Biocom Institute
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 261852884
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2009
- Location
- San Diego, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8588324162
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Science and Technology N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,409,806
- Expenses
- $1,245,113
- Assets
- $403,305
- Liabilities
- $103,585
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JOSEPH D PANETTA (PRESIDENT & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- JOSEPH D PANETTA (PRESIDENT & CEO): $1,263,315 total reported compensation
- VICKI BRANNOCK (SENIOR DIRECTOR, WORKFORCE): $252,205 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To develop and promote a skilled and diverse pipeline of talent to grow California’s life science ecosystem.
What it reported doing in 2024
This agreement establishes a partnership between the national institute for innovation inmanufacturing biopharmaceuticals (niimbl), santa clara university (scu), biocom californiainstitute, merck sharp & dohme llc, and genentech to develop and implement the "biocad dataprogramming for biomanufacturing scale-up" project. Running from january 1, 2025 through june30, 2026, the project focuses on four key components:1. Building dissemination channels by implementing biocad with cohorts of industryparticipants including 100 genentech interns, 10 merck employees, 20 biocom student andveteran fellows, and 20+ retraining workers, while launching the biocad intermediate dataprogramming for biomanufacturing certificate nationally.2. Developing primers and intermediate courses in downstream processes analytics includingstatistical methods and biomanufacturing process data programming.3. Creating and evaluating intermediate data programming problems and advanced cases forcomplex end-to-end manufacturing scenarios, with 6-8 hands-on problems and advancedcases focusing on emerging biopharmaceutical manufacturing modalities.4. Adapting biocad materials for community college instructors and retraining programsthrough needs analysis, community college instructor adaptation, and pilotimplementations.additionally, biocom California institute hosts participants of the niimbl experience program, anexclusive all-expenses-paid immersion program that provides first and second-year collegestudents with real-world insight into biopharmaceutical industry careers. The program features afull-day immersive experience at biocom's oice with hands-on activities and direct interactionswith industry professionals. This program aims to increase access to the biopharmaceuticalmanufacturing industry among domestic students, broaden talent pipelines by connecting industrywith talented students, and oer exposure to the entire biopharma manufacturing ecosystem.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 70% 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. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and assets have declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 76.6%; rating input score 77
- Program expense ratio: 86.7%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 11.7%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.32; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.26; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 37.7%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.6% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 76.6% of revenue deployed · 86.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $1.3M · 9 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $136K reported
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: 3 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.