The Citizen Science Lab

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
823944451
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Phone
4125137082
Rating
62
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,589,958
Expenses
$1,285,993
Assets
$4,507,653
Liabilities
$1,025,202

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ANDRE SAMUEL (PRESIDENT &)

Highest reported compensation

  • ANDRE SAMUEL (PRESIDENT &): $154,201 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Creating science pipelines for diverse and marginalized communities through life changing hands-on stem experiences.

What it reported doing in 2024

The drone academy is a program designed to teach youth in grades 9-12 flying lessons to safely fly their own drones. For students that are 16 and older, we will take the time to organize study and testing sessions to prepare students to pass their 14 cfr 107.71 exam. In igem, students push the boundaries of synthetic biology by tackling everyday issues facing the world such as turning agricultural waste into biofuels and working to cure alzheimer's disease. The igem competition is an annual world-wide synthetic biology competition with teams representing the united states, chile, kazakhstan, south korea, egypt, south africa, mexico, germany, and australia among others. These multidisciplinary teams work throughout the spring, summer and fall to build genetically engineered systems for the competition. Students participating on the csl's teamwork with csl staff mentors to train and fine-tune their essential lab skills in order to successfully compete in the igem world championship jamboree, held annually in boston, Massachusetts. The aquaponics & sustainability program supports public school classrooms by providing curricula, aquaponics systems, and a staff support during weekly lessons. The program emphasizes concepts of biology, ecology, and sustainability, inviting students to engage in systems thinking and exploring human-environment interaction. During the program, students are given the tasks of caring for fish, planting seeds, and monitoring their aquaponics system. Throughout their experience, students gain critical thinking skills and a sense of ownership over their classroom environment as they literally watch their work grow. Workshops (homeschool & weekend workshops) - the citizen science lab's home school and weekend workshops are hands-on, age-appropriate stem lessons that inspire curiosity, discovery & exploration of life science and engineering disciplines subjects include: molecular biology, physics, and chemistry. Classes: field trips (to lab and out of lab) - we offer students a one-of- a-kind laboratory experience. Schedule a field trip at one of the citizen science lab's locations.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% 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.

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 44
  • Transparency & Controls: 66
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 74
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 34.4%; rating input score 34
  • Program expense ratio: 65.6%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.02 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 50.3%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.51; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.2% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 31.3% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 34.4% of revenue deployed · 65.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $844K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $154K · 15 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D land buildings reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.