The Center for Collaborative Research Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
383751177
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Houston, TX, USA
Phone
7133480000
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support

Reported finances

Revenue
$26,457,065
Expenses
$21,883,803
Assets
$126,635,878
Liabilities
$172,900,984

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Allison Thacker (Director & Vice President/Treasurer)
  • Amy Dittmar (Director & Vice President)
  • Kelly Fox (Director & Chairman of the Board/President)
  • Omar Syed (Director & Vice President/Secretary)
  • Paul Cherukuri (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Allison Thacker (Director & Vice President/Treasurer): $2,975,212 total reported compensation
  • Reginald Desroches (Former Director): $1,842,566 total reported compensation
  • Amy Dittmar (Director & Vice President): $1,084,857 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 bioscience research collaborative is an innovative space where students, scientists, and educators from rice university and other Texas medical institutions work together to perform leading research that benefits human medicine and health. More than just a building, it is an interdisciplinary, interinstitutional catalyst for new and better ways for researchers to collaborate, explore, learn and lead.

What it reported doing in 2024

The bioscience research collaborative is designed to facilitate and encourage interdisciplinary interactions among interinstitiutional researchers. It is equipped for cutting-edge laboratory, theoretical and computational investigations, and features research labs, classrooms and auditoriums. The bioscience research collaborative also has enhanced translational research and related activities as part of its goals, pursuing strategies to facilitate moving basic research to the bedside in order to make a difference in the delivery of clinical improvements to patients and physicians.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 100% of the money available for current operations came from other operating 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 64
  • Accountability: 37
  • Sustainability: 68
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82.7%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 17.3%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.79; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.37; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.4%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.5% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82.7% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 6 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $21.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $3M · 9 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 17 of 17 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Related organizations: 35 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.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 47/100.