,000 for a television special, ''Exploring Psychic Powers — Live!''<ref name="psi-challenge" /> In 1996, coinciding with JREF's founding, internet entrepreneur Rick Adams donated the funds to raise the prize to its final, best-known figure of $1,000,000.<ref name="psi-challenge" />

Applicants were required to agree in writing to mutually-negotiated testing protocols in advance, with claims first required to clear a preliminary test at odds of roughly 1-in-1,000 before proceeding to a formal final trial.<ref name="grokipedia-challenge">{{cite web |title=One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge |url=https://grokipedia.com/page/One_Million_Dollar_Paranormal_Challenge |website=Grokipedia}}</ref> Over more than 1,000 applications across the Challenge's history, no applicant ever successfully demonstrated a claimed ability under agreed test conditions; each attempt either failed outright or was invalidated for deviating from the agreed protocol.<ref name="wiki-jref" /> The Challenge was not without its own critics: some commentators, including within parapsychology, argued the statistical thresholds and public framing of the Challenge protected the prize from ever being paid out regardless of the underlying merit of any individual claim, rather than functioning as a straightforwardly neutral scientific test.<ref name="psi-challenge" />

Notable public attempts included Danish dowser Connie Sonne's 2009 on-stage test at TAM 7, attempting to identify playing cards inside sealed envelopes using a pendulum under audience-assisted randomisation.<ref name="grokipedia-challenge" />

== The Amazing Meeting ==
From 2003 to 2015, JREF hosted The Amazing Meeting (TAM), an annual conference held in Las Vegas that became one of the skeptical movement's most prominent regular gatherings, featuring speakers including Richard Dawkins, Michael Shermer and Adam Savage.<ref name="cfic" /> The foundation also produced ''For Good Reason'', an interview podcast hosted by D. J. Grothe promoting critical thinking and scientific scepticism.<ref name="wiki-jref" />

== Retirement and conversion ==
In January 2015, James Randi announced his retirement and stepped down from his position with JREF.<ref name="wiki-jref" /> That September, the foundation's board announced it would convert JREF into a grant-making body, no longer accepting direct applications from individuals claiming paranormal ability, stating it could "no longer justify the resources to interact with these people."<ref name="wiki-jref" /> The Challenge was formally terminated the same year, unclaimed after more than five decades.<ref name="wiki-jref" />

{{VaultOrganisationBrief
|scope=United States-based, with international applicants to its Challenge and international attendance at its TAM conferences
|methodology=Public claims-testing under mutually agreed, pre-negotiated scientific protocols; public education and outreach; conference-based community building via TAM
|key_members=James Randi (founder); D. J. Grothe (podcast host)
|notable_case=The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, 1996–2015 (unclaimed)
|current_status=Converted to a grant-making foundation in 2015; no longer administers direct paranormal-ability testing
|legacy=JREF was, for two decades, one of the most publicly visible institutional efforts to test paranormal claims under agreed scientific conditions rather than simply arguing against them rhetorically. Its Challenge produced no successful claimants across more than a thousand applications, a result its supporters treat as strong evidence against the claims tested and its critics argue reflects the Challenge's own restrictive design as much as the underlying claims themselves. Either way, it remains one of the most widely cited reference points in public discussion of how — and whether — paranormal claims can be fairly tested.
}}

== See also ==
* ''[[Flim-Flam! (book)|Flim-Flam!]]''
* [[Joe Nickell]]
* [[:Category:Scientific skepticism|Scientific skepticism]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi_Educational_Foundation Wikipedia — James Randi Educational Foundation]
* [https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/one-million-dollar-paranormal-challenge/ Psi Encyclopedia — The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge]

[[Category:Organisations]]
[[Category:Scientific skepticism]]
[[Category:United States]]
[[Category:1996 establishments]]
[[Category:2015 disestablishments]]

James Randi Educational Foundation - Revision history

GaryJJSpate: Standing correction: OrganisationInfobox -> InfoboxOrganisation

GaryJJSpate at 21:49, 2 August 2026