The basic balance sheet information for FY 2009-2010 is presented below. For a complete discussion of MAPS 2009-2010 fiscal year see Rick Doblin's financial report in MAPS Bulletin Volume 20 number 3. You can also read MAPS' complete IRS Form 990 for 2010 in PDF format.
Introduction
In the midst of an economic recession of historic proportions, MAPS FY 09-10 was remarkably successful. Income substantially increased by about 30% as compared to FY 08 – 09, approaching our record year of FY 07-08. When subtracting income from FY 07-08 for groups for which MAPS was the fiscal sponsor, income in FY 09-10 was our best year ever. Income was more than $1.57 million, expenses were more than $1.42 million, and our assets (mostly for upcoming study expenses) totaled $1 million. Total income exceeded the high end of our projected income ($1.45 million), permitting us to exceed our projected expenses ($1.27 million).
There are four primary reasons for this success: 1) the promising results from our U.S. and Swiss MDMA/PTSD pilot studies (and resulting publication of our U.S. study), which justify expanding our research agenda; 2) our outstanding and historic Psychedelic Science in the 21st Century conference; 3) our growing presence in the media which leverages scientific research into public education; and 4) the increasingly skilled and experienced MAPS staff who work efficiently and strategically to conduct research and educate the public honestly about the results of our studies.
MAPS' total income for FY 2009-2010 was $ 1,587,209. As in previous years, we’ve divided MAPS’ income into two categories, donations of $1000 or more, and donations of less than $1000. Income from donors of $1000 or more totaled $895,907. There were 10 donors over $10,000 who collectively donated $791,163, including $200,000 from Ashawna Hailey, $200,000 from John Gilmore, $100,000 from Joby Pritzker, $100,000 from David Bronner, $65,000 from Robert Barnhart, $50,000 from Peter Lewis, $25,000 from the Riverstyx Foundation, $25,000 from the Libra Foundation, $15,000 from Rene and Susan Ruiz, and $11,163 from Kevin Herbert. Support from these 10 donors was essential to MAPS’ ability to work towards our mission.
Income from donors of less than $1000 totaled $150,000, from about 2,200 donors. These smaller donations are more important than they may seem when compared with the donations of $1000 or more. These smaller donations are from a larger number of people who form the primary part of the MAPS community. Our smaller donations create the base of support from which MAPS covers a substantial portion of our operating costs. Many of our larger donors started out as smaller donors and, over time, obtained a better understanding of MAPS' work sufficient to motivate them to become larger donors. It’s often through the word of mouth of smaller donors that larger donors hear about MAPS, our most effective form of advertising. Our smaller donors also help educate MAPS staff about all sorts of matters related to our mission that we would otherwise have missed. I’ve long felt that if everybody who supports MAPS just gives what they can, regardless of the amount, we’ll end up having all the funds we need, and we’ll also benefit from volunteer help through donated time and services.
In addition to direct donations, MAPS brought in event income of $302,256, from our Psychedelic Science conference and other related events. Net income from the conference exceeded our expectations and amounted to $70,206, enabling us to spend about half of that on the post-conference seminar for researchers and on videotaping the conference and placing the videos on our website for free viewing. (The rest is being spent on other educational projects such as this Bulletin.) Income from books, Bulletins, art, and auction sales was $94,972 (including sales from the conference).
A chart presenting comparative results for the financial years 2002 – 2010 is available in PDF format.
Concluding Comments
The promising outcomes and resulting publication from MAPS’ U.S. MDMA/PTSD study, our long-term follow-up to our U.S. MDMA/PTSD study, and our Swiss MDMA/PTSD study provide powerful and compelling justification for expanding our international series of MDMA/PTSD studies. Our Swiss LSD/end-of-life study is still in process, as is our ibogaine outcome study, and both of these studies are likely to generate data that will suggest further research is in order. Unfortunately, our efforts to conduct research with medical marijuana are still fundamentally obstructed by the federal monopoly on the supply of marijuana available for FDA-regulated research projects.
When evaluated comprehensively and realistically, MAPS needs to continue to grow in order to fulfill our mission of developing psychedelics and marijuana into FDA-approved prescription medicines. Our growth will require finding new donors and retaining current ones. The pace of my travel has accelerated in conjunction with the expansion of our opportunities, and I’ll travel almost anywhere to meet potential large donors. Should anyone reading this financial report be able and willing to introduce me to potential large donors, please contact me at rdoblin@maps.org and we will make arrangements. MAPS has also benefited greatly from bequests, such as from Larry Thomas, whose bequest of about $400,000 will be received by MAPS in FY 10-11. For an insight into what motivated Larry to leave such a large bequest to MAPS, you can read an interview with him on page 32 of this Bulletin. Should anyone want to make a bequest to MAPS, please let us know so we can discuss whether you would prefer for your bequest to be restricted to any specific area or to be unrestricted. Of course, we’ll also encourage you to make smaller donations to MAPS while you can still see and be proud of the outcomes of your donations and we can thank you directly. For more information about making a bequest, please visit our website at: www.maps.org/bequests.
