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Transparency & accountability

We ask people to trust us with two things: their attention and their donations. This page is how we earn it — our legal standing, how we're funded, and exactly where the money goes.

Legal Standing

A verified public charity

Metanoia is a registered 501(c)(3) public charity in California. Every figure below is independently verifiable — through the IRS, the California Attorney General, and public nonprofit databases.

501(c)(3)IRS public charity status
39-2328100Employer ID (EIN)
May 2025Tax-exemption effective
100%Of donations tax-deductible

The IRS classified Metanoia as a public charity under section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) — the category for organizations that are publicly supported. Contributions are deductible under IRC Section 170, and Metanoia is qualified to receive tax-deductible bequests and gifts. Our determination letter is public; you can read it yourself.

Read the source documents

Download IRS determination letter (PDF)

You can also verify us independently in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search and on ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer using EIN 39-2328100.

Where Your Donation Goes

Two things, and nothing else

Metanoia funds research and free public education on natural psychedelics for the wellbeing of healthy people. That is the whole mission — and the whole budget.

Research

Gathering and verifying the global science — neuroscience, chemistry and ethnobotany, genetics, and therapeutic practice — and building the open knowledge infrastructure the field is missing: a verified research database, a safe-use guide, and a structured record of lived experience.

See the research agenda.

Free education

Turning that research into things anyone can understand and use — starting with our free illustrated book, our Psychedelics 101 guide, and safe-use resources, all published at no cost to the reader.

Browse the education hub.

Our Commitments

How we hold ourselves accountable

Metanoia is early and deliberately lean. We would rather make a small number of real commitments and keep them than publish a glossy report we can't yet stand behind. Here is what we commit to, plainly.

We file publicly, every year

As a 501(c)(3) we are required to file an annual return with the IRS — a Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N depending on our size — and to register and report to the California Attorney General's Registry of Charitable Trusts. Those filings are public records. As soon as our first annual filing is complete, we will link it here directly.

We stay lean on purpose

We keep overhead low by design: no paid executive team, no offices beyond what the work needs, and volunteer effort wherever it's possible. It's part of why you won't find a roster of names and titles on this site — staying lean means more of every donation reaches the research and the education, not the org chart. More on why we work this way →

We keep the nonprofit and the for-profit separate

A separate for-profit research arm helps fund operations, but the two are kept legally distinct — separate boards, separate finances. All public education and all fundraising on this site benefit the nonprofit mission. Donations go to Metanoia, the public charity.

We don't supply, sell, or source anything

Metanoia is a research and education nonprofit. We do not provide, sell, or source any controlled substance, run ceremonies, or offer therapy or medical advice. Everything we publish is education and harm reduction, always within the law. Read our ethics & legality position →

We say what we don't know

Our editorial rule is simple: real sources, checked to match their claims; nothing fabricated, nothing exaggerated. Where the evidence is strong we say so; where it's thin or contested, we say that too. An honest map of the open questions is part of the product, not a footnote to it.

This page is a living document. As Metanoia grows — first annual filing, an advisory board, audited figures — we'll add each here as it becomes real, not before. Questions about our governance or finances? Ask us directly or email main@metanoia-ca.org.

Trust is built in the open

If this is the kind of organization you want to see in the world, help us build it — every gift is tax-deductible and goes straight to the work.

Support the work