Critical Path Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
201991334
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Tucson, AZ, USA
Phone
520.547.3440
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Medical Research N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$46,783,745
Expenses
$40,232,360
Assets
$38,361,666
Liabilities
$12,096,569

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

Leadership & pay

28 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DR KLAUS ROMERO (CEO)
  • MS KRISTEN SWINGLE (PRESIDENT & COO)
  • DR MARCO SCHITO (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • DR SUDHIR SIVAKUMARAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • DR MAAIKE EVERTS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • DR DIANE STEPHENSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DR KLAUS ROMERO (CEO): $519,080 total reported compensation
  • MS KRISTEN SWINGLE (PRESIDENT & COO): $440,146 total reported compensation
  • DR CHERYL COON (VP PROGRAMS): $364,131 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To accelerate the development of therapies for people with unmet medical needs by generating solutions that facilitate scientific and regulatory pathways.

What it reported doing in 2024

Critical path institute also executes other projects and consortia in areas including therapeutics for the ataxias, polycystic kidney disorder, alzheimer's disease, parkinson's, tb, sickle cell disease, type 1 diabetes, duchenne muscular dystrophy, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, lysosomal diseases, model informed drug development, patient-reported outcome, electronic clinical outcome assessment, rare disease clinical outcome assessment, transplant therapeutics, predictive safety testing, pediatrics, and others.

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 83% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67.7%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 77.9%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 42nd 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; 66th 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: 14%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.95; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.32; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.9%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.6% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.1% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.2% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 67.7% of revenue deployed · 77.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $31.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $519K · 28 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.7M reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 31 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 17 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.