Biomedical Research Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
710675830
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Little Rock, AR, USA
Phone
5012574516
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,350,788
Expenses
$1,364,309
Assets
$2,168,753
Liabilities
$96,365

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SHANNA PALMER (PRESIDENT)
  • RICHARD DENNIS (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • ALAN WOLFMAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JENNIFER ANDERSON (DIRECTOR): $391,730 total reported compensation
  • SHANNA PALMER (PRESIDENT): $345,429 total reported compensation
  • MICHAEL MOORE (DIRECTOR): $258,111 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Advance the research and education mission of the department of veterans affairs by supporting research related activities at the john l. Mcclellan memorial veterans hospital in little rock, Arkansas.

What it reported doing in 2025

Dod: the principal investigators (pis) of this application propose to test the hypothesis that the severity of individual exposure to burn pits will be positively correlated with levels of persistent organic pollutants in blood and metals in urine and the number of epigenetic alterations in dna methylation and that levels of toxic chemicals and alterations in the methylation of specific genes will be positively correlated with chronic problems involving the cardiovascular, respiratory, neuropsychiatric, and other organ systems. The project's specific aims are to (1) describe and quantify relationships of intensity and duration of exposure with persistent organic chemicals/metals in the registry participants and ascertain their relationships with health outcomes linked to burn pit exposure and (2) discover and validate dna methylation marks that best distinguish between individuals exposed to burn pits and those not exposed and then describe and quantify the relationships between dna methylation, intensity and duration of exposure, and health outcomes

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 64% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 59
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 81.4%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • 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: 28.6%; rating input score 29; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 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: Limited
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.59; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.7%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.7% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 83% of revenue deployed · 81.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 7 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $392K · 8 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 29/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.