California · Nonprofit
BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE
BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,285,842 to it, the largest being THE LEONA M AND HARRY B HELMSLEY CHARITABLE TRUST ($1,157,550). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $421k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $1.3M
- Net assets
- $6k
What Ballad Research Institute does
Mission
The mission of Ballad is to support the early development of projects related to the treatment of human disease. These may include pilot studies, innovative high-risk/high-impact projects, or proof of concept studies. Ballad provides investigators, embarking on early development projects, with necessary laboratory facilities and infrastructure.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Type 1 DiabetesBallad scientists have identified a new immune cell type in human blood. Children who are diagnosed with rapidly progressing type 1 diabetes have very few of these cells but children with less severe diabetes have almost normal numbers. More recently Ballad scientists have found that the cells they have discovered have the capacity to actively modulate inflammation. This is important because diabetes is an inflammatory disease and this might explain why having few of these cells is associated with worse disease. The next step in their research is to understand how to make more of these cells as a way of slowing progression, or reversing this devastating disease.In a linked but separate project, these scientists are working to understand whether the same cells are related to the development of diabetes in children who are genetically at-risk for developing type 1 diabetes. Neurological DisordersScientists at Ballad are working to understand how neurological disorders in people infected with HIV persist, despite treatment with antiretroviral drugs that control the infection. It also examines how cannabis use might be helpful in preventing neurological disorders in…
$416,349 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $416,349.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 2021 to 2022, from $25k to $520k (+2016%).
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.
101% of BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (79% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Board chair
Joanna Davies
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2022: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $60k → $516k.
From the IRS filings of BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE’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
BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 90% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 1 state in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE has grown faster than three-quarters of the 453 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 453 science & tech nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE
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
99% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
25%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- San Diego Biomedical Research Inst · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE: 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 BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE?
- BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,285,842 to it, the largest being THE LEONA M AND HARRY B HELMSLEY CHARITABLE TRUST ($1,157,550). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $1,285,842 in grants to BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE?
- THE LEONA M AND HARRY B HELMSLEY CHARITABLE TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $1,157,550 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BALLAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE 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 Ballad Research Institute →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 2 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing