The Center for Discovery
Legal name: The Center for Discovery Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 141395426
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Harris, NY, United States
- Phone
- (845) 794-1400
- Rating
- 88
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Birth Defects and Genetic Diseases
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $171,818,211
- Expenses
- $167,466,338
- Assets
- $174,749,420
- Liabilities
- $137,358,765
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
26 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DR THERESA HAMLIN (PRESIDENT AND CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- DR THERESA HAMLIN (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $716,858 total reported compensation
- PATRICK H DOLLARD (SENIOR ADVISOR (SEE SCHEDULE O)): $663,416 total reported compensation
- MATTHEW BRESCIA (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $384,831 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 Discovery transforms care, community, and healthspan for people with complex conditions through holistic, person-centered support guided by its SynergE6 Healthspan Model. We transform the health and well-being of individuals with complex conditions by delivering whole person care grounded in discovery, prevention, and wellness. At the same time, we foster a culture that supports our employees and strengthens our broader community, advancing health and vitality for all. Our Vision. The agency purchases a 50-acre farm in Harris with plans to build new residential ICFs and expand supported work environments. The agency now serves a wide range of children and adults with complex conditions and employs 300 staff members. 1995 Thanksgiving Farm is established in Harris as a community-supported agriculture (CSA) project. In this model, community members purchase a share of...
What it reported doing in 2025
Education program - the center for discovery (tcfd) is the largest provider in New York state for children with complex conditions, including autism. We currently are approved to serve 420 students ages 5-22: 164 residential and 256 day students. Our program integrates special education, clinical services (including occupational, physical, and speech therapy), behavioral intervention by board certified behavior analysts, rehabilitation technology, adaptive physical education, and arts-based therapies, all within universally designed spaces and a nature-based learning environment. Certified by both nysed and opwdd, the school and residential programs operate seamlessly, implementing our synerge6 curriculum as our framework for instruction to ensure continuity of care and education. Length of stay is individualized. Some students remain at tcfd through graduation at age 22, while others transition earlier to a less restrictive level of care within the New York state education department (nysed) continuum of services. All admission, transition, and discharge plans are collaboratively developed, goal-oriented, and student-centered.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 94% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 39
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 89.6%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 91.7%; rating input score 92
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.37 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- 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; 65th 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: 2.5%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.04; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.79; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.9%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 89.6% of revenue deployed · 91.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $153.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $717K · 26 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $667K reported
- Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 5 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.
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 17/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.