Form 990 for tax year 2023

Totals

Total revenue

$535,455

Total expenses

$451,472

Contributions and grants received

$534,891

Grants paid

$0

Program service revenue

$500

Investment income

$64

Other revenue

$0

Total assets, end of year

$214,341

Total liabilities, end of year

$3,137

Net assets or fund balances, end of year

$211,204

Program services expenses (Part IX)

$269,138

Management and general expenses

$112,492

Fundraising expenses

$69,842

Program service expenses (Part III)

$269,138

Program services were 59.6% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

Line items

Every line the filer filed in Parts VIII, IX and X, as filed and in filed order. Blank columns are left out, and the lines are not forced to add up to the totals above.

Mission and programs · 2023

• THE OUT OF EDEN WALK IS A GLOBAL STORYTELLING INITIATIVE FOR CROSS-CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT AMONG ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS, MEDIA PROFESSIONALS, AND GRASSROOTS COMMUNITIES THAT OFFERS A POWERFUL ALTERNATIVE TO TODAY'S EXPLODING YET SHALLOW COVERAGE OF CURRENT EVENTS, AND PROMOTES PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE CONNECTIVITY VIA THE ETHOS OF "SLOW STORYTELLING."BEGINNING AT THE HERTO BOURI FOSSIL SITE IN AFRICA IN JANUARY 2013, THE PHYSICAL WALK BY PAUL SALOPEK WILL COVER ABOUT 24,000 MILES ON FOOT, FOLLOWING THE HUMAN FOSSIL RECORD AND GEOPOLITICAL LANDSCAPES, UNTIL REACHING THE "FINISH LINE" IN SOUTHERN AMERICA PATAGONIA, TIERRA DEL FUEGO, ANTICIPATED DATE 2027. THE OUT OF EDEN WALK TEAM AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS ARE COMMITTED TO SAFEGUARDING AND ELEVATING THE PROJECT'S EDITORIAL AND EDUCATIONAL IMPACT PROGRAMS FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC DURING THE ACTIVE PHASE OF THE WALK AND AFTER THE CULMINATION OF THE JOURNEY. IN AN AGE OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD, WHEN AN ACCELERATING NEWS CYCLE OFTEN STOKES CONFUSION, POLARIZATION AND DIVISION, THE OUT OF EDEN WALK HARNESSES THE POWER OF HUMANE, IN-DEPTH, SCIENCE-BASED, AND CROSS-CULTURAL REPORTING TO ILLUMINATE, THROUGH ALL TYPES OF MEDIA, THE COMPLEX CHALLENGES THAT UNITE HUMANITY AT THE TURN OF A TROUBLED NEW MILLENNIUM: FROM RISING WAVES OF XENOPHOBIA TO RESOURCE DEPLETION, FROM CULTURAL ENDURANCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE, FROM WAR TO HUMAN MASS MIGRATION, FROM TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION, AND MUCH MORE.THE OUT OF EDEN WALK PROJECT IS NOT ONE PERSON'S JOURNEY: IT'S A COLLECTIVE PILGRIMAGE, CONDUCTED AT BOOT LEVEL, THAT GATHERS AND BRAIDS A MULTITUDE OF VOICES TOGETHER TO DESCRIBE THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE ACROSS THE GLOBE AT THE START OF THE 21ST CENTURY.OUT OF EDEN WALK HAS PRODUCED 500+ IN-DEPTH ARTICLES ON TOPICS RANGING FROM CLIMATE CHANGE TO MASS MIGRATION, ARCHEOLOGY TO GRASSROOTS TECHNOLOGY, CULTURAL SURVIVAL TO ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES. ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY DIGITAL, OUT OF EDEN WALK HAS PUBLISHED MORE THAN 460,000 WORDS, 2,500 PHOTOS AND 750 VIDEOS, WITH TEXTS TRANSLATED INTO 34 LANGUAGES, WITH AN ARCHIVE OF 100,000 UNPUBLISHED IMAGES. ADDITIONAL EDITORIAL OUTPUTS INCLUDE: -12 MAJOR FEATURE ARTICLES FOR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, INCLUDING THREE COVER STORIES, IN AN ONGOING SERIES. -100+ MAJOR INTERNATIONAL MEDIA OUTLETS COVERING THE WALK, INCLUDING THE NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, THE NEW YORKER, PBS NEWSHOUR, NPR, CNN, BBC, CBC, VICE AND GQ. -228,000+ FOLLOWERS WHO ACCESS THE WALK'S STORYTELLING VIA SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS. OUT OF EDEN WALK'S "SLOW STORYTELLING" METHODOLOGY AND PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE EDUCATION PROGRAMMING IMPACTS A VAST AUDIENCE: HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS ARE EXPERIENCING OUT OF EDEN WALK LEARNING RESOURCES THROUGH OUR NETWORK OF BLUE-CHIP PARTNER INSTITUTIONS. STUDENTS AND MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC, OF ALL AGES, FROM ANYWHERE ON EARTH, ACCESS AND JOIN THIS HISTORIC JOURNEY ONLINE.OUT OF EDEN WALK'S HOMESTORIES PROGRAM OFFERS A CRITICAL SKILL-BUILDING RESOURCE FOR STUDENTS AND COMMUNITY-BUILDING THROUGH MAP-BASED STORYTELLING. HOMESTORIES IS NOW GLOBAL, REPRESENTING EVERY CONTINENT ON THE FREE, PUBLIC-FACING, AND CROWD-SOURCED STORYTELLING PLATFORM: WWW.HOMESTORYPROJECT.ORG. IN 2023, STUDENTS WON A STATE-WIDE AWARD FOR THE USE OF TECH IN EDUCATION IN CHICAGO, IL, FOR THEIR WORK WITH OUT OF EDEN WALK HOMESTORIES AND VISITED THE STATE CAPITOL BUILDING TO ACCEPT THE AWARD. IN 2023, PAUL SALOPEK HAS WALKED 3,500 MILES OF AN ANTICIPATED 4,500-MILE WALK ACROSS CHINA. (THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE WALK IS A 24,000 MILE JOURNEY, AND SINCE BEGINNING IN 2013, PAUL HAS WALKED 15,800 MILES.) THIS UNPRECEDENTED, COLLABORATIVE WALK ACROSS CHINA BEGAN IN FALL 2021. PARTNERSHIPS WITH NGM-CHINA AND DISNEY-CHINA, AND ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS INCLUDING NYU SHANGHAI, ENGAGED A GLOBAL AUDIENCE THROUGH WORKSHOPS AND LECTURES, BOTH IN CHINA AND IN THE UNITED STATES, FROM TEACHING WORKSHOPS AT CHINA'S FORESTRY DEPARTMENT TO CO-CURATING AN OUT OF EDEN WALK MUSEUM EXHIBITION AT THE INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS AT NYU-SHANGHAI. THE "WALKED CHINA" SHOW OPENED IN MAY 2023 WITH A RECORD NUMBER OF 1,200 VISITORS, AND IMPACTED OVER 10,000 VISITORS AND PARTICIPANTS IN WORKSHOPS DURING ITS THREE-MONTH DURATION. ALSO IN 2023, OUT OF EDEN WALK REACHED OVER 800 MILLION VIEWERS ON CHINA'S DOMESTIC TELEVISION CHANNELS AND STREAMING PLATFORMS. SHANGHAI MEDIA GROUP'S FIRST-TIME DOCUSERIES COVERING THE OUT OF EDEN WALK IN CHINA WILL BE SCHEDULED TO DEBUT IN NEW TERRITORIES IN 2024. OUT OF EDEN WALK IS GROWING A NEW GENERATION OF MULTICULTURAL STORYTELLERS WHO, BY SLOWING DOWN THEIR METHODOLOGY, AND TAKING THE TIME TO BURROW BENEATH THE DAY'S SUPERFICIAL HEADLINES, RECORD AND SHARE MORE NUANCED STORIES THAT REVEAL DEEPER TRUTHS ABOUT THE HIDDEN CONNECTIONS AMONG OUR LIVES, THUS ERODING BIGOTRY FUELED BY MISINFORMATION, AND CATALYZING RESPONSIBLE CHANGE AND ACCOUNTABLE BEHAVIORS IN A RAPIDLY GLOBALIZING WORLD.

  Expenses $269,138 · Revenue $500

As filed on the 2023 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Listed in Part VII

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those.

Schedule J

Part I's answers as filed. A line not listed was left unanswered; on lines 1a and 3 that means the box was not checked.

Grants on this return

No itemized grants to organizations on this return.

Provenance

Return type

form_990

Tax year

2023

Filed

27 September 2024

IRS schema version

2023v5.1

Source object

202402849349300320

Check it against the return as filed: the GivingTuesday Data Lake hosts a public copy of the original XML.

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