The Center for Advancing Innovation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
383903952
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Bethesda, MD, USA
Phone
2024382208
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Science and Technology N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,076
Expenses
$450,997
Assets
$299,168
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ROSEMARIE TRUMAN (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • ROSEMARIE TRUMAN (CEO): $170,250 total reported compensation
  • CODY LOCKE (CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER): $170,250 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 center for advancing innovation (cai) is a global public-private partnership non-profit focused on creating a virtuous circle of innovation and driving growth breakthroughs through novel, creative paradigms and models. Cai's mission is to accelerate and increase the volume of research commercialization in support of high growth business in order to ignite entrepreneurship, bolster the global economy and maximize the commercial and knowledge-based potential of promising inventions. Cai's award-winning challenge-based accelerator, rigorous fact-based due diligence and capital efficient lean management models serve to hyper-accelerate "gazelle" high- performing startups for outsized investor returns.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Global Health Innovation Challenge II (GHIC II) is orchestrated by the Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) with support from the United States Economic Development Administration (EDA) Build to Scale (B2S) Program. As with CAI's prior challenges, teams will advance promising de-risked inventions selected with rigorous due diligence by potential investors and industry experts. Teams may also enter with their own commercially-viable inventions. CAI invites anyone to submit an idea with the potential to hyper-accelerate the future of health. An expert judging panel will select winners from the pool of teams, advancing promising inventions.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
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. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 66
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 15
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 21.9%; rating input score 22
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 25th 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3,349%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.66; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 75.5%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -6.1% per year; rating input score 0; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 21.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $99K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $170K · 5 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.