ProCon.org is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity that has no government affiliations of any kind. Our purpose is to provide resources for critical thinking and to educate without bias. We do not express opinions on our research projects ("issue websites").

Our mission statement is:

"Promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, primarily pro-con format."

B. More Highlights At-a-Glance (updated quarterly; last update Dec. 31, 2011)
1	Over 1,150 questions on controversial issues with over 8,000 pro, con, and not clearly pro or con statements	Our staff meetings are normally held every Tuesday. This photo is from our May 5, 2009 meeting.
2	Date and source information for all research cited
3	Over 6,500 biographies for the sources used on the sites
4	Used by more than 2,150 schools in all 50 US states and 41 countries
5	Research done or vetted by experienced professionals
6	Information for multiple age and reading levels (elementary school to university level)
7	Ability to translate any ProCon.org into 19 languages including Spanish, Chinese, French, Arabic, Hebrew, and more using the free toolbar
8	Strict editorial guidelines to ensure journalistic integrity
9	Referenced by the media over 450 times (CNN, BBC, NPR, Forbes, NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, PBS, Fox News, etc.)
10	Archived in 2008 by the Library of Congress for having "materials of historical importance to the Congress and to the American people"
11	Won the "Top 25 Free Reference Websites of 2011" award from a division of the American Library Assocation along with TED, Google, and Wikileaks.
12	Honored in the US Congressional Record on July 6, 2011 by Congressman Rob Andrews (D-NJ) who said our "unbiased and truthful presentation makes a tremendous contribution to the political system.”
13	Earned status as a "Valued Partner" and "Partner in Trust" by Guidestar in 2009
14	Used by 10 governments (Australia, Egypt, European Union, Israel, New Zealand, Northern Marianas, Palestinian Territories, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States) including 17 US states and seven federal agencies
15	"Cite" function lets readers click a button to get proper citation for any ProCon.org page in MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian style protocols.
16	Won the "Best Non-Profit to Work For" award in a 2008 national competition

Steven C. Markoff, the Chairman of ProCon.org, has been active in trying to find pros and cons of various controversial issues since 1986. He created an organization to pursue this effort, and after going through several iterations, that organization became ProCon.org on July 12, 2004. Read a detailed personal statement from Mr. Markoff on the origins and background of ProCon.org.

