Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH)
Legal name: Foundation for the National Institutes of Health Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521986675
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- North Bethesda, MD, USA
- Phone
- +1 (240) 983-FNIH
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Biomedicine, Bioengineering Research
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $78,507,209
- Expenses
- $76,818,918
- Assets
- $214,056,526
- Liabilities
- $15,192,964
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
33 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Dr Julie L Gerberding (Chief Executive Officer)
- David Carmel (Senior Vice President, Chief Growth and Innovation Officer)
- Donald Hill (Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer)
- Joseph Menetski (Senior Vice President, Chief Translational Science Officer)
- Kevin Klock (Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel)
- Love Collins (Vice President, Advancement)
Highest reported compensation
- Dr Julie L Gerberding (Chief Executive Officer): $689,835 total reported compensation
- David Carmel (Senior Vice President, Chief Growth and Innovation Officer): $501,278 total reported compensation
- Joseph Menetski (Senior Vice President, Chief Translational Science Officer): $435,246 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 Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) creates and leads alliances and public-private partnerships that advance breakthrough biomedical discoveries and improve the quality of people’s lives. Effective partnerships have always powered scientific progress, but in times of extraordinary opportunity — and challenge — partnerships become even more valuable. FNIH was created by Congress to build “team science” partnerships in support of the mission of NIH. We function to align people and organizations around one shared purpose: accelerating research discoveries that improve human health. By working together, we can go further and faster than NIH or any single investigator or organization can do alone. This year’s FNIH Health Impact Report highlights the power of our many partnerships and what can happen when scientists and innovators work together across traditional...
What it reported doing in 2024
See schedule o, program two, awards, events, education/training programs
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 92% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 66% for direct work, and 34% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 87
- Transparency & Controls: 80
- Accountability: 97
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86.5%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 85.7%; rating input score 86
- Fundraising efficiency: $321.39 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 95.5%; rating input score 95; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.2%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.79; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.8%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.8% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 86.5% of revenue deployed · 85.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 21 of 22 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $65.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $690K · 33 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $7.2M reported
- Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 33 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 22 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 scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.