White Dwarf Research Corporation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
742924755
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Golden, CO, USA
Phone
7203105180
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis

Reported finances

Revenue
$305,400
Expenses
$210,986
Assets
$448,929
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Travis Metcalfe (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Travis Metcalfe (Executive Director): $167,104 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Scientific research & public education

What it reported doing in 2025

Conducted scientific research using observations from the Large Binocular Telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope to probe the large-scale magnetic fields of Sun-like stars (NSF grant AST-2205919, Principal Investigator: Metcalfe).

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 67% 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 60
  • Accountability: 53
  • Sustainability: 65
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 66.4%; rating input score 66
  • Program expense ratio: 94.7%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: $22.63 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 30.9%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.13; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 79.2%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.4% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 66.4% of revenue deployed · 94.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $200K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $167K · 7 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 58/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.