The Institute for Sustained Attention Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
472981200
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
6096510919
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$543,194
Expenses
$582,676
Assets
$308,180
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

People named in this filing

  • D Graham Burnett (Executive Dir.)
  • Lawrence Berger (Treasurer)
  • Aaron Hirsch (Secretary)

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

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

Overview

Mission

The Organizations primary exempt purpose: a) to engage the public in critical examination of the relationship between the humanities and the arts and sciences; b) to stimulate public interest in (and particularly engagement with) the problems of attention and the distractions that are essential to contemporary life; c) to draw the public attention to neglected and creative ways of integrating the arts, humanities and sciences; d) to support the making (and public appreciation for) new and original art and writing, particularly work that facilitates dialog on aesthetic practices; e) to faciliate connections between the arts, humanities, and science community in the State of New York and other parts of the world.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Organizations program service accomplishments: a) to engage the public in critical examination of the relationship between the humanities and the arts and sciences; b) to stimulate public interest in (and particularly engagement with) the problems of attention and the distractions that are essential to contemporary life; c) to draw the public attention to neglected and creative ways of integrating the arts, humanities and sciences; d) to support the making (and public appreciation for) new and original art and writing, particularly work that facilitates dialog on aesthetic practices; e) to faciliate connections between the arts, humanities, and science community in the State of New York and other parts of the world.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 73% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 0
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.7%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 80.9%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -7.3%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.53; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 77.1% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 50.1% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 54.3% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 86.7% of revenue deployed · 80.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $471K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.