Brain Injury Association of America Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
042716222
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Fairfax, VA, USA
Phone
7037610750
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,505,913
Expenses
$5,389,641
Assets
$6,431,434
Liabilities
$826,434

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

Leadership & pay

24 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • RICHARD WILLIS (PRESIDENT AND CEO)
  • MELISSA NICEWARNER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TEXAS CHAPTER)

Highest reported compensation

  • RICHARD WILLIS (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $341,304 total reported compensation
  • PAULA EICHHOLZ (VP, COMMUNITY DEV'T AND REVENUE): $182,756 total reported compensation
  • AHMAD SALAM (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND OPERATIONS): $149,124 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

(see schedule o)to advance brain injury awareness, research, treatment, and education and to improve the quality of life for all individuals impacted by brain injury. Through advocacy, biaa's goal is to bring help, hope, and healing to millions of individuals living with brain injury, their families, and the professionals who serve them.

What it reported doing in 2025

Education, training, and research - biaa educates brain injury survivors, caregivers and professionals every year through several programs. These include free and low-cost webinars, in-person conferences, and specialized resources and materials. Biaa's academy of certified brain injury specialists (acbis) provides programs that allow individuals an opportunity to learn important information about brain injury and earn a nationally recognized credential. Acbis programs provide education, training, certification, and ongoing resources for specialists in the brain injury community. Current acbis programs include certified brain injury specialist (cbis), certified brain injury specialist trainer (cbist) and provisional certified brain injury specialist (pcbis) certification programs, as well as the brain injury fundamentals certificate program. Biaa's acbis programs continue to grow the certification program offerings to meet the needs of the brain injury rehabilitation community. Biaa accelerates research and the discovery of cures by awarding grants to dissertation candidates, young investigators, and brain injury scholars across the country. Biaa's staff and leaders are key partners in advising researchers and disseminating findings.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 72.8%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: -19.6%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.19; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.4%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.5% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 95% of revenue deployed · 72.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $3.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $341K · 24 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $576K reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.