Atopia Research Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
161780323
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2010–2011
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2011, Form 990-N 2007
Location
Princeton, NJ, USA
Phone
6099211418
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Engineering and Technology

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$221
Expenses
$121,725
Assets
$30,542

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2011. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2011. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Atopia research has a charitable and an educational mission - engaging in humanitarian relief projects where informatics and ecology are important issues and disseminating all useful information that results from these projects in the form of exhibitions and publications, reports and papers, online and in printed formats to reach a broad international audience.

What it reported doing in 2011

Atopia research received a major grant in 2008 from the annenberg foundation to support design research in connection with a rainwater harvesting infrastructure called pitch africa. A prototype walter filtration plant was completed in february 2010 using ceramic water filters, and a full size mock-up of pitch africa was constructed in the port of los angeles to coincide with the soccer world cup in july - august 2010. This mock up was used in a demonstration event to draw attention to water issues worldwide and to demonstrate the water capture and filtration technology developed using the grant. 250 children from the port of la area participated in the event, which was televised on ktla, and filmed by reuters, and abc. In 2011 atopia research continued development work on the water storage and filtration elements to reduce costs and increase effectiveness. The ceramic water filters (cwfs) were integrated into a modular unit. The sport playing surface as rainwater catchment and prefilter was also refined. The developed sports pitch was filed for a patent in july 2011: us 2012 / 0006412 a1 (filed july 6th 2011; pub. Jan 12th 2012) sports pitch rainwater harvesting sytems suitable for use in developing countries.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 100
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 6
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -54,979.2%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.25; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: Limited

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -63.8% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -153.1% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -133.1% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 7 filed program accomplishments · $122K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2010 to 2011
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.