Novagen Research Fund
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 993087649
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2023
- Location
- Dover, DE, USA
- Phone
- 3029569097
- Rating
- 57
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $425,000
- Expenses
- $54,625
- Assets
- $387,536
- Liabilities
- $7,530
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JOE TASTO (CEO)
People named in this filing
- JOE TASTO (CEO)
- GARY MAYS (COO/CFO)
- ROBERT HOHMAN (BOARD CHAIR)
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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Novagen research fund (ngrf) is dedicated to advancing scientific knowledge and promoting innovation for the betterment of society. Our mission is to support rigorous and impactful research and interdisciplinary sciences, disseminate knowledge, and foster collaboration to address complex global challenges.
What it reported doing in 2024
The polus center for data research (pcdr) advances biomedical discovery by developing and maintaining open-source, interoperable, and high-performance data systems for the global scientific community. Pcdr stewards the polus platform an open-source system operating on cloud and high-performance computing infrastructure which integrates artificial intelligence, statistical methods, reproducible workflows, and interactive data exploration tools in a unified environment, originally developed in partnership with the national institutes of health. The center provides scalable data processing tools and pipelines built on open standards, supports the development of file specifications and workflow definition standards to enhance reproducibility and interoperability, and fosters an open-source research community. Pcdr's work spans clinical and microscopy image analysis, pharmacoepidemiology, cheminformatics, molecular modeling, and multi-omics research, with a focus on data quality, harmonization, and hypothesis-driven discovery across disease areas including cancer and infectious disease. Through these efforts, pcdr empowers biomedical researchers worldwide with the infrastructure and technologies needed to accelerate scientific advancement.
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 a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 25
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 84
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 5%; rating input score 5
- Program expense ratio: 39.1%; rating input score 39
- Fundraising efficiency: $58.52 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 79; 79th 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: 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: 87.1%; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.09; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: 5% of revenue deployed · 39.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $21K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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 5/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 39/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.