Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
463341782
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2020
Forms available
Form 990 2020
Location
Las Vegas, NV, USA
Phone
7024792989
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adult, Continuing Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$392,606
Expenses
$471,820
Assets
$259,653
Liabilities
$20,891

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOHN WHITE (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • BLAIR N SMITH (EMPLOYEE): $117,820 total reported compensation
  • KEVIN S FALLICO (EMPLOYEE): $100,731 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To coach, teach, and mentor public and commercial uas companies as well as their staff to develop advanced and innovative uas applications, procedures, techniques, and technologies to facilitate safe integration into the nas as mandated by congress. Nias has the unique mission to plan and execute uas flights in collaboration with Nevada teammates, collect faa flight performance data, and develop enhanced national airspace safety control measures. Nias recommends unmanned aviation lessons learned to the faa and nasa.

What it reported doing in 2020

Nias continued to grow the Nevada uas industry by supporting both public and private stakeholders. Nias focused on the integration of uas into the national airspace system by consulting to companies who are conducting r&d flights at the numerous uas ranges throughout the state. By supporting end user technology systems integration, nias was able to increase the volume of drone flights in Nevada and beyond, therefore submitting substantial data to the faa in order to facilitate future drone policy and regulation. Nias also supports Nevada workforce development by offering a specialized drone training program that prepares pilots to pass the faa part 107 exam.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% 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.

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 18
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 91.7%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • 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: -20.2%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.55; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 46.3%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -7.9% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -8.6% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.4% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 91.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $433K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $118K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2014 to 2020
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 37/100.