California · Nonprofit
BIOCURIOUS
BIOCURIOUS (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,223 to it, the largest being BRAUDE FOUNDATION ($1,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $202k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $1k
- Net assets
- $117k
What Biocurious does
Mission
Our mission is to provide safe, affordable lab space, classes, and community projects and encourage the exploration of the science in our community regardless of educational background. Membership is open to anyone in the community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
We provide a modern biology laboratory along with classroom space. Our mission is to provide science education and an accessible lab space for the public including people who want to pursue research. We served an average of 70 members a month. Members range from high school students (and the exceptional middle grade student) to those who have retired, from student to post-doc. Many have a non-biological background such as software or electrical engineering. Some work on science fair projects, use the lab to learn biology or to do research on an idea. Some based on the work done here have been approved for grants and have started companies.
$185,625 spent$201,517 earned by the program90% of program spendingWe have educational Programs. BioCurious provides a range of classes, lectures and workshops for our members and the general public. They include beginner level classes that teach the basics of biology and lab skills to more advanced classes that include lab practice with sophisticated techniques. This participatory approach to learning gives our members and the general public a safe place to work with cutting edge biotechnolgy tools.
$14,567 spent7% of program spendingAs part of our mission to democratize biology, we have created a number of community projects that are free and open to the public. Community projects at BioCurious allow any interested person to experience the process of science and learn so laboratory techniques. This provides the foundation so they can pursue their own ideas in the lab. These projects are typically run by PhD-level scientists, meet in the evenings, and are very well attended. A primary focus of community projects is hands-on work in the lab. This provides an opportunity to learn lab skills in a friendly environment so everyone can contribute. We also provide Zoom access to lectures so that people from around the world can attend and contribute. These open forums allow anyone to participate in scientific projects. These projects can lead to publications. For example, we have a community project doing DNA editing with CRISPR, for example. This project is very popular in the community and gives the participants valuable lab experience.
$5,477 spent3% of program spendingA Biocurious board member has a place on the board of Momental Foundation, a US based non profit.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $205,669.
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 $115k to $166k (+44%).
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: 2020 0% · 2021 8% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of BIOCURIOUS’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. 5 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
Jay Hanson
Chairman of the Board
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $1k → $53.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 BIOCURIOUS’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
BIOCURIOUS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 82% 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: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 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
BIOCURIOUS draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 1 state in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $223 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
BIOCURIOUS receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $1k to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 453 science & tech nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like BIOCURIOUS
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
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 BIOCURIOUS: 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 BIOCURIOUS?
- BIOCURIOUS (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,223 to it, the largest being BRAUDE FOUNDATION ($1,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BIOCURIOUS have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $1,223 in grants to BIOCURIOUS, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BIOCURIOUS?
- BRAUDE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BIOCURIOUS 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 Biocurious →
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 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