LabCentral
Legal name: Lab Central Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 461031913
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Cambridge, MA, USA
- Phone
- 6178633650
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Management & Technical Assistance
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $27,342,387
- Expenses
- $24,529,205
- Assets
- $110,671,425
- Liabilities
- $83,200,569
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JOHANNES FRUEHAUF (PRESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER)
- CELINA CHANG (VICE PRESIDENT, SCIENCE STRATEGY)
Highest reported compensation
- MARGARET O'TOOLE (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $388,280 total reported compensation
- JOHANNES FRUEHAUF (PRESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER): $370,694 total reported compensation
- MIKE LARHETTE (CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICER): $358,937 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
LabCentral is a nonprofit organization that provides shared laboratory space, resources, and a collaborative community to support early-stage biotechnology startups, accelerating their growth and innovation.
What it reported doing in 2024
Help create the next generation of biotech companies by providing entreprenuers and innovative life sciences startups with the space and resources needed to test out, challenge, and nurture early ideas.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 66% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and liabilities are high compared with assets.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 65
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 71
- Sustainability: 61
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 70.3%; rating input score 70
- Program expense ratio: 77.5%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Missing
- 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: 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: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 50%; rating input score 50; 8th 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: 10.3%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.51; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.75; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.1%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 26.4% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 70.3% of revenue deployed · 77.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 6 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $19M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $388K · 13 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.9M reported
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 17 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 6 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.
- Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 50/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.