Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
472231080
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Seattle, WA, US
Phone
206.267.1091
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Birth Defects, Genetic Diseases Research

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$24,030,198
Expenses
$27,278,501
Assets
$14,930,959
Liabilities
$8,547,957

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • JOHN STAMATOYANNOPOULOS (PRES, SCIENTIFIC DIR., & TREASURER): $959,756 total reported compensation
  • ALISTER FUNNELL (DEPUTY DIRECTOR): $660,089 total reported compensation
  • MICHAEL COCKRILL (CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER): $476,510 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences is an independent, nonprofit research organization created to pursue discovery at the leading edge of modern biomedicine.

What it reported doing in 2025

Altius directly conducts an active and multifaceted program of basic biomedical research in the fields of genetics, genomics, epigenetics and biotechnology. We conduct the majority of research programs directly in our own laboratories located in seattle, Washington, and also collaborate with academic research hospitals. Altius aims to discover, develop, and translate for clinical use both data and technologies that illuminate or enable the control of human genes in medically important biological contexts.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 61
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 11
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91.4%; rating input score 91
  • Program expense ratio: 80.4%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -13.5%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.55; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.57; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.5%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 91.4% of revenue deployed · 80.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $21.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $960K · 10 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $339K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.