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- EIN 27-1022579
- (212) 303-4331
- 150 E 52nd St Ste 2900 New York NY 10022-6017 USA
- www.intelligencesquaredus.org
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Nonprofit Overview
Causes: Social Science
Mission: Intelligence squared u. S. Foundation (the "foundation") produces a series of provocative and informative live audience debates, primarily at the kaufman center in new york city, on hot-button issues of the times. The goals of this initiative are (1) to raise the level of public discourse on our most challenging issues, (2) to provide a new forum for intelligent discussion, grounded in facts and informed by reasoned analysis, (3) to transcend the toxically emotional and the reflexively ideological, (4) to encourage recognition that the opposing side has intellectually respectable views and (5) to engage the live audience as active participants who will ask questions and decide which speakers have carried the day by voting on the motions both before and after the debates.
Programs: Intelligence squared u. S. Foundation's singular program service is the production of debates. The approach of the debates is to take the traditional "grammar" of oxford-style debate seriously, with one side proposing and the other side opposing a sharply-framed motion. Leading thinkers and authorities on the issues argue on each side of the motion. After the formal arguments, the debate is thrown open to the floor for questions, triggering a lively interchange among the speakers and audience members. A moderator keeps the proceedings orderly. Each side attempts to persuade the audience to vote their way. This adversarial context is electric, adding drama and excitement. The live audience will vote on the motion both before and after hearing the arguments, so there is a clear measure of how far people have actually been swayed. For the fiscal year ended june 30, 2017, intelligence squared u. S. Presented a record 17 public policy debates that reached millions of americans on public radio, podcasts, and digital platforms including appletv and roku. In addition, intelligence squared u. S. Presented a dedicated presidential election debate series to inform voters on key issues in the campaign, and launched its first advocacy program to promote elevated public discourse in our presidential debates. This program captured more than 60,000 petition signatures, resulted in 30,000 new website memberships, and engaged more than 1. 2 million people online. Intelligence squared u. S. Debates were carried on more than 230 public radio stations and the podcast was downloaded more than 4 million times, with more than 6,000 people attending the live program between new york city, washington, d. C. , and san francisco.