Note: I started writing fund drive letters last year as part of becoming the executive director of CSI. These letters haven’t previously been published in the magazine, but the following (adapted) letter involves an especially important initiative.
I’ve just returned from the conference in Buffalo where we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), now known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). From Mary Roach to Bill Nye, it was quite a ride! At CSICon, we reflected on our storied fifty-year history, and now it’s time to prioritize the next fifty years. Toward that goal, this letter will describe CSI’s new Into the Future Fund!
In 1976, Kendrick Frazier reported on the initial meeting that sparked the formation of CSICOP with a cover story in Science News. Ken depicted CSICOP’s mission through the words Challenging Pseudoscience and a four-headed dragon breathing the fire of four types of pseudoscience: astrology, UFOs, telekinetic spoon bending, and the Bermuda Triangle.
In honor of CSICOP’s formation and of Ken’s forty-five years as editor of Skeptical Inquirer, we chose to use those same words and that iconic image as the basis for one of this year’s celebratory issues of SI. Our only significant change was to include four knights, instead of one, to represent the growth in the number of people who have joined the fight. This growth includes you, so we want to say thank you for all you’ve already done to help us challenge pseudoscience!
Now, imagine a fifth head on that dragon, bigger than all the others. The fifth head breathes the fire of today’s anti-science agenda denying the effectiveness of vaccines in a time when measles is making a dramatic comeback and denying human-caused climate change at a time when Earth’s temperatures are higher than ever before. All the while, scientists are being attacked through dubious governmental investigations (and even threats to their lives) just for lighting their candles in the dark. And now that the dragon has a fifth head, we need to add a fifth knight!
During the Into the Future campaign, every dollar you donate from today until July 1, 2027, will be matched up to $150,000. This $300,000 fund will be used to fight back against the disturbing anti-science agenda damaging our progress toward a healthier society.
Ruth Frazier (community organizer and Ken’s widow) first announced this new campaign during CSICon to help CSI continue to thrive well into the future. Specifically, the Frazier family is partnering with their longtime friends the Casten family in a matching challenge. These two families have been strongly connected due to the lifelong friendship between Ken Frazier and Tom Casten, a clean energy entrepreneur.
There’s never been a better time to support CSI as we prepare for the future. Through the Frazier-Casten Matching Challenge, your gift to CSI will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $150,000, to strengthen CSI now and into the future. Your gift will support CSI’s Into the Future Fund, dedicated to advancing scientific skepticism through what Carl Sagan called “curiosity-driven science.” We’ll help educational systems strengthen the public’s understanding of science, all while building on students’ natural curiosities to promote their appreciation of science. Matching challenge funds from the Frazier and Casten families will support CSI’s mission, including our efforts to counter misinformation and science denial.
The donation you make today will help science and reason win out over anti-science and superstition in the most pressing issues facing society as we head into the future. And with much thanks to the Frazier and Casten families, your donation will be doubled through their matching donation! We’re a small nonprofit organization, and your donation is tax-deductible as provided by law. Please stand with us by donating at skepticalinquirer.org/intothefuture/.