Davidson Institute

Legal name: Davidson Institute for Talent Development

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
880427864
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-PF 2023
Location
Incline Village, NV, USA
Phone
7758328314
Rating
58
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$25,180,530
Expenses
$15,303,470
Assets
$222,652,201
Liabilities
$2,524,009

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARK R HERRON (PRESIDENT)
  • ROBERT M DAVIDSON (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • COLLEEN HARSIN (EXEC DIRECTOR DAVIDSON ACADEMY): $318,639 total reported compensation
  • EAMONN O'BRIEN (DIRECTOR OF IT): $252,909 total reported compensation
  • DEE CAREY (HR DIRECTOR): $220,427 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 recognize the nation’s profoundly gifted youth and support them holistically so they may reach their highest potential.

What it reported doing in 2024

The davidson institute fellows award ceremony is a one-day event held in boston to recognize and honor young people selected as davidson fellows who will receive either a $25,000, $50,000 or $100,000 scholarship commitment to further the development of their talent through attendance at an accredited academic institution of learning.the purpose of this event is to recognize the outstanding achievements of highly intelligent young people who have demonstrated the development of their talents with a significant piece of work. This award program seeks to recognize and award the truly extraordinary in recognized areas of science, technology, mathematics, literature, philosophy, and music as well as outside the box ideas. Each submission must be a piece of original work recognized by experts in the field as significant and it must have the potential to make a positive contribution to society. Each submission is evaluated on its scope and quality, level of significance and the applicant's depth of knowledge and understanding of the work and the related domain area.once the independent team of judges, who are professionals with expertise in the domain areas submitted, have identified a small group of finalists, each finalist is named as a davidson fellow and receives either a $25,000, $50,000 or $100,000 scholarship, as determined by the judges using the selection criteria. Individuals named as davidson fellows are then honored at a hosted reception in september each year. Travel and other hotel costs are paid by the davidson institute for talent development. Typically, 17 to 20 davidson fellows are selected each year. The davidson fellows award is not a competition, but rather recognition of extraordinary achievement.

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 93% 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

MIXED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 34
  • Sustainability: 83
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70.3%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 79.4%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 40%; rating input score 40; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 39.2%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 14.55; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.9%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 70.3% of revenue deployed · 79.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 5 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $12.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $319K · 14 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $1.9M reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 72 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 40/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.