Jan. 2012	Great Nonprofits awarded ProCon.org its "Top-Rated 2011" designation for the large volume of positive reader reviews we received.
Nov. 1, 2011	With 1,520,613 sessions in Oct. 2011, we surpassed 1.5 million sessions in a month for the first time in our history. We have received 41,156,665 sessions since our formation in July 2004.
Oct. 25, 2011	As of today, over 50,000 people have signed up for ProCon.org email updates.
Oct. 16, 2011	ProCon.org ranks a theoretical #142 in web traffic out of the Top 400 largest US nonprofits. On Oct. 16, 2011, the Chronicle of Philanthropy released its list of the Top 400 largest US nonprofits in 2010 based on private support. #1 (United Way Worldwide) had $3.86 billion in private support; #400 (Church World Service) had $43 million in private support; and ProCon.org with its $606,000 of funding was clearly not on the list because our funding was 1/71st of the smallest on the list and 1/6,403rd of the largest. However, when comparing US web traffic using Alexa.com, ProCon.org would have ranked #142 out of the Top 400 nonprofits, putting us in the top 35%.
Sep. 25, 2011	ProCon.org was selected as "Website of the Week” by Booklist, a 100-year old monthly publication of the American Library Association.
Aug. 26, 2011	"Headlines” feature launched allowing visitors to read short articles about major news events which relate to ProCon.org research.
July 26, 2011	ProCon.org gave a 90-minute workshop titled "Using ProCon.org for Critical Thinking about Illegal Immigration” to about 75 Junior Statesmen of America (JSA) high school students attending JSA's "Gene A. Burd Symposium on Los Angeles Media and Politics” on the UCLA campus.
July 6, 2011	ProCon.org was highlighted in the Congressional Record when Congressman Rob Andrews (D-NJ) honored ProCon.org by reading a glowing statement about the organization on the floor of the US House of Representatives. His statement said in part: "It is my distinct pleasure to honor the staff of ProCon.org and wish them continued successes in their service to the American public. Their unbiased and truthful presentation makes a tremendous contribution to the political system." Read the entire statement here.
June 17, 2011	A division of the American Library Association (ALA) voted ProCon.org as one the Top 25 Free Reference Websites of 2011. Other winners included TED, Wikileaks, and Google Translate. The Machine-Assisted Reference Section (MARS) of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of ALA recognized outstanding reference sites on the World Wide Web. ProCon.org thanks the reference librarians who voted and who have supported our work over the years.
May 19, 2011	California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson, California’s highest elected education official, sent us a wonderful testimonial and offered to notify educators throughout the state about ProCon.org. He wrote: "I’m pleased to encourage California educators to add www.procon.org to the tools they use to help students learn more about important issues and develop their critical thinking skills. I have used www.procon.org personally and recommend that California teachers and librarians take advantage of this great - and free -educational resource.” Mr. Torlakson also recommended ProCon.org to educators on his personal Facebook page on August 14, 2011.
Apr. 29, 2011	ProCon.org added an interactive comments feature allowing readers to share their pro and con opinions about ProCon.org issues with millions of other people, and vote on, reply to, or read already posted comments.
Apr. 7, 2011	President Kamy Akhavan represented ProCon.org at the National Council on Rehabilitation Education’s (NCRE) annual conference as an expert panelist on medical marijuana. Dr. Ilana Lehman of the University of Massachusetts at Boston led the panel discussion.
Dec. 31, 2010	In 2010, ProCon.org surpassed over 10 million website sessions in one year for the first time in its history. The new annual record of 10,322,703 sessions exceeded the former record of 6,523,545 sessions set in 2009 by 3,799,158 sessions - a 58% increase.
Dec. 7, 2010	Kamy Akhavan, Managing Editor of ProCon.org, also becomes President of ProCon.org.
Sep. 24, 2010	We added the "Cite" button to all ProCon.org pages so readers can get any ProCon.org page's bibliographic or endnote citation according to the Modern Language Association Style Manual (MLA), the Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago), the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), and Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Turabian) - four of the most popular bibliographic protocols.
Sep. 24, 2010	ProCon.org now has over 20,000 people who signed up for ProCon.org email updates.
July 23, 2010	For the first time, ProCon.org was the subject of a peer-reviewed scientific study. Max-Planck Institute for Informatics researchers published the study "Language-Model-based Pro/Con Classification of Political Text” in the Proceedings of the 33rd International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval. The paper basically concluded that pros and cons work well to classify controversial political topics.
Apr. 22, 2010	Managing Editor Kamy Akhavan represented ProCon.org as an expert panelist in one of the first ever Continuing Medical Education (CME) classes on medical marijuana in the United States. The session titled "What Physicians Should Know About Medical Marijuana” was organized by emarc Network, held at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, approved by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), and attended by dozens of physicians.
Apr. 1, 2010	ProCon.org Surpasses One Million Monthly Sessions in March 2010 - the first time we have received over a million sessions in a month. The new record of 1,026,399 sessions marked a 90% increase in traffic over Mar. 2009 and an 88% increase for the first three months of 2010 over the first three months of 2009. We are thrilled that so many teachers, students and others are finding our free and unbiased content so useful.
