Clayton Foundation For Research

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
741541767
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Houston, TX, USA
Phone
7138175259
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Medical Research N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,857,333
Expenses
$10,938,202
Assets
$144,353,789
Liabilities
$6,584,095

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jarred W Sloan (Trustee, President, Treasurer)
  • Robert M Wallace (Trustee, Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jarred W Sloan (Trustee, President, Treasurer): $785,428 total reported compensation
  • Robert M Wallace (Trustee, Vice President): $785,428 total reported compensation
  • Lynn P Carter (Trustee): $785,428 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The primary mission is to conduct medical research in conjunction with hospitals for the purpose of discovering the cause, prevention and cure of diseases for the benefit of mankind. The secondary mission is to transfer the resulting medical research discoveries from the laboratory to the use of the general public by patenting and licensing such technology for development into drugs or other products for the use and benefit of mankind through the Foundation's supporting entities.

What it reported doing in 2024

A long standing research project at the University of Texas at Austin under the direction of Dr. Brent Iverson is in the field of engineering proteases. One aim of the project is to discover engineered proteases that will serve as more efficient, next generation antibody replacements. The engineered proteases will cleave the protein disease target in a catalytic fashion, thus requiring much less drug and enabling far lower doses and potentially fewer side effects. This project has resulted in the generation of a technology platform to support the development of protease therapeutics called Yeast Endoplasmic Reticulum Sequestration Screening (YESS). In addition to protease engineering, this platform is generating valuable information on enzyme substrate profiling. This allows to profile resistance in kinase inhibitor drugs and to generate kinase inhibitors and protease inhibitors with very low resistance and much higher specificity. This platform has been validated, and lead small drug candidates are currently being developed. Several publications have created interest in the scientific community in the YESS platform. Patent applications have been filed by RDF, one of the Foundation? s supporting entities, on several discoveries arising out of this research.

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 99% 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 the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 61
  • Accountability: 42
  • Sustainability: 78
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 82.9%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 19.4%; rating input score 19; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 3rd 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: 26.4%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 13.2; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.3%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 82.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 15 filed program accomplishments · $9.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $785K · 8 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $579K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 32 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 8 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.