A major positive shift in the way Western culture sees psychedelic and medical marijuana research is in process. Part of this shift is due to the magnitude of the need for new treatments for PTSD and for new ways to help people navigate the profound challenge of facing death. Part of this shift is also due to the rather astonishing amount of favorable media coverage focusing on ongoing scientific studies with psychedelics and the increase in research showing beneficial results with patients from marijuana extracts and occasionally from marijuana itself, smoked or vaporized.
One example of this shift in the media is a thoughtful and favorable article about MDMA/PTSD research that will be published in O Magazine (Oprah Winfrey’s magazine) in early 2011, an outlet that is about as mainstream as there is. What makes this article such a good example of the shift in the media is that a decade ago, in 2001, Oprah devoted an entire television show to the risks of Ecstasy, featuring a brain scan that had first been shown on MTV that was digitally manipulated to display a series of major holes in the brain supposedly from MDMA, an image that was fraudulent yet powerful.
At the time, Oprah asked a young woman in the audience who had used Ecstasy at parties whether she would stop using if her brain had holes in it like the image broadcast during the show. When the young woman agreed that holes in her brain would persuade her not to use Ecstasy, Oprah offered her a brain scan and said the results would be broadcast on another show. This young woman contacted MAPS the day after the show and I encouraged her to accept the offer of a brain scan, but not from the people who created the holes in the brain image. The young woman went ahead with the scan and–as we knew would be the case–there were no holes. Unfortunately, there was also no second show on Oprah. Since this is now Oprah’s last year for her TV show, we’re trying to see if she would be willing to follow the article in O Magazine with the long-promised second show.
With your continued support of MAPS, we’ll continue to work toward developing psychedelics and marijuana into FDA-approved prescription medicines, for the benefit of many individuals and our entire society.
Expenses for FY 09-10 amounted to $1,423,347, divided between research, education, operational expenses and capital investments. While MAPS’ goal is to advance our mission, rather than to make a profit, we spent, with this amount primarily funding our MDMA/PTSD research projects that had not yet been fully approved by the end of FY 09-10, such as our U.S. study with veterans and our Canadian, Jordanian, and new Israeli studies.
A chart of all of MAPS expenses for FY 2009-2010 is available in PDF format. The division of expenses in terms of program services, management and general, and fundraising costs is the form required for the IRS Form 990.
The expenses in the chart are divided differently, and are categorized as project expenses (subdivided into research and educational projects), operational expenses (some of which are considered program services in the IRS report such as our website and Bulletin expenses, which are educational, and a substantial portion of staff salaries for work on research projects), product sales, and capital expenses. A summary of MAPS income, expenses, and assets is available in PDF format as well. You can also see a breakdown of MAPS staff salaries.
Total assets at the end of FY 2009-2010 were $ 1,063,857. Of these assets, restricted funds amounted to $ 211,822, unrestricted funds amounted to $ 602,035, and MAPS operational reserve amounted to $250,000. Of the unrestricted funds, $50,000 is not liquid and is from the value of a remainder interest that MAPS was given in a $1 million home that will probably come to MAPS in 30 or 40 years. Of the restricted funds, $ 79,319 is for LSD research; $ 32,912 for psilocybin research; $ 21,973 for the Project Start-Up Fund: UMass Amherst (John Gilmore donated $ 100,000 to enable MAPS to fund initial costs of projects in early stages before other donors are likely to feel the projects are solid enough to justify support, ideally with the fund replenished if projects start); $ 50,273 is for the Jordanian MDMA/PTSD Psychotherapy Study, $ 10,364 for the Marijuana Vaporizer Study (which we have been unable to conduct since NIDA refuses to sell 10 grams for this study), $ 14,916 for Ibogaine Research (Mexico), $1000 for a Creativity Study, and $1000 for a Ketamine Study.
The restricted funds are summarized on this balance sheet available in PDF format. Besides in the Bulletin a listing of all MAPS Projects is also available in both PDF and HTML formats.
This year we also provided 3 charts projecting MAPS current fiscal year into the future. These cover our projected expenses, projected project costs, and our projected fiscal position at the end of FY 2010-11.
