Network Contagion Research Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
823649399
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Princeton, NJ, USA
Phone
6507967976
Rating
23
Verdict
REVIEW
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and/or Public Policy Analysis

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,065,614
Expenses
$1,396,176
Assets
$468,424
Liabilities
$3,288

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

2 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • JOEL FINKELSTEIN (CHIEF SCIENC): $245,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Ncri uses its contextus platform to embed, track, and expose the meaning of language, videos, and images used within web communities that increasingly signify hate and encourage violence. Ncri exposes cryptic, violent, and genocidal language and symbols within social media communities and tracks the meaning and context of their coded language. As a result, ncri has emerged as one of the leading authorities in the world on how social- media-inspired domestic terror operates.

What it reported doing in 2025

The ncri provides awareness, instruction, and insights to various groups into ncris methodologies for understanding the complex and rapidly evolving landscape of cyber-social threats, and knowledge needed to protect people, organizations and others from online cyber-social harms. Ncri educates organizations on the various tools and techniques used by cybercriminals, hate organizations, and other malicious actors in the cyber environment. Ncri endeavors to enhance the cyber-social literacy of the next digitally savvy generation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
No current program activity. The filing reports no program spending for the current year.

The verdict

REVIEW - Revenue has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 0
  • Transparency & Controls: 55
  • Accountability: 5
  • Sustainability: 54
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
  • Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 9th 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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: Limited
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 32.4%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.34; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17.5%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -26.5% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 29% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.5% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments
  • Leadership: top reported pay $245K · 2 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Independent members within voting members did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.