Totals
- Total revenue
- $7,324,329
- Total expenses
- $4,251,865
- Contributions and grants received
- $6,816,844
- Grants paid
- $97,000
- Program service revenue
- $326,249
- Investment income
- $174,336
- Other revenue
- $6,900
- Total assets, end of year
- $8,470,365
- Total liabilities, end of year
- $682,712
- Net assets or fund balances, end of year
- $7,787,653
- Program services expenses (Part IX)
- $3,386,059
- Management and general expenses
- $865,806
- Fundraising expenses
- $0
- Program service expenses (Part III)
- $3,386,059
Program services were 79.6% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.
Line items
Every line the filer filed in Parts VIII, IX and X, as filed and in filed order. Blank columns are left out, and the lines are not forced to add up to the totals above.
Revenue
Part VIII, the statement of revenue.
-
1f · All other contributions, gifts and grants
$6,816,844
-
1g · Noncash contributions included above
$58,075
-
2a · Program service revenue: program consulting
total $326,249 · related or exempt $326,249
-
3 · Investment income
total $174,336 · excluded $174,336
-
4 · Income from investment of tax-exempt bond proceeds
total $0
-
5 · Royalties
total $0
-
6d · Net rental income or loss
total $0
-
7d · Net gain or loss
total $0
-
8c · Net income from fundraising events
total $0
-
9c · Net income from gaming
total $0
-
10c · Net income from sales of inventory
total $0
-
11a · Other revenue: Other Income
total $6,900 · excluded $6,900
-
11e · Other revenue, total
$6,900
Functional expenses
Part IX, the statement of functional expenses.
-
1 · Grants to domestic organizations and governments
total $97,000 · program services $97,000
-
2 · Grants to domestic individuals
total $0
-
3 · Grants to foreign organizations and individuals
total $0
-
4 · Benefits paid to or for members
total $0
-
5 · Compensation of officers, directors and key employees
total $209,958 · program services $136,395 · management and general $73,563
-
6 · Compensation of disqualified persons
total $0
-
7 · Other salaries and wages
total $986,809 · program services $860,452 · management and general $126,357
-
8 · Pension plan contributions
total $0
-
9 · Other employee benefits
total $85,181 · program services $77,063 · management and general $8,118
-
10 · Payroll taxes
total $90,984 · program services $75,810 · management and general $15,174
-
11a · Fees: management
total $0
-
11b · Fees: legal
total $154,901 · program services $82,433 · management and general $72,468
-
11c · Fees: accounting
total $38,877 · program services $15,077 · management and general $23,800
-
11d · Fees: lobbying
total $0
-
11e · Fees: professional fundraising services
total $0
-
11f · Fees: investment management
total $0
-
11g · Fees: other
total $1,836,248 · program services $1,801,982 · management and general $34,266
-
12 · Advertising and promotion
total $3,530 · program services $3,530
-
13 · Office expenses
total $217,361 · program services $21,230 · management and general $196,131
-
14 · Information technology
total $0
-
15 · Royalties
total $0
-
16 · Occupancy
total $18,191 · management and general $18,191
-
17 · Travel
total $53,244 · program services $14,400 · management and general $38,844
-
18 · Travel or entertainment for public officials
total $0
-
19 · Conferences, conventions and meetings
total $6,703 · program services $3,674 · management and general $3,029
-
20 · Interest
total $0
-
21 · Payments to affiliates
total $0
-
22 · Depreciation, depletion and amortization
total $202,079 · program services $168,401 · management and general $33,678
-
23 · Insurance
total $3,102 · management and general $3,102
-
24a · Other expenses: legal settlement
total $175,000 · management and general $175,000
-
24b · Other expenses: dues & subscriptions
total $24,305 · program services $1,662 · management and general $22,643
-
24c · Other expenses: equipment & technology
total $20,502 · program services $8,654 · management and general $11,848
-
24d · Other expenses: equipment rental
total $12,804 · program services $12,804
-
24e · All other expenses
total $15,086 · program services $5,492 · management and general $9,594
Balance sheet
Part X, book values.
-
1 · Cash, non-interest-bearing
beginning of year $3,586,153 · end of year $5,078,605
-
2 · Savings and temporary cash investments
end of year $0
-
3 · Pledges and grants receivable
beginning of year $382,747 · end of year $2,580,337
-
4 · Accounts receivable
beginning of year $18,529 · end of year $130,382
-
5 · Loans and receivables from officers and key people
end of year $0
-
6 · Loans and receivables from disqualified persons
end of year $0
-
7 · Other notes and loans receivable
end of year $0
-
8 · Inventories for sale or use
end of year $0
-
9 · Prepaid expenses and deferred charges
end of year $8,078
-
10a · Land, buildings and equipment: cost or other basis
$1,093,369
-
10b · Land, buildings and equipment: accumulated depreciation
$427,637
-
10c · Land, buildings and equipment, net
beginning of year $867,811 · end of year $665,732
-
11 · Investments: publicly traded securities
end of year $0
-
12 · Investments: other securities
end of year $0
-
13 · Investments: program-related
end of year $0
-
14 · Intangible assets
end of year $0
-
15 · Other assets
end of year $7,231
-
17 · Accounts payable and accrued expenses
beginning of year $140,051 · end of year $454,679
-
19 · Deferred revenue
end of year $228,033
-
27 · Net assets without donor restrictions
beginning of year $3,579,633 · end of year $4,306,710
-
28 · Net assets with donor restrictions
beginning of year $1,135,556 · end of year $3,480,943
Mission and programs · 2024
Mission
To reduce catastrophic risks from novel biotechnologies by conducting research on pandemic prevention, detection, and mitigation.
