Objective of the Foundation

Stichting The Doodle Time Institute has the charitable objective of serving the public interest by promoting education, scientific research, public wellbeing and, where relevant, public health.

The Foundation focuses on improving public understanding of how individuals, organisations and institutions allocate time, attention and work, and how these patterns affect wellbeing, health, education, social participation and societal resilience. It aims to develop and share independent knowledge that helps people and institutions make better-informed choices about time use in ways that benefit society as a whole.

The Foundation pursues this objective by initiating, supporting and publishing independent research; developing freely accessible educational materials and public knowledge resources; promoting public education and awareness; and providing evidence-based information to public institutions, educational bodies, researchers and civil-society organisations.

The Foundation does not aim to make a profit. Any income or surplus is used solely to achieve its charitable objectives. The Foundation does not serve the private interests of founders, board members, donors, affiliated organisations or commercial parties. Its activities and resources are exclusively or almost exclusively (at least 90%) directed toward the public benefit.

Summary of the policy plan

The Foundation exists to improve public understanding of how people, organisations and institutions allocate their time, attention and work — and how those patterns shape wellbeing, health, learning, social participation and the resilience of society. There is, as yet, no established science of time allocation, and individuals, employers, educators and policymakers all make consequential decisions about time without a shared, evidence-based foundation. Closing that gap is a public good.

The Foundation was established fully independently by its Dean, Stefan Moritz, with the support of a founding sponsor, Doodle AG, acting out of a genuine societal ESG commitment. The Foundation works in three connected ways: it initiates, supports and publishes independent research; it develops freely accessible educational materials and public knowledge resources; and it provides public education, awareness and evidence-based information to institutions, educators, researchers and civil-society organisations. Its outputs, including all Intellectual Property, are placed in the public domain or made openly available so that anyone — a school, a public body, a workplace, a family or a researcher — can benefit.

The Foundation is funded through donations, grants and subsidies, contributions from its founding sponsor (including anonymised data and staff secondments), and gifts, bequests and legacies. It operates entirely independently of its funders, sets its own agenda, does not grant exclusive early access to research, and publishes its findings openly. It does not aim to accumulate capital and holds no more reserves than are reasonably necessary for its work. On any dissolution, a surplus passes to another ANBI, or a comparable foreign public-benefit institution, with a similar objective. The full policy plan (beleidsplan) is available on request and published alongside this page.

Composition of the board

The Foundation is governed by a Management Board (bestuur) of at least three members. The Board directs and manages the Foundation and represents it in accordance with the articles of association; the Foundation is represented by two Board members acting jointly. The Board meets at least twice a year, keeps proper financial records, and adopts the annual accounts within six months of each financial year-end. The Board is made up of the following functions:

Chair — convenes and presides over Board meetings, sets the agenda together with the Board, and safeguards the continuity and proper functioning of the Board.

Secretary — responsible for the Foundation's records and administration, for the minutes of Board meetings, and for correspondence and notices.

Treasurer — responsible for the Foundation's financial administration, for drawing up the annual balance sheet and statement of income and expenditure, and for submitting the annual accounts to the Board. (The functions of secretary and treasurer are currently held by one person).

All Board members share collective responsibility for the Foundation's policy and for decisions on the use of its assets. No single Board member, nor any other person, may dispose of the Foundation's assets as if they were their own, and no Board member has a majority say over the assets. Board members disclose any conflict of interest and take no part in decisions in which they have a conflicting personal interest.

Members of the board

Christian Fielitz — Board member (Chair)

Stefan Moritz — Board member

John van Tuyll — Board member (Secretary & Treasurer)

Remuneration policy

Members of the Management Board receive zero remuneration for their work as Board members. They are entitled only to reimbursement of reasonable expenses actually incurred in carrying out their duties, on production of proper documentation.

Stefan Moritz concurrently serves actively as the Dean and Director of the Foundation. For these daily, operational executive duties, he receives a reasonable, non-excessive salary in line with the non-profit research and education sector. To ensure strict ANBI compliance and prevent conflicts of interest, his salary and employment terms are determined exclusively by the other Board members in his absence.

The Foundation does not distribute any part of its funds to founders, board members or other private parties.

Intended and Current Activities

The Foundation improves public understanding of how individuals, organisations and institutions allocate time, attention and work, and how these patterns affect wellbeing, health, education, social participation and societal resilience. As a newly established foundation, the work below reflects the Foundation's current initiatives and planned programme for the upcoming period. A full annual activity report is published for each completed financial year.

Independent research: The Foundation initiates, supports and publishes independent research into how time, attention and work are allocated, and what makes time feel well spent — including a collaboration with Stanford University on why organisations reward visible busyness over meaningful work and an initial »time health« framework; a study, with academic and professional partners, on how uncertainty drives unproductive decision-making; and a synthesis of the research on what makes people judge their time as well spent or wasted.

Freely accessible knowledge and publishing: The Foundation develops and shares knowledge resources that are freely accessible to the public, including a published whitepaper on how uncertainty acts as a hidden drain on strategic time, open frameworks on the factors that shape time quality, and a recurring »State of Time« report synthesising evidence on how societies use their time.

Public education and awareness: The Foundation translates its research into public education and awareness through articles, talks and openly available materials for educators, students, leaders, public institutions and civil-society organisations — including work on how the structure of time, not motivation alone, affects learning and dropout in education.

Applied pilots and residencies: The Foundation runs applied pilots and residencies inviting researchers, educators and makers to develop and share new public knowledge about time, including prototyping ways to make the quality of time visible. This work generates openly shared proof points, not proprietary advantage.

Annual accounts

The Foundation's financial year is the calendar year, with an extended first financial year as provided in the articles of association. The Foundation's books close on 31 December, so the annual accounts (including at least a balance sheet and a statement of income and expenditure with explanatory notes) are published within six months of year-end — before 30 June of the following year.