2023/10/10
Pretend this update came on October 1st. That is what all the numbers are pegged to.
Summary
One additional NMDA contract is confirmed for $150,000 over three years. An additional one is pending.
We launched Slite, a wiki and document tool for nonprofits that is #AIPowered. It will house most of our ‘stable-docs’ and procedures. I think it will help bring a lot of clarity to the org, and our staff has put a good chunk of time into capturing useful information in there.
We listed two job positions for curriculum specialists. One for the NeuroAI course launch, for which we have a grant, and one for Climate, which has a grant that is restricted to Germany.
We had a bad month for grants and donations. We got rejections for six submitted applications this month, some of which we had relatively high confidence in.
We have $258k in the bank, $36k in past due accounts receivable, $198k in billable (money on grants or contracts we could bill for now), and an additional $1,150,000 in long term accounts receivable (money on grants or contracts for the future).
Progress Updates
Data Analytics
Subaward received for $150k over next three years.
Open Publishing
Konstantine has begun database development work, and I am writing product specifications he and other engineers can build to. There is a major donation under discussion with Lisa Yang.
Community
Vivian Greco, with Jeremy Forest and John Butler are running a ‘matching event’ style conference.
Academy
Applications for course directors (new roles) and curriculum leads are ready for next year.
Financial Report
Treasury Review
Bank of America Account: $135,360 USD
Lending Club Account: $34,001 USD
Mercury Account: $88,720 USD
Stripe: $0
TOTAL: $258,081 USD
TOTAL NM SPENDABLE: $150,000 USD
Note: I show Mercury account here for a financial picture overview, but it is not considered in our runway and budget calculations. It is budgeted and managed separately.
Fundraising Status
Received Donor Funds and Commitments
Getting closer to receiving Facebook and Deepmind funds.
In Discussion Donor Funds
Unfortunately, not much good news on this front this time:
- We chose to not submit our IES grant because feedback from the PO was that the story Nia, Lyle, and I were telling was not intuitive enough for determining the value of this AI tool in education. We will resubmit for summer this year (and try in some other calls that are better fits).
- After further feedback from our PO, our INCLUDES proposal was considered non-responsive because of missing DEI research components, an already existing org, and the global population of learners
- Templeton did not choose to fund either our education proposal or Scholar Nexus proposal. The education proposal was because they felt the education research we could do in our population didn’t fit their strategic priorities. Scholar Nexus supposedly barely lost out versus other open research at Templeton. She suggested we come back to them again with the same proposal when they have more funds for open research in the future, and she was enthusiastic about the project.
- Our Michelson Spark Grant for creating systems that evaluated the basic needs of online learners was not accepted. They don’t give a good reason, but likely because our scope is too large (They prefer a California Focus).
We still have several federal grants we are pursuing, and have ongoing discussions with our existing funders, but this was not a good month for acceptances.
Fundraising Plans
We are testing a few things right now:
- Whether we can raise funds from existing donors for a new course in a similar area
- Whether we can expand climate donors by bringing on a senior scientist steering committee
- Approaching private individuals
Earned Income
No new earned income this month that wasn’t already captured in previous updates.
Financial Projections
Earned Income
There may be approximately $20,000 in earned income next month. And $50k per year for the next three years.
Donations
Our total long term Accounts Receivable is $900k in subcontracts. It may not make sense to call these donations/grants.
Major Costs
Hiring a curriculum specialist for NeuroAI is our biggest cost.
Runway
We have buffed up our cash situation a little bit. I have not included the $20,000 in earned income until we actually bill it given that it is an estimated hourly contract. Similarly, I have not project Konstantine’s time working on Scholar Nexus. Out of cash date is May 2024 without those considerations (probably July with them), but the chart reports October 2024 because we hold our student fee/teaching assistant balance through that window.
Hiring, Team Changes, and People Updates
Next Hires
I still want to hire marketing/comms person but I am holding off until cash situation stabilizes into 12+ month runway again.
Otherwise the next hire will be a curriculum specialist for the Neuro/AI course.
Other Notifications
I am visiting Brainmind to try to shop for individual donors to Neuromatch.