Institute for Rare and Neglected Diseases Drug Discovery

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
272797284
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2017
Forms available
Form 990 2017, Form 990-EZ 2013, Form 990-N 2012
Location
Mountain View, CA, USA
Phone
6509954270
Rating
56
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Biomedicine, Bioengineering Research

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$146,586
Expenses
$43,967
Assets
$104,494
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ahvie Herskovitz (Chairman & CEO)

People named in this filing

  • Ahvie Herskovitz (Chairman & CEO)
  • Paul Nakagaki (Board Member)
  • Paul Gater (Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Conduct research to identify and discover new medicines for rare and neglected diseases.

What it reported doing in 2017

During 2017 we continued to expand our work to include investigating medicines for other eukaryotic pathogens including those that cause Chagas diseases, Leishmaniasis and specific fungal infections.We have also conducted research on neuroblastoma and identified a candidate molecule. Neuroblastoma is the most frequently occurring solid extra-cranial tumor of childhood and accounts for approximately 10-15% childhood deaths from cancer. This work was funded by donation of our own time.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the required major-donor schedule is missing or incomplete.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 32
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 83
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 18.8%; rating input score 19
  • Program expense ratio: 62.8%; rating input score 63
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: No; rating input score 0
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 70%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.38; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -46.3% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.2% per year; rating input score 0; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.8% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 18.8% of revenue deployed · 62.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $28K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 14 of 14 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2014 to 2017
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 19/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Major donor itemization scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.