Neural Education
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 813195362
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2021, Form 990-N 2019
- Location
- Puyallup, WA, USA
- Phone
- 2536860001
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Educational Services and Schools - Other
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $284,058
- Expenses
- $416,995
- Assets
- $249,306
- Liabilities
- $21,180
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MARY SYNDER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
- MISSY WIDMANN (BOARD MEMBER, PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- MARY SYNDER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $137,500 total reported compensation
- MISSY WIDMANN (BOARD MEMBER, PRESIDENT): $28,095 total reported compensation
- JEROME HUNTER (BOARD MEMBER): $4,680 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We dismantle the barriers of stress, bias and emotional reactivity with powerful, practical, research-informed learning practices so that all students can learn and thrive.
What it reported doing in 2025
Neural education provided immersive 3-day professional learning institutes that translate neuroscience research into practical instructional strategies for educators. The objective of this program is to increase educators' understanding of educational neuroscience, including how learning, attention, memory, emotion, and regulation influence student success and to equip them with evidence-based practices that improve teaching and learning outcomes. During 2025, 171 educators participated in three institutes. Participants engaged in research-based instruction, collaborative learning experiences, and application of neuroscience-informed practices. Pre- and post-program evaluations indicated significant increases in participants' confidence in addressing academic and behavioral challenges and implementing neuroscience-informed instructional strategies. This program advances the organization's long-term goal of improving educational outcomes through the application of learning science and educational neuroscience.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 52
- Sustainability: 14
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 76.7%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- 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: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -46.8%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.6; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 40.8%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 16.3% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 18.2% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 25% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 76.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $320K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 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.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.