Project Ds Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
832385624
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Morrisville, NC, USA
Phone
9192473437
Rating
63
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Cancer Research

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,831,423
Expenses
$1,227,417
Assets
$7,598,658
Liabilities
$2,203,421

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JONATHAN MCDUNN (PDS PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DR SEAN KHOZIN (MEMBER): $511,542 total reported compensation
  • JONATHAN MCDUNN (PDS PRESIDENT): $301,551 total reported compensation
  • RAVI KOMANDUR (PROGRAM DIRECTOR): $217,291 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The ceo roundtable on cancer created the independent, non-profit project data sphere (pds) in 2014. Project data sphere is responsible for all aspects of the project data sphere platform, a free digital library-laboratory that provides one place where the world's research community can broadly share, integrate and analyze historical, patient-level, comparator-arm data from academic and industry phase iii cancer clinical trials. The project data sphere platform is available to researchers affiliated with life science companies, hospitals, and institutions, as well as independent researchers. Anyone interested in cancer research can apply and become an authorized user. Project data sphere has a portfolio of big data research programs involving innovative data science including artificial intelligence (ai).

What it reported doing in 2025

Project data sphere is responsible for all aspects of the project data sphere platform, a free digital library laboratory that provides one place where the worlds research community can broadly share, integrate and analyze historical, patient level, comparator-arm data from academic and industry phase iii cancer clinical trials. The project data sphere platform is available to researchers affiliated with life science companies, hospitals and institutions, as well as independent researchers. Anyone interested in cancer research can apply and become an authorized user.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 51
  • Transparency & Controls: 66
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 68
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 52.1%; rating input score 52
  • Program expense ratio: 66.4%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 33%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.19; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.29; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 58.4%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -24.5% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -18.1% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 21.8% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 52.1% of revenue deployed · 66.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $815K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $512K · 14 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 52/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.