The OSI community is very grateful for the support it has received from partners, sponsors, delegates, and volunteer organizers. OSI partners include the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Science Communication Institute (which oversees OSI), and the universities who help develop, host, and make this event possible every year (George Mason University in 2016, George Washington University in 2017, and American University in 2018). Sponsors contribute funding only and do not influence OSI’s agenda or findings, which is determined by OSI’s participants and leadership. The sponsors for each year are listed below (in US$):
Source |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
| Alfred P. Sloan Foundation | $20,000 | $20,000 | $20,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| American Geophysical Union | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $1,000 | $0 |
| Cabell’s | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $5,000 | $0 | $5,000 | $0 |
| Cactus Communications | $0 | $0 | $0 | $5,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Copyright Clearance Center | $2,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Delta Think | $0 | $0 | $0 | $500 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Doris Duke Charitable Foundation | $0 | $25,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Elsevier | $7,500 | $20,000 | $10,000 | $5,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Emerald Publishing Ltd. | $0 | $0 | $0 | $1,000 | $1,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| George Mason University | $4,500 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Laura & John Arnold Foundation | $5,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Nature Publishing Group (Macmillan) | $5,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| PressForward Institute (via Sloan) | $5,500 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Research Consulting Ltd. | $0 | $0 | $0 | $1,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| ResearchMedia | $500 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Sage Publications | $5,000 | $5,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Taylor & Francis (Informa) | $0 | $5,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| UNESCO | $48,000 | $25,000 | $13,000 | $0 | $2,000* | $2,500* | $0 | $0 |
| Wiley | $7,500 | $10,000 | $10,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Conference fees (@ $500 ea) | $58,000 | $14,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Individual donations | $350 | $300 | $0 | $375 | $875 | $875 | $120 | $3,300 |
| Total income | $168,850 | $134,300 | $63,000 | $12,875 | $8,875 | $3,375 | $6,120 | $3,300 |
Cumulatively, OSI funding (totaling $400,695 over the life of this project) has been fairly evenly divided between UNESCO, private foundations, publishers, and other contributors (conference participants, individuals, and scholarly communication consultants). This distribution has been intentional—we didn’t want to appear beholden to any single stakeholder community in this conversation.