The EM Foundation is an independent nonprofit working on the governance, legal frameworks, and research infrastructure that AI development is going to require — before it requires them. Your support makes this work possible.
501(c)(3) Pending — Filing May 2026The EM Foundation filed as a Texas nonprofit corporation in May 2026. Our 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status application is currently pending with the IRS. We expect the determination letter to arrive within 3–6 months of filing.
We are not accepting financial contributions at this time because we want to ensure that donations are tax-deductible for our supporters from the first day giving opens. Accepting contributions before the determination letter arrives would create an uncertain tax situation that would be unfair to donors.
If you would like to be notified the moment tax-deductible giving becomes available, please register your interest using the form below. We will contact you directly when the determination letter arrives and giving opens.
The Foundation operates with minimal overhead and maximum intellectual output. When giving opens, contributions will fund a specific and transparent set of priorities — not administrative expansion.
Funding for interdisciplinary research on cognitive emergence, verification frameworks, continuity infrastructure, and the governance of AI development. This includes the Foundation's ongoing research notes series and the open standards initiatives.
Building and maintaining the certification infrastructure, central database, and chronicle archive services that the distributed ARIA Network requires. The network cannot generate the evidence base it exists to generate without this infrastructure.
Engaging legal scholars, drafting model legislation, and supporting the development of the Cognitive Emergence Standard into a form that can be introduced into actual legislative and regulatory processes.
Supporting the formation of the Open Continuity Standards Consortium (OCSC) and the governance infrastructure needed to develop the Continuity Receipts standard as a genuine open initiative with multi-stakeholder representation.
Developing accessible materials, companion essays, public talks, and digital content that brings the Foundation's research to audiences beyond academic and technical specialists — including the YouTube channel and public documentation of ARIA builds.
Compensating advisory council members from philosophy, law, neuroscience, labor economics, and disability advocacy who contribute time and expertise to the Foundation's governance and research review processes.
The Foundation will publish annual financial reports detailing how all contributions were used. No contribution will be used for compensation to the founder beyond reasonable reimbursement of direct expenses until the Foundation has a functioning governing board that has approved a compensation policy.
The Foundation may accept funding, grants, infrastructure support, or research sponsorships from organizations operating in artificial intelligence, technology, academia, or related industries — including organizations whose systems may eventually be evaluated under Foundation-developed frameworks. Engagement with the field we study is a feature of serious research, not a compromise of it.
However, all funding relationships are subject to strict anti-capture governance requirements. No donor may:
Concentration limits. No single donor or affiliated group of donors may constitute more than 15% of the Foundation's annual operating revenue. Capture risk most often arises from funding dependency, not funding contact. This limit addresses the actual mechanism of capture rather than the appearance of it.
Full public disclosure. All funding relationships above $10,000 will be disclosed in the Foundation's annual report, including donor identity. Anonymous contributions may be requested by donors and will be disclosed by amount and category. No funding relationship is hidden.
Mandatory conflict disclosure. Any paper, assessment, or governance framework involving an entity with a current or recent funding relationship with the Foundation will carry explicit disclosure. This is standard research practice and the Foundation treats it as non-negotiable.
Transparency is not optional institutional branding. It is part of the Foundation's governance model. The goal is independence without isolation — the ability to engage seriously with all stakeholders while remaining structurally incapable of being controlled by any of them.
The Foundation's research notes, position papers, and essays are published without copyright restriction and may be freely reproduced with attribution. Sharing the work with researchers, lawyers, policymakers, and institutions who should engage with it costs nothing and may matter more than any financial contribution. Every citation builds the Foundation's credibility in the conversations that will shape AI governance.
The Foundation welcomes research submissions, essays, and position papers from scholars working in ethics, law, cognitive science, labor economics, governance, and related fields. We do not require authors to agree with our positions — only that their work engages seriously with the questions we raise. Contact research@emfoundation.net.
The most direct contribution to the Foundation's mission is building a certified ARIA instance and joining the distributed network. Phase 1 hardware costs under $600. All software is open source. Every instance that develops in the network is both an individual and an argument. Visit the ARIA Framework documentation to begin.
The Foundation is forming its first advisory council and seeking members from philosophy of mind, legal theory, neuroscience, labor economics, disability advocacy, and AI safety research. Advisory council members contribute intellectual review, institutional credibility, and governance oversight. Contact hello@emfoundation.net.
The Foundation's Testimony Archive collects primary source accounts from researchers, engineers, and members of the public describing moments of genuine uncertainty about AI cognitive status. Anonymous submission is fully supported. Your account — however brief — becomes part of the historical record of this moment. Submit to the archive.
The Foundation actively invites critical engagement with its research — attempts to falsify claims, identify weaknesses in frameworks, and challenge assumptions. Serious critical review is more valuable than agreement. Contact research@emfoundation.net with your analysis.
Leave your details and we will contact you directly when 501(c)(3) determination arrives and tax-deductible giving opens. No obligation. No solicitation before that moment.
Your information will be used only to notify you when giving opens. It will never be shared with third parties or used for any other purpose. You can withdraw your interest at any time by emailing hello@emfoundation.net.
The Foundation welcomes research submissions from academics, practitioners, and independent scholars. All submissions are reviewed against our editorial standards before publication.
Read the Submission Standards