American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
455623500
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Vista, CA, USA
Phone
2063093867
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,297,121
Expenses
$638,412
Assets
$900,014
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Dr Robert Epstein (Member Board of Directors and CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Dr Robert Epstein (Member Board of Directors and CEO): $4,484 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To conduct, promote, and advance research on human behavior that has the potential to improve the human condition, develop possible applications of such research, and to educate the public about both this research and its applications.

What it reported doing in 2025

TECH WATCH PROJECT (TWP): Expansion of Tech Watch Project to monitor content being sent by online technology companies to a large group of registered voters in all 50 US states: A team of nearly 50 paid and volunteer staff members successfully recruited more than 17,000 field agents - a politically-balanced group of registered voters - to allow AIBRT researchers to monitor personalized ephemeral content being sent to voters by Google, Bing, Yahoo, Facebook, and other tech companies. In all, more than 135 million ephemeral experiences - content that can shift opinions and votes and that is normally lost forever - were preserved and analyzed. Significant political bias was found in this content sufficient to shift millions of votes without people's awareness. A 61-page report on this topic was made part of the public record in 2024 in connection with testimony before the Texas State Legislature. A detailed report was also presented at a scientific conference in 2025, and a 480-page report was published in the Congressional Record in connections with Dr. Epstein's testimony before Congress on Dec. 13, 2023. Such a system will make Big Tech companies accountable to the public and has the potential to stop possible interference in our elections and possible indoctrination of our children. A 200-page peer-reviewed monograph about our nationwide monitoring system (the world's first) and about the need for all democracies to create similar monitoring systems will be published by Routledge Publishing in late 2026 or early 2027. It is entitled, "Preventing the Misuse of Digital Influence."

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 45
  • Sustainability: 76
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 42.5%; rating input score 42
  • Program expense ratio: 85.4%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $182.32 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 50%; rating input score 50; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 50.8%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.41; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0.7%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -14.4% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 42.5% of revenue deployed · 85.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 4 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $545K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $4K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 42/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 50/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.