Brainy Ridge Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 991298587
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024
- Location
- Bethesda, MD, USA
- Phone
- 4342603315
- Rating
- 62
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Youth Development Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $311,782
- Expenses
- $253,768
- Assets
- $139,409
- Liabilities
- $2,636
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SANDRA CUSHNER WEINSTEIN (PRESIDENT)
- SUSAN MEHLMAN (VICE PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- ALYSSA WEINSTEIN (DIRECTOR/FOUNDER): $89,566 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Mission is to provide youth with chronic health conditions and their families a safe, positive, and cohesive community that instills hope, belonging, and empowerment. We offer condition-specific residential and family camps for children and young adults living with chronic health conditions including congenital heart disease, neurofibromatosis, type 1 diabetes, epilepsy, and autism, as well as year-round support groups, a teen leadership training program, and a transitional youth program
What it reported doing in 2025
Provided a 7-month teen leadership training program designed to help adolescents living with chronic health conditions develop confidence communication, and problem-solving skills. The program trains teens to serve as peer counselors, giving them the skills and tools to help support and reduce the social isolation experienced by children with chronic health conditions brainy ridge also provided a transitional youth program supporting young adults with chronic health conditions as they navigate into the adult healthcare system. During the 2025 season, 7 former campers joined as first-time counselors, bringing leadership and lived experience to every cabin and activity these programs are designed to cultivate the next generation of leaders, healthcare professionals, and advocates
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 86% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 70
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 16
- Sustainability: 45
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.1%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 82.5%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: $18.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 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: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 18.6%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.55; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 35.3%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 73.5% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 57.3% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 67.1% of revenue deployed · 82.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $209K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $90K · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 21 of 22 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
- High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 53/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.