Mar. 27, 2010	The San Diego Science Festival donated a double booth to ProCon.org, and we created an interactive exhibit of pros and cons on two featured topics: whether obesity is a disease and whether social networking sites are good for society. About 500-600 people participated in our interactive booth including students, teachers, scientists, parents, and others. Check out some photos from the event to see how much critical thinking took place in our booth.
Feb. 5, 2010	As of today, ProCon.org has been used by over 1,000 schools in 26 countries and all 50 US states. We are thrilled to have 176 elementary and middle schools, 435 high schools, and 398 colleges and universities using the free nonpartisan research we provide to stimulate critical thinking.
Feb. 3, 2010	Confirmed as having met the requirements for inclusion in Charity Navigator, a premiere evaluator of nonprofit organizations. Charity Navigator lists over 5,000 of the roughly 1,000,000 charities in the US.
Jan. 13, 2010	Surpassed 20,000,000 cumulative sessions since inception on ProCon.org's websites.
Nov. 2, 2009	ProCon.org needed one more state, North Dakota, to have its content referenced by schools in all 50 US states. On Nov. 2, 2009, we learned that the North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) included a link to ProCon.org from its library page to "help students in Writing and Communications classes at NDSCS, with links to useful resources related to class assignments.” ProCon.org is now used by schools in all 50 states and at least 17 countries.
Oct. 2009	ProCon.org had its first "Letter to the Editor” published in the Oct. 2009 issue of California Educator magazine – the official publication of the California Teachers Association. The letter discussed the importance of ProCon.org as an educational resource for critical thinking.
Aug. 25, 2009	Guidestar, one of the largest information services about nonprofits in the US, declared ProCon.org a "Valued Partner” and one of its "Partners in Trust” because of the amount of information about ProCon.org that we had made publicly available.
Aug. 12, 2009	Kamy Akhavan (Managing Editor of ProCon.org) gave a 90-minute presentation titled "Critical Thinking about Illegal Immigration: Media Analysis Using ProCon.org” to over 115 high school students at the closing night of the Junior Statesmen of America symposium "Los Angeles Media and Politics” on the UCLA campus. The students and JSA Symposium Program Director, Tracy Poindexter, loved the presentation as reflected in their thank you letters to ProCon.org.
July 14, 2009	ProCon.org celebrated its 5-year anniversary with a party for supporters and friends from 4-7 pm in our Santa Monica office. We also held five anniversary contests and awarded winners over $500 in cash and prizes. See photos and video from the party, find out who won the contests, and read highlights and reflections from our first five years on ProCon.org's Five Year Anniversary page.
July 14, 2009	California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell met with ProCon.org’s founder Steve Markoff. After the meeting, California’s highest elected education official Tweeted: "Just met with the founder of procon.org. It's a great resource that breaks down hot button issues with quality, sourced info… The best part about procon.org is the entire web site is free to use... no registration necessary. If you’re in ed, check it out... a quality resource for controversial issues...”
July 8, 2009	On July 8, 2009 ProCon.org content was referenced in an animated video for the first time.
Apr. 20 and 21, 2009	ProCon.org’s Managing Editor was invited to serve on two panels ("The Future of Online Debate and Dialogue” and "Collaborative Politics Online: Principles, Pitfalls and Practical Advice”) at the Politics Online national conference in Washington, DC. A video excerpt of the latter panel is available here. It was ProCon.org’s first time participating as an invited speaker at a national conference.
Mar. 20, 2009	Released the first ProCon.org email update newsletter for free to over 1,200 opt-in recipients.
Mar. 16, 2009	The Spanish language version of ProCon.org's homepage was launched in Spain at http://www.procon.org.es/ and in Argentina at http://www.procon.ar.com/.
Feb. 12, 2009	ProCon.org passes the 100 mark for number of times our sites have been referenced in the media.
Feb. 2, 2009	ProCon.org was honored to receive the "Best Non-Profit to Work For" award in a national competition. ProCon.org was one of five winners in its class of "non-profits with an operating budget of under $2.5 million." There were 15 winners total. There are roughly 1,000,000 nonprofit organizations in the United States.
Sep. 24, 2008	ProCon.org User Survey passes 1,000 responses. See the survey results.
June 30, 2008	Unveiled new design for all ProCon.org websites with over 10 new features including search function on all pages, email this page function on all pages, scrolling news, faster server, time and date stamp on all pages, and more. Also upgraded was the content management system which made adding and editing content more efficient. The revamp project took over 25 people from six companies in five cities nearly 2 years and 9,000 hours to complete. [Watch our internal video about the conversion process and new site launch.]
May 14, 2008	ProCon.org is referenced in official government legislation for the first time (that we know of). The Northern Marianas Commonwealth issued a formal legislative recommendation from the House of Representative’s Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations that cited a case summary from our aclu.procon.org website.
May 9, 2008	Referenced seven times by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) - the largest organization of social studies teachers in the United States - in their Middle Level Learning publication, their homepage, and their Social Studies Professional publication.
