Dryad
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 461685419
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2012
- Location
- Davis, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8332925326
- Rating
- 63
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,612,856
- Expenses
- $1,614,777
- Assets
- $841,750
- Liabilities
- $370,957
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- JENNIFER GIBSON (EXECUTIVE DI): $183,413 total reported compensation
- RYAN SCHERLE (HEAD OF DEV): $144,703 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 mission of the organization is to promote the availability of data underlying findings in the scientific literature for research and educational use.
What it reported doing in 2024
The scientific, educational, and charitable mission of dryad is to enable the open publication and routine reuse of all research data, thereby enabling the acceleration of discovery across all knowledge domains and the translation of research into benefits for society worldwide.5,546 datasets were approved for publication in the 2024/2025 fiscal year.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 70% 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 most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 66
- Transparency & Controls: 44
- Accountability: 86
- Sustainability: 27
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68.3%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 68.3%; rating input score 68
- Fundraising efficiency: $15.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -0.1%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.52; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.44; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 20.3%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 19.6% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 68.3% of revenue deployed · 68.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $183K · 14 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $145K reported
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- 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: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 52/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 24/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.