Summer Program for Applied Rationality and Cognition Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
994214901
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025
Location
San Diego, CA, USA
Phone
6478636568
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$170,294
Expenses
$123,732
Assets
$228,527
Liabilities
$1,965

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Yan Zhang (President)

People named in this filing

  • Yan Zhang (President)
  • Damon Pourtahmaseb-Sasi (Director)
  • Xun David Yu (Treasurer)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

To provide extraordinary education for talented youth to learn about applying quantitative skills to the world.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Organization hosted its annual two-week Summer Program for Applied Rationality and Cognition in July 2025 in California for a select cohort of high school students. The program is designed to develop students' quantitative skills and their ability to apply those skills to real-world situations. The program is offered entirely free of charge, including room and board, to ensure accessibility and attract the most promising students regardless of financial means. In 2025, 30 students participated in the program. The Organization also began planning the Compass Fellowship, a free five-day residential program for intellectually curious and ambitious young people focused on self-reflection, personal growth, and developing the mindset to create meaningful change in the world. The Compass Fellowship is set to run in 2026 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Operating model

Revenue model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 72
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 57.8%; rating input score 58
  • Program expense ratio: 79.6%; rating input score 80

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 27.3%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.85; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: -5.5% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 23.8% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 57.8% of revenue deployed · 79.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $98K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 58/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.