Terasem Movement Foundation Inc.

Terasem Movement Foundation (TMF) is a highly unusual private foundation in the philanthropic landscape: it is essentially a self-funded research organization operating at the intersection of transhumanism, nanotechnology, and digital consciousness. The foundation does not operate a public grantmaking program in the traditional sense. It funds its own internal research projects — primarily LifeNaut.com and BINA48 — and does not publicly solicit proposals from external organizations. The foundation was founded by Martine Rothblatt (a prominent transhumanist thinker and biotech entrepreneur) and is headquartered in Lincoln, Vermont. Any engagement with TMF should be approached not as a grantee-funder relationship but as a potential research collaboration or partnership. Institutions working on artificial general intelligence, digital consciousness, mind uploading, cryobiology, or nanotechnology ethics may find alignment with TMF's research agenda. The foundation's affiliated projects (LifeNaut.com, BINA48, the Terasem Journals) provide potential touch points for researchers who want to engage with the foundation's scientific programs.

Terasem Movement Foundation has approximately $4.95M in assets (2023) but its grantmaking to external organizations has been zero in recent years ($0 contributions paid in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023). Instead, the foundation directs all spending to its own programmatic operations — primarily LifeNaut.com development and BINA48 maintenance. Total operating expenses run approximately $480,000-$500,000 annually (based on 990-PF filings), with revenue of $165K-$177K in 2022-2023, meaning the foundation is drawing down assets. The single listed program expense of $483,038 (for LifeNaut.com) represents essentially the entire operating budget. The foundation operates as an operating foundation rather than a grantmaking foundation — it conducts its own programs rather than distributing grants. This is a fundamental distinction for potential funders or collaborators: there is no grants program to apply to.

Terasem Movement Foundation is one of very few foundations globally focused on transhumanist technology research. It occupies an unusual niche:

TMF is smaller than most comparable organizations in the longevity/transhumanism space and is uniquely focused on the consciousness/digital identity angle rather than biological life extension. Unlike SENS or Future of Life, it does not make traditional grants to outside researchers.

Terasem Movement Foundation's website (terasemmovementfoundation.com) went offline and its DNS stopped resolving in late 2023 or early 2024. However, affiliated projects remain active: LifeNaut.com continues to operate (verified March 2026) and still accepts new mindfile registrations. BINA48, the social robot, was featured at conferences through 2019-2022. The foundation's last notable public news was a June 2022 update noting that LifeNaut.com was "still going strong." Martine Rothblatt, the principal funder and board member, has remained active in public discourse around transhumanism and digital identity through her work at United Therapeutics. The foundation appears to be in a maintenance phase rather than active expansion — LifeNaut.com persists as its primary public-facing project while the parent foundation maintains its asset base primarily in investments.

Terasem Movement Foundation does not make traditional grants to external organizations and does not publish a grants calendar, RFP, or application process. For researchers or organizations who want to engage with TMF's work, the most effective approach is through LifeNaut.com collaboration or direct research partnership proposals. Relevant areas of work include: digital consciousness modeling, AI-based personality simulation, cryobiology, geoethics of emerging technology, and human-robot interaction. The foundation's affiliated academic journal (Journal of Personal Cyberconsciousness) provides a publication venue for researchers aligned with the TMF mission. Given the foundation's personal nature (closely tied to Martine Rothblatt's transhumanist philosophy), engagement that directly connects to the Terasem Hypotheses — the idea of transferred consciousness and digital personhood — is most likely to resonate. Organizations working on AI ethics, digital rights, or consciousness philosophy may find limited-resource collaboration opportunities through volunteerism or joint research rather than grant funding.