May 7, 2008	Surpassed 10,000,000 cumulative sessions since inception on ProCon.org's websites.
Apr. 20, 2008	The Library of Congress honored ProCon.org by requesting permission to archive three of our websites (ProCon.org, 2008 Election ProCon.org, and US Iraq ProCon.org) because The Library of Congress considered our three sites "materials of historical importance to the Congress and to the American people."
Apr. 17, 2008	ProCon.org created its first User Survey to learn more about our readers and what they thought of their experiences at ProCon.org.
Mar. 2008	National Public Radio (NPR) ran dozens of messages referencing ProCon.org and our 2008 election website.
Feb. 29, 2008	Launched an RSS feed so visitors to ProCon.org could receive free ongoing updates about ProCon.org's new content.
Dec. 12, 2007	Launched 2008 Election ProCon.org marking our first website in the realm of election politics.
Nov. 29, 2007	Created seven videos asking the 2008 presidential candidates for their views on our questions about hate crimes, the cost of higher education, mandatory civil service, aid to Darfur, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the death penalty, and medical marijuana. The videos were posted on YouTube.com as part of its Republican debate contest.
Nov. 14, 2007	Received our first online donation ($100) after setting up an on-line mechanism to receive contributions electronically.
Oct. 11, 2007	ProCon.org appeared on television for the first time. LATV, a television station based in Los Angeles, conducted an interview with Managing Editor Kamy Akhavan about medical marijuana.
Oct. 2007	The number of schools that referenced ProCon.org in their educational materials surpassed 100 for the first time, with 109 middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities having included ProCon.org in their lesson plans or other educational resources.
July 27, 2007	The Congressional Research Service, a division of the Library of Congress, referenced ProCon.org four times in its report to Congress titled "Medical Marijuana: Review and Analysis of Federal and State Policies."
Mar. 30, 2007	Received 501(c)(3) nonprofit status from the IRS 21 months after we applied for it on June 28, 2005.
Feb. 25, 2007	First time ProCon.org presents its pro and con statements in a newspaper. The Westside Chronicle, a weekly newspaper in Los Angeles, ran our pro-con presentations for five issues. The newspaper hit hard times and shut its doors by summer 2007.
Feb. 2007	Surpassed 5,000,000 cumulative sessions since inception on ProCon.org's websites.
Sep. 26, 2006	The New York Times referenced ProCon.org in its article "Supporters of A.C.L.U. Call for Ouster of Its Leaders" by Stephanie Strom.
June 22, 2006	The winner of the ProCon.org logo contest was selected out of 166 logos from 42 contestants in 8 countries.
Mar. 12, 2006	60 Minutes, the CBS weekly television news magazine, listed ProCon.org as one of only three recommended links on its website section titled "The Science of Sexual Orientation." The other two links were to specific studies on sexual orientation.
Feb. 26, 2006	First radio interview for ProCon.org took place on WLPO radio in Oglesby, Illinois. In the 23-minute interview, host John Small commented "Fascinating website. I think we can learn something. Anybody who has access to a computer can learn a little more about their world and get a little ammunition to battle the office bully over an issue but it's also just to better your brain."
Jan. 23, 2006	ProCon.org selected as a "Yahoo! Pick" The Yahoo! editors wrote: "You're guaranteed to disagree with 50% of what you read here, but you'll come away better informed and -- if the site's founders are proved out -- a better citizen, to boot."
Oct. 26, 2005	ProCon.org is declared by the State of California Franchise Tax Board as a charitable corporation (PDF 991KB) and thus exempt from state franchise or income tax under code section 2370ld.
Oct. 13, 2005	Forbes Magazine made ProCon.org the only website referenced in an article about marijuana and the brain. The article was reprinted in Yahoo! News, Drkoop.com (the former U.S. Surgeon General's website), numerous local TV news station websites (such as KLEX in Lexington, KY, KLAS in Las Vegas, and KPHO in Phoenix), and health-related sites such as Health Central, Health Finder, and Medicine Net.
Sep. 1, 2005	ProCon.org moves to 233 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 200 in Santa Monica, California.
June 6, 2005	The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) referenced ProCon.org in its article announcing the Supreme Court's controversial Gonzalez v. Raich decision. Our site appeared first among the three recommended links (ahead of the DEA and NORML).
May 2005	"Promoting Informed Citizenship" becomes the official slogan of ProCon.org. [Amended on May 18, 2007 to "Promoting education and informed citizenship." Amended again on July 7, 2009 to "Promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship."]
Feb. 2005	Surpassed 1,000,000 cumulative sessions since inception on ProCon.org's websites.
Dec. 4, 2004	Hired our first Managing Editor, Kamy Akhavan.
July 12, 2004	ProCon.org's Articles of Incorporation (PDF 991KB) are certified by the California Secretary of State, and thus ProCon.org is officially born.
Sep. 19, 1772	Benjamin Franklin commented on the practical use of pros and cons in a Sep. 19, 1772 letter to his friend Joseph Priestley: "When these difficult Cases occur, they are difficult chiefly because while we have them under Consideration all the Reasons pro and con are not present to the Mind at the same time... To get over this, my Way is, to divide half a Sheet of Paper by a Line into two Columns, writing over the one Pro, and over the other Con... And tho' the Weight of Reasons cannot be taken with the Precision of Algebraic Quantities, yet when each is thus considered separately and comparatively, and the whole lies before me, I think I can judge better, and am less likely to take a rash Step..."

