American Society for Psychical Research Inc
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
Points to look into
- It reported loans to or from officers, directors or other insiders.
- It owes more than it owns.
- Raising each dollar of donations cost 128 cents.
These come from the organization's own tax return. There may be a good explanation; ask the charity.
What it says it does
SEE SCHEDULE O.
- Income
- $19.4 million
- Spending
- $7.6 million
- Spent on programs
- 77%
- Reserves
- -1.9 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- investment income, 97%
- Employees
- 0
- Highest pay
- $88,585, executive director
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2022, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Weak: 30 out of 100. Higher than 5% of charities in its peer group (social science, $10m to $100m).
Reserves
0 of 35Spendable reserves are negative: it owes or has committed more than it holds.
Debt
0 of 20It owes 262% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 61% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 38164% on the year before.
Spending floor
0 of 1577% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 128 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2022, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Good: 75 out of 100. Higher than 5% of charities in its peer group (social science, $10m to $100m).
Independent board
25 of 255 of 6 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
0 of 15Its accounts were not audited or reviewed by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
0 of 10Reports at least one of: diversion of assets, excess benefits, loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2022, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (4)
- $2.9 million spent. LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES SEE SCHEDULE O
- $2.6 million spent. RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND PUBLIC SERVICESSEE SCHEDULE O
- $293,354 spent. PUBLICATIONS-ARCHIVAL AND LIBRARY RESEARCH AND REFERENCE MATERIALS SEE SCHEDULE O
- PART III LINE 1 THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, INC (ASPR)FOUNDED IN 1885, IS THE OLDEST PSYCHICAL RESEARCH ORGANIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES, SERVING PUBLIC AND PROFESSIONAL AUDIENCES FOR MORE THAN 130 YEARS. ITS MISSION IS TO (A) USE THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD TO EXPLORE EXTRAORDINARY OR AS YET UNEXPLAINED PHENOMENA THAT ARE TYPICALLY REFERRED TO AS BEING PSYCHIC OR PARANORMAL, AND (B) SERVE AS A RESOURCE FOR ACCURATE AND RELEVANT INFORMATION ABOUT SUCH MATTERS TO RESEARCHERS,SCIENTIST, STUDENTS, AND SCHOLARS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC. THE ASPR STUDIES HOW THE MIND RELATES TO MATTER, ENERGY, SPACE AND TIME AND THE UNEXPLAINED WAYS CONSCIOUS BEINGS INTERCONNECT WITH THE UNIVERSE AND EACH OTHER. Part III Line 1 The ASPR was founded by a group of visionary scholars, philosophers and scientist from Harvard and Columbia Universities, including the highly noted psychologist and phiulosopher William James. These founding members, who were devoted to exploring the uncharted realms of human consciousness, were inovators in psychology, psychiatry, psysics and astronomy, and shared a common interest in studying phenomena not yet explicable by accepted scientific theories. Freud and Jung were honary members of the ASPR. Leading thinkers and luminaries from a wide range of disciplines have been drawn to the ASPR throughout its history. Part III Line 4a RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND PUBLIC SERVICES The ASPR continues to meet the growing need for accurate and relevant information through its research activities, library and archival resources, public exhibitions, and educational resources and services. From its inception, the ASPR and its members have collected case reports and have researched extraordinary experiences including telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and the question of whether our consciousness may survive death. The ASPR conducts laboratory research. Experiments examine the relationship of creativity to psychic phenomena, as well as the effects of hypnosis, dreaming, meditation, sensory deprivation and other altered states of consciousness. Part III, Line 4a The Society continues to collect accounts of psychic phenonomena from people around the world.The ASPR aims to serve as an important educational resource on psychical matters to the general public, including, in particular, to support the education and research activities of students and scholars from various disciplines. Each year we assist numerous individuals in person, by mail, phone and email. Part III, Line 4bLIBRARY AND ARCHIVES The ASPR maintains the largest and most comprehensive library and archives of its kind in the United States. Its collections span historical and contemporary topics in psychical research, as well as relevant information on the earliest history of psychology, psychiatry, mind-body medicine, American visionary traditions, and both Eastern and Western religious philosophy. The library includes thousands of out-of-print volumes, many of them extremely rare. Part III, Line 4a LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES The ASPR holds a vast archive of documents, photograghs, drawings, rare manuscripts, reports of experiences,research data, correspondence, and books that date back to the 1600s. They include original letters of William James, Henry James, W.B. Yeats, Upton Sinclair, Sir Arthur of contemporaryDoyle, and Houdini, as well as the archives scholars. The archives also house numerous special collections including one of the most important collections in America of manuscripts describing Shaker visionary experiences. Part III, Line 4a LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES The rarity of the archives can be appreciated by noting that the ASPR was previously the recipient of a grant from the National Endownment for the Arts to develop future exhibits. The ASPR has already exhibited portions of its archives in various museums and galaries including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Folk Art Museum, the Maison Europeene de la Photographie, in Paris, the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorate Arts,Design and Culture, and the Drawing Center in New York, as well as the Hammar Gallery in Los Angeles. The ASPR continues to seek out, collect, preserve, protect, duplicate, digitize, and organize these important research documents for its library and archives.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2022, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2023.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since September 1942.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.