PEERS 2013 Annual Report
Making a Difference in Our World
"PEERS has allowed me to make a huge shift in my spiritual beliefs and in my critical thinking. I have been freed from religious guilt and can now safely and joyfully explore my spirituality. But the biggest shift is the amount of love I now let into my life. I have learned that this life and the next are all about love. Today, I am a much better person because of PEERS. My husband and I grow our community by doing volunteer work in the US, South Africa and Cambodia. We spend more time with neighbors. And we try to remember to love especially those who are hard to love." ~~ Sarah T. on Aug 8, 2013
PEERS (Public Education and Empowerment Resource Service) was officially incorporated in early 2006 as a nonprofit umbrella organization for the 12 websites now under its management. As of the end of 2013, PEERS has been providing inspiration and education free of charge to many millions of interested people around the globe for eight years. We continue to touch countless people's hearts and make a difference in our world in a most meaningful way.
Interest in most of our websites and our two email lists continued to grow at a good pace in the past year. PEERS websites received a total volume for 2013 of over 3.7 million visits and 5.8 million page views, an overall increase of 16% over the previous year. And the number of subscribers to our WantToKnow.info email list grew to over 12,500. Our two email lists combined now have more than 15,000 subscribers from over 150 countries.
The total amount of contributions to PEERS in 2013 increased by a very healthy 32% over the previous year. The number of donors jumped a very impressive 50% to 770, while the number of supporters giving monthly contributions surged higher over 20% to 116. And thanks to all of this wonderful support, PEERS income for the year was over $7,000 more than expenses.
The empowering work of PEERS is educating and inspiring ever more people around the world. Hundreds of people sent messages expressing gratitude for our work this year.
"The PEERS websites are quite amazing. I appreciate the hard work you're doing while still promoting a message of peace and love. I've been aware of the major coverups through other websites and often found the vitriolic language increases the stress I feel concerning the information I'm reading. I am a UK pensioner with a very modest income. I am very selective about donating to any cause, but I was instantly impressed and drawn to donate to yours." ~~ Anne G. in the UK, May 3, 2013
"In this last school year among my 12th grade students doing research of their choice to write and present a current event of their interest, WantToKnow.info became their favorite site. I overheard on several occasions students telling others that they should check out WantToKnow.info as it helped their research." ~~ Carl H. on July 22, 2013
"No single website has had a bigger impact on my personal transformation than the site WantToKnow.info, because while it has a plethora of information which once frightened and angered me, it also showed me a way to alleviate my fear through personal service to others. Thank you for your inspiration to go beyond my fear and accept what is, especially when I don't like it." ~~ Laila S. on Nov. 9, 2013
The Personal Growth Courses
The average number of registered people journeying through one of our four empowering online courses at any time hovers around 75, though many of these don't finish. Only 17 registered participants completed one of our courses last year, down from 22 the previous year. Yet registration is not required to take a course, and we calculate from emails and website statistics that over 200 unregistered individuals completed one or more of the courses. Almost every registered participant who has completed a course continues to give glowing reviews.
"Each lesson in the course has had the effect of shaking up my negative beliefs and supplying an alternative, love-based belief system. I hope to progress through the course and attain deeper and deeper clarity that will allow me to be a more effective human. I have never seen a greater, better organized, collection of positive material." ~~ Bob B. on his progression through the Transformation Course, June 27, 2013
"It's amazing how the information from this course is exactly what I needed! It's so simple and so freeing! The power of breathing sacred love and connecting with others, heart to heart, has been so impacting! I didn't know how sad I really was. My heart and mind have completely changed. Peace and acceptance are becoming my daily normal. Now my first instinct when problems, anger, or worries arise is to focus my thoughts on love. The ability to love and feel compassion for myself and others is truly the most powerful force I've ever felt! This mighty force of Light and PURE LOVE is setting me free in ways I had never imagined!" ~~ Bonnie P. on the Insight Course, Dec. 5, 2013
"Wow! I have learned more here than I did my whole school career. I completely changed my life for the better. I am now full of love and happiness. I smile all the time and think of ways to better Earth. I love you all. Thank you!" ~~ Eric in Oregon on the Inspiration Course, Sept. 18, 2013
All four of our courses provide a rich variety of deeply inspiring and educational materials. Even though not many are taking them now, we are hopeful that these heart and mind expanding courses may become more popular at some point. Those who complete one of the courses can join in the many engaging conversations with the 246 caring individuals who are now members of our beautiful and increasingly popular community networking portal, the Gathering Spot.
"I just want you to know how much PEERS means to me. The Gathering Spot is my main lifeline to like-minded people. I'm sure your websites have touched many, many lives. People are waking up to the truth. It's exciting!" ~~ Noa in France, May 3, 2013
Other PEERS Websites
Compared with 2012, our most popular website, WantToKnow.info, experienced an increase of 21% in the number of visits in 2013, with over 2.8 million visits to the site, up from 2.3 million the previous year. That's an average of nearly 8,000 visits a day! Since 2006, the WantToKnow.info home page has had over two millions visits and the 10-page 9/11 summary over one millions visits. 50 webpages have had over 100,000 visits in the same time period.
Visits to the Web of Love website increased 27% to 296,000 visits or about 800 a day. Visits to our personalgrowthcourses.net website filled with fascinating and inspiring videos decreased 20% to 254,000 for the year or around 700 a day. Overall, we had over 3.7 million visits to the websites and 5.8 million page views. That's an impressive average of over 10,000 visits and 16,000 page views per day. We are excited that PEERS continues to reach an ever larger audience.
An impressive 60% of visits to all of our websites came from search engines. This is excellent as most of those who come in through search engines are new to what we present and thus prime candidates for benefiting from all that we have to offer.
