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HARMONY LABS INC
NEW YORK, NY · EIN 262506162 · Form 990 · FY2024 · NTEE A31 · Arts, Culture & Humanities · Large ($10M-$50M) · harmonylabs.org
revenue
$17.2M
expenses
$4.8M
net assets
$13.1M
employees
19
volunteers
7
program ratio
75%
mission · from form 990

HARMONY LABS AIMS TO PROMOTE AND ADVANCE RESEARCH AND UNDERSTANDING OF HOW MEDIA INFLUENCE WORKS WITHIN SOCIETY AND PARTNERS WITH RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS, INCLUDING RESEARCH, INDUSTRY AND MEDIA PRACTICIONERS TO ADDRESS KNOWLEDGE GAPS AND TO EXPERIMENT WITH AND DEVELOP SOLUTIONS THAT HAVE POSITIVE SOCIAL OUTCOMES.

profile · synthesized from sources

Harmony Labs is a research organization advancing understanding of how media influence society. Founded in 2008 and based in New York, it builds rigorous, data-driven insights through its Narrative Observatory platform, which aggregates anonymized media consumption and content data from partners like Nielsen and Comscore. The organization collaborates with funders, media practitioners, and researchers to address societal challenges including democracy, climate, equity, and artificial intelligence.

named programs · 7 · from sources

What they call their work

#TeamWater Makes It Rain
Media campaign and research effort focused on water conservation and environmental stewardship through narrative engagement.
A Narrative Goal for Enabling Mobility from Poverty
Study identifying effective narratives to support economic mobility and reduce systemic barriers to opportunity.
Building Support for a Just Energy Transition
Initiative using narrative analysis to develop communication strategies that promote equitable climate and energy policies.
Move Them or Lose Them: From Research To Practice
Project translating media research into actionable strategies for influencing public attitudes on critical social issues.
Narrative Observatory
A data platform providing minute-by-minute analysis of media consumption and content across TV, streaming, online news, YouTube, and TikTok, enabling research on audience behavior and narrative dynamics.
The Democracy Audience Map
Research initiative mapping audience segments and narrative engagement around democratic values and political participation in the U.S.
The Power of Story to Grow Democracy, Pt. 2
Research report and strategy framework exploring how storytelling can strengthen democratic engagement and resilience.
activities · 3 groups

What they do

  • Nonprofit Investigative & Community Journalism 2 activities
    • Conducting public and participatory research on media influence
      Conducts rigorous, participatory, and publicly oriented research to advance understanding of media’s influence on society, with the goal of serving the public good. This includes identifying knowledge gaps and partnering with stakeholders to develop research-driven solutions that generate positive social outcomes.
    • Operating the Narrative Observatory for media narrative analysis
      Operates the Narrative Observatory, a public platform that uses non-survey, respondent-level data infrastructure to monitor and analyze media narratives, audience behavior, and network engagement across thousands of broadcast, streaming, online news, and social media sources. The platform is built on data philanthropy, academic partnerships, and internally developed data science to study real-time media consumption patterns of over 300,000 U.S. individuals.
  • Documentary Film Production 2 activities
    • Producing documentary films through Atlantic Studios
      Launched and led Atlantic Studios, a production initiative responsible for creating the award-winning documentary *White Noise*, which premiered at AFI Docs and IDFA and won Best Documentary at Raindance.
    • Translating media research into actionable insights and strategies
      Translates complex media research and cultural trends into actionable intelligence, creative inspiration, and strategic guidance for funders, creators, and media organizations. This includes developing methods to convert cultural signals into products, business models, and content strategies.
  • Uncategorized 1 activity
    • Providing project and team management leadership in research and media initiatives
      Manages project operations and oversees annotation teams at Harmony Labs, with a demonstrated history of building productive, human-centered work environments across sectors including media, philanthropy, and public service.
financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$17.22M
Contributions & grants$15.67M91%
Program service revenue$1.54M9%
Investment income$00%
Other revenue$8K
expenses
Total expenses$4.76M
Program expenses75%
Admin / overhead13%
Fundraising12%
Salaries & benefits$3.87M
Grants paid out$0
Largest expense lineCompensation
balance sheet
Total assets$13.32M
Cash$6.00M
Investments$0
Liabilities$191K
Net assets$13.13M
Liquid reserves15.1 mo
5 years on record · 2020–2024 · YoY revenue +406.9%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024

