Skip to content
American Brain Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

American Brain Foundation

The AMERICAN BRAIN FOUNDATION accelerates breakthrough research across brain diseases and disorders by investing in innovative science, early-career investigators, and cross-disease discoveries that advance treatments, cures, and brain health for all.

$8.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$8.1M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Health$20MInternational$105k
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $50k
  • $250k+1 grant · $8.1M
$25,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$22M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY INSITUTE$8,076,423
SOCIETY FOR NEUROSCIENCE$25,000
NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY$25,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 3% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%General Hospital Corporation dba Massachusetts General Hospital: $8k → 16%AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY INSITUTE: $8.1M → 11%SameYou Foundation: $10k → 10%Hilarity for Charity: $10k → 14%Tourette Association of America Inc: $50k → 13%American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science Inc: $105k → 17%SOCIETY FOR NEUROSCIENCE: $25k → 14%NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $25k → 12%Johns Hopkins University: $16k → 19%American Academy of Neurology Institute: $5.5M → 11%National MS Society: $75k → 17%American Academy of Neurology Institute: $2.4M → 11%National MS Society: $75k → 17%AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY INSITUTE: $2.4M → 11%National Multiple Sclerosis Society: $75k → 17%American Academy of Neurology Institute: $2.3M → 11%National Multiple Sclerosis Society: $75k → 17%American Academy of Neurology Institute: $2.0M → 11%National MS Society: $75k → 17%American Academy of Neurology Institute: $1.8M → 11%National Multiple Sclerosis Society: $75k → 17%American Academy of Neurology Institute: $1.6M → 11%National Multiple Sclerosis Society: $75k → 17%American Academy of Neurology Institute: $918k → 11%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$28M · 3 repeat orgs$325k to everyone else

3 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
7

Total granted

$28M
$300k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
+41%

Still filing today

100%
71%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $25k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
HealthInternationalEducationOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • AA
    AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY INSTITUTE
    9× · 2017–2025 · $27M · revenue +25%
  • NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY
    8× · 2017–2025 · $550k · revenue -11%
  • AH
    American Heart Association Inc
    5× · 2017–2021 · $339k · revenue +33%

Funded once

  • AC
    AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $105k · revenue +187%
  • NC
    NATIONWIDE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL INC
    one grant, 2019 · $100k
  • TA
    TOURETTE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue +41%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Hugo W Moser Research Institute At Kennedy Krieger Inc

The hugo w. moser research institute at kennedy krieger, inc. (the "research institute") is an internationally recognized research facility finding answers to problems and injuries that affect a child's developing brain. researchers have…

Science & Tech
2
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

Sanford burnham prebys medical discovery institute's mission is to advance the biomedical sciences by cultivating the next generation of scientific leaders, providing meaningful opportunities for researchers of all backgrounds to learn,…

Health
3
Target Als Foundation Inc

Our mission is to break down barriers to als research to find effective treatments. by uniting academia, the pharma and biotech industry, government, venture capital, related nonprofits, and the als community, we aim to overcome the…

Education
4
American Neuromuscular Foundation

The american neuromuscular foundation was established to improve the quality of care for people with disorders of skeletal muscle, neuromuscular function, and central and peripheral nervous systems through the promotion of research and…

Health
5
Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research

The foundation for sarcoidosis research (fsr) is the leading international organization dedicated to finding a cure for sarcoidosis and improving care for sarcoidosis patients through research, education, and support. since its…

Philanthropy
6
Matrix Biology Institute
Arts & Culture
7
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Fred hutch cancer center ("fred hutch") unites innovative research and compassionate care to prevent and eliminate cancer and infectious disease. continued on schedule o

Health
8
Dystonia Medical Research Foundation

The foundation has three main purposes: (1)to advance dystonia research by awarding grants to basic, translational, and clinical investigators and to medical/scientific institutions committed to finding the cause and cure for all forms of…

Health
9
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

The mission of the institute has remained constant since its founding in 1953. as its restated articles of incorporation state the primary purpose and objective of the howard hughes medical institute shall be the promotion of human…

Health
10
New York Genome Center Inc

Operate a state-of-the-art, world-class genomic research center that creates and uses advanced genomics to understand the genetic basis of disease. for more information, see schedule o.

Health
11
Brightfocus Foundation

Brightfocus foundation funds exceptional research worldwide to defeat alzheimer's disease, macular degeneration, and glaucoma and provides expert information on these heartbreaking diseases. please refer to schedule o for a complete…

Health
12
International Myeloma Foundation

Dedicated to improving the quality of life of myeloma patients while working toward prevention and a cure.

Unclassified
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Society for Neuroscience; the most unlike its peers is SameYou Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

9 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 9 of the 11 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
6/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY INSTITUTE: $26,934,152 · HealthAMERICAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY INSTITUTE+6 more: $983,736 · HealthNATIONWIDE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL INC: $100,000 · OtherMASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED: $8,220 · OtherAMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INC: $105,000 · InternationalJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $16,378 · Education
Health$27,917,888Other$108,220International$105,000Education$16,378

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetAMERICAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY INSTITUTE: $26,934,152 over 9y, 17% of budgetNATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $550,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $338,736 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INC: $105,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTOURETTE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA INC: $50,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetSOCIETY FOR NEUROSCIENCE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $16,378 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHILARITY FOR CHARITY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSameYou Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization American Brain Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from American Brain Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to American Brain Foundation?

Find your warmest path to American Brain Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 11 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on American Brain’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home