With our tech whiz Andrey's ever capable help, we made a few improvements to our websites this year. After starting a readers forum for WantToKnow.info late in 2012, this year in March we added readers forums for the love and inspiration-based websites, though it has not yet caught on. The WantToKnow.info forum, however, is slowly growing. It now has nearly 300 users and over 400 posts in a variety of topic areas. The Gathering Spot for our course graduates now has 245 members, though only about 12 of those are regular contributors. Yet with 4,400 posts, this forum continues to draw about 200 visits a day.
We added comment pages for every page on WantToKnow.info, though sadly very few people have left comments. We also finally changed the format of all of our videos from flv to mp4 so that now people can watch them on their tablets and smart phones. And we now have over 5,800 highly revealing news article summaries in our excellent news database.
After intermittently working on it for two years, PEERS founder Fred Burks posted an inspiring 10-page essay titled "A White House Insider's Journey Down The Rabbit Hole and Back to Magnificence," which drew many very positive responses and a number of donations.
We continue to get lots of supportive and grateful feedback on our websites, email lists, and online courses. Here is a further sampling of the many wonderful emails of support we received this year.
"When our son was born in July 2012, he was healthy except for a rash the doctor told us was eczema. He experienced trouble sleeping due to the itchiness and oozing from the wounds. Around January this year, my wife Silia stumbled onto WantToKnow.info and the story on Seeds of Deception. We ordered the book and started an organic and GMO free diet. Our son's eczema completely disappeared with the change in diet. When later we ran out of the organic formula and gave him some of the regular one we still had, he flared up with the rash again by the end of the day. Our health has dramatically improved as well." ~~ Reynaldo R. on WantToKnow.info, Dec. 4, 2013
"The information and inspiration on the PEERS websites have been of unsurpassed value in my professional work and for me personally. WantToKnow.info covers some of the darkest and most disturbing domains of human skullduggery, yet never fails to see the larger picture and is able to help us see that there is much to be hopeful for. These sites are wonderful resources for any spiritual seeker and indeed for anyone who hungers for the latest information about the world." ~~ Kenneth Ring, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Author of Lessons from the Light, Nov. 8, 2013
PEERS Finances
PEERS had a total income of $75,527 in 2013, an awesome 32% increase from 2012. All but 7% of this came in the form of donations from generous supporters. The number of individuals making monthly contributions also increased 20% from 96 in 2012 to 116 this year, while the number of caring individuals who made one or more donations during the year increased by a most impressive 50% to 770. While many other nonprofits are still struggling financially, PEERS is extremely thankful to have such strong support from our readers and subscribers.
Our total expenses for the year were $68,260, up 43% from 2012. This was due largely to a 40% increase in compensation to Executive Director Fred Burks and to the additional taxes PEERS must pay. Even with this increase in expenses, PEERS ended up $7,267 in the black for the year of 2013. As a result, we are quite pleasantly surprised that PEERS now has $40,391 in total equity.
Our two major expenses last year were $37,000 (plus $3,076 in taxes) to Fred for his continued excellent management of PEERS, and $14,225 for Tod's quality weekly news summaries. Another $1,840 went to our web wizard Andrey for his brilliant and highly useful technical support and $1,575 to Marc for support in applying for grants. The remaining funds went to pay for grant writing support from Foundation Search ($4,000), PayPal fees ($2,212), Internet expenses ($1,339), government taxes and fees ($893), printing, postage and office supplies ($882), insurance ($800), payroll service ($327), memberships ($55), bank fees ($12), and a donation return ($25).
To see the QuickBooks form listing profit and loss figures for PEERS in fiscal year 2013, click here. For the profit and loss form since inception in 2006, click here. For the PEERS balance sheet as of the end of 2013, click here.
The statements at the above links were prepared without official audit of our books and records, though they have been carefully reviewed by Executive Director Fred Burks and were examined and certified by Treasurer John Lumiere-Wins. PEERS ended the year with liabilities of $997 resulting from taxes not due until January 2014. All donations were unrestricted. We had a net gain for 2013 of $7,267. We are extremely grateful to all of our caring contributors who so generously supported us, especially in these challenging times.
Transforming Our World Together With You
Our world is rapidly changing and transforming with each passing year. People around the globe are waking up and wanting to make a difference. The banking and data collection scandals, populist movements, the Internet, and much more are opening the eyes of many people to deeper, previously hidden levels of what is happening in our world. And people all over are awakening to deeper spiritual realities and to our common humanity. It's an exciting time to be alive!
We believe that PEERS is at the forefront of a grand movement to transform our world into a more caring and loving place for all people to live. Thanks so much to all involved with PEERS for your invaluable support in this most noble endeavor. We enter the year 2014 full of excitement at the possibilities of ever greater transformation of our world through our great work and that of our supporters and so many others who are coming together for the betterment of all in our world.
"I did not expect that this course would surpass my expectations by such a quantum leap. The material is profound, taking the simple approach, yet incorporating such depth and breath of exposure and examples. It allows a person to really touch the transformation process. As a member of a very famous (sometimes infamous) brotherhood, I believe that you have captured the true meaning of all the ancient mystery schools in a way that such knowledge is intended – for the evolution of all persons. All the great teachings promulgate this philosophy, but none present it in such a wonderful, caring, open, and humanly reachable manner."
~~ Robert G. on the Transformation Course, Jan. 17, 2013
Note: To read other messages of deep appreciation for our work, click here and here. And we'd be thrilled if you are inspired to make a donation to support our work. To do so, please click here.
PEERS 2013 Annual Report
Compiled and Written By
Fred Burks
PEERS Executive Director
The PEERS empowerment network
"Dedicated to the greatest good of all who share our beautiful world"