Our annual calendar reports include a message from our Chairman, financial information, and details of ProCon.org's major accomplishments for the year. The 990 reports are the required filings we submit to the IRS annually.

Year	Annual Reports	Audited Financials	990 Reports
2010	Annual Report	Audited Financials	990 Report
2009	Annual Report	Audited Financials	990 Report
2008	Annual Report	Audited Financials	990 Report
2007	Annual Report	Audited Financials	990 Report
2006	Annual Report		990 Report
2005	Annual Report		990 Report
2004	Annual Report

The biography of each Board member listed below (in alphabetical order by last name) can be viewed by clicking on his/her name.

John Kurtz, J.D. Phone: 208-344-6000 Email: jfk@hteh.com Jadwiga S.Z.-Markoff, M.D., Ph.D. Phone: 310-587-1470 Email: privacy requested Steven C. Markoff, Chairman & Founder Phone: 310-587-1470 Email: scmarkoff@aol.com

Bruce McNall Phone: 310-255-0990 Email: bruce@procon.org Stanley F. Shimohara, C.P.A., M.B.A., J.D. Phone: 310-477-6161 Email: sfshimohara@skmc-cpa.com

The biography of each ProCon.org researcher, the IT Manager, and the Managing Editor (presented below in alphabetical order by last name) can be viewed by clicking on his/her name.

Kambiz Akhavan, President & Managing Editor Phone: 310-587-1407 Email: kamy@procon.org Tracey DeFrancesco, Senior Researcher Websites: 2008 Election, Clinton, College Football, Medical Marijuana, Reagan, Social Networking, Sports and Drugs Phone: 310-451-9596 Ext. 115 Email: tracey@procon.org Jeffrey Hendricks, Researcher Websites: 2012 Election, Alternative Energy, Cell Phones, Climate Change, Felon Voting, Health Care Reform, Milk, Prescription Drug Ads, Right to Health Care, Vaccines, Vegetarian Phone: 310-451-9596 Ext. 108 Email: jeffrey@procon.org Marcus Hirn, IT Manager/Webmaster Phone: 310-451-9596 Ext. 111 Email: marcus@procon.org

Steven Jacobson, Researcher Websites: Abortion, Born Gay?, Churches and Taxes, Drinking Age, Illegal Immigration, Obesity, Prostitution, Standardized Tests, Under God in the Pledge, WTC Muslim Center Phone: 310-451-9596 Ext. 112 Email: steven@procon.org Nick Wilson, Researcher Websites: Concealed Guns, Death Penalty, Gay Marriage, Social Security, Teacher Tenure, Video Game Violence, Voting Machines Phone: 310-451-9596 Ext. 110 Email: nick@procon.org Jeremy Ziskind, Researcher Websites: ACLU, D.A.R.E., Euthanasia, Insider Trading by Congress, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, US-Iraq War Phone: 310-451-9596 Ext. 113 Email: jeremy@procon.org

Interns & Volunteers ProCon.org Alumni

2005 - 2010 Financial Information for ProCon.org

I. 2010 Financial Summary II. 2010 vs. 2005 - 2009 Expenses: A Graphical Breakdown III. Detailed Chart of Financial Data, 2005 - 2010 IV. Definitions of Terms Used

I. 2010 Financial Summary In 2010 ProCon.org received total gross income from donations of $776,119 up from $660,012 in 2009. Of our $790,287 in 2010 expenses, $705,855 (89.3%) was spent on program services, $65,852 (8.3%) on management and general expenses, and $18,580 (2.6%) on fundraising expenses. ProCon.org operates with such a high percentage of its expenditures in program services for several reasons, including: we spend small amounts to yield large amounts of funds raised, our operation is remarkably efficient, our Chairman has refused a salary since we started, we have an all volunteer Board of Directors, and we have received in-kind donations to offset expenses such as keyword advertising, rent, and accounting services. II. 2010 vs. 2005 - 2009 Expenses: A Graphical Breakdown

Program services are mainly those activities that the reporting organization was created to conduct and which, along with any activities commenced subsequently, form the basis of the organization's current exemption from tax.

Overall management expenses usually include the salaries and expenses of the chief officer of the organization and that officer's staff. General expenses include those for meetings of the board of directors or similar group; committee and staff meetings (unless held in connection with specific program services or fundraising activities); general legal services; accounting (including patient accounting and billing); general liability insurance; office management; auditing, personnel, and other centralized services; preparation, publication, and distribution of an annual report; and investment expenses.

Fundraising expenses are the total expenses incurred in soliciting contributions, gifts, grants, etc.