-
As part of its work on the Nucleic Acid Observatory NAO project, the organization runs experiments to detect metagenomic sequences in wasterwater, with the ultimate aim of detecting new diseases before they grow exponentially in the community. In 2024, The NAO team conducted real-world biosurveillance of metropolitan sewage and airplane wastewater samples from selected US airports. It expects to scale its detection efforts in 2025.
Expenses $1,454,990
-
As part of its SecureDNA project, the organization continued to make significant progress in 2024 on its gene synthesis screening software. The team released an alpha version and prepared for a public beta launch. This free software offers best-in-class performance in screening criteria and runs against a continuously updated hazard database. SecureDNA uniquely integrates with both vendor order flows and benchtop synthesizers. The organization successfully tested with major manufacturers and collaborated with leading gene synthesis companies. Two papers were prepared for submission to peer-reviewed journals, one on the screening system and another on its cryptographic architecture. These advancements further the organization's goal of securely monitoring synthetic DNA orders against various public health hazards.
Expenses $1,135,237
-
The organization is developing measurement tools to assess AI systems' potential contribution to global catastrophic biological risks and creating mitigation strategies for when AI capabilities cross specific risk thresholds. Working with government and industry partners, they aim to de-risk upcoming AI model releases against severe biological hazards. The team has already published a pre-print on biorisks associated with model weight proliferation in Large Language Models, garnering major media attention. Their ongoing projects include research on risks from frontier models, developing benchmarks to evaluate large language models' biosecurity-relevant capabilities, creating task-based assessments for frontier systems' autonomous capabilities, and implementing technical interventions for risk mitigation, such as model unlearning of dual-use biological concepts and enhancing adversarial robustness against dual-use input prompts.
Expenses $748,527 · Revenue $326,249
-
The organization focuses on pandemic-proof personal protective equipment PPE that reliably shields essential workers against highly infectious agents without requiring fit-testing, ensuring the maintenance of critical infrastructure during pandemics. To enhance the availability and accessibility of this crucial equipment, the organization has undertaken several key initiatives. These include mapping critical infrastructure and essential workers, identifying cost-reduction strategies, advocating for public funds to build and maintain stockpiles, and exploring market mechanisms to support government efforts in stockpiling pandemic-proof PPE. Through these activities, the organization aims to strengthen pandemic preparedness and protect those who must continue working during health crises.
Expenses $47,305
-
As part of its work on the FAR-UVC project, the organization conducted an in-depth examination of the safety of far-UVC germicidal light throughout 2023. This comprehensive study involved convening a group of experts for both in-person and remote workshops over a 12-month period. The culmination of this extensive research was the release of a major paper on far-UVC safety, effectively concluding the organization's work on this project. While the organization designed a clinical study to further investigate the application of far-UVC technology, it determined that executing such a trial was not feasible given the available resources. This decision marked the completion of the organization's active involvement in the FAR-UVC research initiative.
As filed on the 2024 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.
Listed in Part VII
-
Jeffrey Kaufman
NAO Project Lead
- Total calculated
- $151,815
- From this org
- $145,000
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $6,815
- Hours/week
- 40
Schedule J breakdown matched by us
- Base
- $145,000
- Bonus
- not reported
- Other
- not reported
- Deferred
- $5,075
- Nontaxable benefits
- $1,740
- Filer's total
- $151,815
-
Michael McLaren
Research Scientist
- Total calculated
- $150,415
- From this org
- $138,299
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $12,116
- Hours/week
- 40
Schedule J breakdown matched by us
- Base
- $138,299
- Bonus
- not reported
- Other
- not reported
- Deferred
- $5,147
- Nontaxable benefits
- $6,969
- Filer's total
- $150,415
-
William Bradshaw
Secretary
- Total calculated
- $131,860
- From this org
- $121,513
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $10,347
- Hours/week
- 40
-
Seth Donoughe
Research Scientist
- Total calculated
- $126,972
- From this org
- $122,747
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $4,225
- Hours/week
- 40
-
Daniel Rice
Research Scientist
- Total calculated
- $118,879
- From this org
- $113,672
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $5,207
- Hours/week
- 40
-
Benjamin Mueller Treas Sep-Dec
Executive Dir.
- Total calculated
- $53,175
- From this org
- $53,175
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $0
- Hours/week
- 15
-
Vaishnav Sunil Treas Jan-Sep
Treasurer
- Total calculated
- $24,923
- From this org
- $24,397
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $526
- Hours/week
- 15
-
Kevin Esvelt
Director
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 0.5
-
Sawyer Bernath
Director
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 2
-
Liv Boeree
Director
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 1
-
Michael Specter
Director
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 1
-
Christine Parthemore
Director
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 1
Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us.
Schedule J
Answered yes
None.
Answered no
- 4a · Severance or change-of-control payment
- 4b · Supplemental nonqualified retirement plan
- 4c · Equity-based compensation arrangement
- 5a · Pay contingent on this organization's revenues
- 5b · Pay contingent on a related organization's revenues
- 6a · Pay contingent on this organization's net earnings
- 6b · Pay contingent on a related organization's net earnings
- 7 · Other non-fixed payments
- 8 · Paid under the initial-contract exception
Part I's answers as filed. A line not listed was left unanswered; on lines 1a and 3 that means the box was not checked.
Grants on this return
-
$97,000
RESEARCH
Provenance
- Return type
- form_990
- Tax year
- 2024
- Filed
- 14 November 2025
- IRS schema version
- 2024v5.2
- Source object
- 202503189349308185
Check it against the return as filed: the GivingTuesday Data Lake hosts a public copy of the original XML.
The source document this was parsed from is served over the API, which is where bulk and document access live.