Planetary Science Institute
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 330175263
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Tucson, AZ, USA
- Phone
- 5206226300
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $17,044,515
- Expenses
- $17,282,384
- Assets
- $4,777,031
- Liabilities
- $1,542,642
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Mark V Sykes (CEO / Trustee (through April 2025))
- Amanda R Hendrix (CEO / Trustee (effective May 2025))
Highest reported compensation
- Mark V Sykes (CEO / Trustee (through April 2025)): $295,943 total reported compensation
- Melinda Dyar (Senior Scientist): $275,470 total reported compensation
- Maurizio A Ienna-Balistreri (CFO / Treasurer): $237,409 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Planetary Science Institute exists to: enable our researchers to study the origin, characteristics, and evolution of planetary systems, including our solar system, Earth itself, and planetary systems around other stars; enable our educators to convey the resulting knowledge to the scientific community, and to the public at large to promote science education and science literacy; enable our people to use this knowledge to advance human activity in space and shape the future of robotic exploration of the solar system.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Planetary Science Institute (PSI) is an independent nonprofit science research and educational organization with an established record of excellence in solar system exploration, comparative planetology, science education and public outreach. PSI has scientists in more than 30 states, the District of Columbia, and other locations around the world. PSI scientists were awarded research grants and contracts to conduct diverse research and laboratory studies covering the Moon, Mars, asteroids, comets, meteorites, outer planet satellites, solar system dynamics, solar system origins, planets around other stars, and other areas. In the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, PSI scientists operated instruments on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and Juno missions and provided science team support for these missions along with NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Perseverance Rover, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Psyche, New Horizons, and Europa Clipper missions and ESA's Mars Express. PSI scientists are developing insights into the origin of life, have discovered widespread water on the Moon, found a new population of impact craters on Venus and studied the possibilities for life on Saturn's moon Enceladus. They have improved our understanding of Earth's ionosphere and discovered potential ice-rich deposits in the equatorial region of Mars.The PSI Observatory continues to be used in the study of Jupiter's Io torus, the observation of comets, exoplanets and other bodies. PSI scientists support an instrument on the International Space Station to study the climate effects of dust (particularly from North Africa).PSI is responsible, as part of NASA's Planetary Data System, for archiving all mission data involving asteroids, comets and interplanetary dust and making it available to the general science community and public. PSI scientists engaged in public outreach through art, writing children's books, popular science books, and public lectures and broadcast events such as Discovery Channel and BBC specials.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 99% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 76
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 21
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 90%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 89.1%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: $53.26 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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; 66th 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: -1.4%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.28; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.32; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.8%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 90% of revenue deployed · 89.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $15.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $296K · 15 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.