Center for Neurological Studies

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
452463347
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2019
Forms available
Form 990 2019
Location
Novi, MI, USA
Phone
2482773334
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and/or Public Policy Analysis

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,754,580
Expenses
$1,780,067
Assets
$869,025
Liabilities
$349,273

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOHN RUSSELL (CEO/EXECUTIV)

Highest reported compensation

  • RANDALL R BENSON MD (VICE PRESIDE): $202,100 total reported compensation
  • JOHN RUSSELL (CEO/EXECUTIV): $199,300 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To advance the scientific research of neuroimaging methods to translate new insights into improve diagnosis of brain injury and provide educational resources of these findings. Provide resources and support to other organizations that provide education materials of brain disorders.

What it reported doing in 2019

Cns continues to provide innovative resources and hope to caregivers, survivors and professionals in the care of brain disorders. The cns resources for diagnosis of mild brain injury using patent pending mri tools, pioneered with innovative treatments such as qeeg, nuero-feedback and growth hormone studies makes cns the leader in advance neuroimaging and diagnosis. Cns has developed two unique core imaging strategies to accomplish the mission of the organization. Susceptibility weighted imaging (swi) and diffusion tensor imaging (dti). Swi is three to six times more sensitive than traditional mri imaging, revealing even the smallest hemorrgage. Dti is even more sensitive than swi, allowing indentification of other chronic, degenerative processes that cause test results to remain abnormal (contine to show signs of disorders) despite real functional recovery. Cns continues to use volumetrics analysis to diagnosis and treat brain disorders. In the initial year of conducting this procedure cns has performed over 50 volumetric analysis. Doctor randall benson, a nationally regarded behavoral neurologist and imaging neuroscientist provides educational presentations and workshops throughout the globe. In addition, he has authored several published papers and articles. These include: mr imaging findings in mild tramatic brain injury with persistent neurological impairment detection of hemorrhagic and axonal pathology in mild traumatic brain injury using advance mri implications for neurorehabilitation global white matter analysis of diffusion tensor images in predictive of injury severity in traumatic brain injury neurofeedback and traumatic brain injury doctor benson is available for speaking engagements and educational workshops to share his knowledge and expertise he and cns has developed over the many years. He brings hope to survivors and their families and professionals in the diagnosis and treatment of brain injuries and disorders.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 93% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 66.1%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.42 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • 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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1.5%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.49; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.4; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.5%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19.2% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 67% of revenue deployed · 66.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $202K · 6 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2011 to 2019
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule G fundraiser detail did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.