Who runs it

paid leadership · 6
NameTitleHours/wkCompensation
BRIAN WANIEWSKI EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 40 $527K
FREDERICA CONREY MARCOMM DIRECTOR 40 $251K
HIRAM P JOHNSON SCIENCE DIRECTOR 40 $242K
JUSTIN SMITH ENGINEERING DIRECTOR 40 $223K
MERCEDES COYLE LEAD SOFTWARE ENGINEER 40 $217K
JONATHAN R STEWART LEAD DATA SCIENTIST 40 $216K
board members · 7
  • ADAM WOLFENSOHN — SECRETARY
  • EMMA CANARICK — TREASURER
  • JOHN S JOHNSON — CHAIRMAN
  • JONAH PERETTI — DIRECTOR
  • MARYL WIDDOWS — DIRECTOR
  • MATTHEW BARZUN — DIRECTOR
  • OMAR WASOW — DIRECTOR
relationships · 28

Who they work with

  • Amazon Funder — Financial supporter of Harmony Labs' research and platform development.
  • Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Partner — Rob Avruch previously served as a Senior Program Officer at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
  • Civic Space Foundation Partner — Rob Avruch serves on the board of the Civic Space Foundation.
  • Comscore Partner — Data philanthropy partner contributing to the Narrative Observatory.
  • Comscore Partner — Donated media consumption and content data for research use
  • Earth Alliance Partner — Collaborated on shaping editorial strategy for climate storytelling
  • Gates Foundation Funder — Financial supporter of Harmony Labs' research and platform development.
  • Google Funder — Financial supporter of Harmony Labs' research and platform development.
  • Impact Guild Partner — Rob Avruch co-chairs the Investment and Philanthropy Peer Group at the Impact Guild.
  • LinkedIn Partner — Platform used for organizational outreach and engagement
  • Nielsen Partner — Data philanthropy partner contributing to the Narrative Observatory.
  • Nielsen Partner — Donated media consumption and content data for research use
  • Omnicom Partner — Collaborated on the startup of a data-driven creative agency
  • Open Society Foundations Funder — Financial supporter of Harmony Labs' research and platform development.
  • Paramount Global Partner — Former affiliation where Shivani developed insights presentations and whitepapers on culture-forward narratives for ad partners.
  • Peakmetrics Partner — Data philanthropy partner contributing to the Narrative Observatory.
  • Peakmetrics Partner — Donated media consumption and content data for research use
  • Research, Industry and Media Practitioners Partner — Collaborates with research, industry, and media practitioners to address knowledge gaps and develop solutions with positive social outcomes.
  • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Funder — Financial supporter of Harmony Labs' research and platform development.
  • SVA Partner — Graduate institution where Shivani completed the Masters in Branding program and assisted in teaching cultural trends and forecasting.
  • School of Visual Arts Partner — Founding faculty member of the Masters Branding Program
  • The Atlantic Partner — Launched and led Atlantic Studios, producing documentary content
  • The Democracy Audience Map Partner — Collaborates on research and narrative strategy related to democracy engagement.
  • ThoughtMatter Partner — Former affiliation where Shivani crafted brand identities alongside designers and content producers.
  • Tiktok Partner — Source of social media posts and video content data used in research
  • Twitter Partner — Platform used for organizational outreach and engagement
  • Waverley Street Foundation Partner — Collaborated on shaping editorial strategy for climate storytelling
  • YouTube Partner — Source of video and transcript data used in research
strategies · 3

How they approach the work

Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.

  • Empirically Grounded Narrative Strategy
    methodology: empirical_narrative_validation
    By integrating large-scale behavioral data with cultural analysis, we produce actionable narrative insights because real-world observation of media engagement enables more effective and validated communication strategies than self-reported data.
  • Media as Leverage for Systemic Change
    methodology: media-as-ecosystem
    By studying and reshaping cultural narratives through media, we produce conditions for systemic social change because media fundamentally shape human perception and behavior at scale.
  • Research-to-Impact Translation Engine
    methodology: research-to-impact_translation
    By translating rigorous research into tools, strategies, and media collaborations, we enable partners to convert insight into impact because evidence-based cultural strategies are more effective when operationalized through creative and practical applications.