California · Nonprofit
AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY
AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY (California) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $868,238 to it, the largest being Donors Trust Inc ($300,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $868k
- Net assets
- $900k
What American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology does
Mission
To conduct, promote, and advance research on human behavior that has the potential to improve the human condition, develop possible applications of such research, and to educate the public about both this research and its applications.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
TECH WATCH PROJECT (TWP): Expansion of Tech Watch Project to monitor content being sent by online technology companies to a large group of registered voters in all 50 US states: A team of nearly 50 paid and volunteer staff members successfully recruited more than 17,000 field agents - a politically-balanced group of registered voters - to allow AIBRT researchers to monitor personalized ephemeral content being sent to voters by Google, Bing, Yahoo, Facebook, and other tech companies. In all, more than 135 million ephemeral experiences - content that can shift opinions and votes and that is normally lost forever - were preserved and analyzed. Significant political bias was found in this content sufficient to shift millions of votes without people's awareness. A 61-page report on this topic was made part of the public record in 2024 in connection with testimony before the Texas State Legislature. A detailed report was also presented at a scientific conference in 2025, and a 480-page report was published in the Congressional Record in connections with Dr. Epstein's testimony before Congress on Dec. 13, 2023. Such a system will make Big Tech companies accountable to the public and has…
$526,418 spent97% of program spendingONLINE MANIPULATION STUDIES (OMS): AIBRT researches continued and expanded research they have been conducting since 2013 when they discovered the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME), one of the most powerful types of influence ever discovered in the the behavioral sciences. Experiments and analyses of SEME and SEME-related phenomena were continued, along with research on other new forms of influence the internet has made possible: the Search Suggestion Effect (SSE), the Answer Bot Effect (ABE), the YouTube Manipulation Effect (YME), the Targeted Messaging Effect (TME), the Digital Personalization Effect (DPE), the Differential Demographics Effect (DDE), the Multiple Exposure Effect (MEE), and others. Three papers on this topic were published in peer-reviewed journals in 2025, and two others on this topic were accepted for publication in 2025 and later published in 2026. Other papers on this topic were submitted for publication. AIBRT researchers continued to present this research at scientific meetings in 2025 and to submit related papers for possible presentation at scientific meetings in 2026. in addition, in 2025, we prepared a collection of papers on online manipulation…
$15,572 spent3% of program spendingONLINE PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS (TESTS): Data collection from 20 online psychological tests (plus multiple foreign translations) provided free of charge to the public in areas such as parenting, stress-management, adult competence, sexual orientation, resilience, relationship skills, and other areas. Some are available in Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese, French and other languages. People can take the tests anonymously, and because they answer various demographic and criterion questions before taking the test itself, we can analyze test performances both demographically and according to how well test scores predict various self-reported outcomes such as happiness, personal success, and professional success. Data collection, statistical analysis, conference submissions and presentation, scientific journal submissions, and new translations are in progress for existing tests. New tests are also being developed, such as a "digital hygiene" test. In 2025, three publications based on data from our online tests were published in peer-reviewed journals. Data from three other tests were presented at scientific conferences, and other papers were submitted for publication.
$3,300 spent1% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $545,290.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $2.5M to $473k (−81%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 0% · 2022 67% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Dr Robert Epstein
Member Board of Directors and CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $32k → $99k.
9 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 78% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 35% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
78% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 48% · 2021 62% · 2022 86% · 2023 61% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
29% of AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 47% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
78% of AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $190k that is directly attributable, 53% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $679k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 97 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 97 social science nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
36%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY?
- AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY (California) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $868,238 to it, the largest being Donors Trust Inc ($300,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $868,238 in grants to AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY?
- Donors Trust Inc is the largest funder on record, with $300,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 15 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing