California · Nonprofit
BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT
BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT (California) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,192,858 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($868,450). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 89% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $432k
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $282k
What Brain Recovery Project does
Mission
We enhance the lives of children who need neurosurgery to treat their medication-resistant seizures by empowering families with resources, financial aid, support services, and research before and after surgery.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Information and resources: in 2025, the alliance transitioned from providing general information to delivering high-stakes support and education for the epilepsy community. Our "epilepsy surgery saves lives" campaign reached over 70,000 unique individuals, providing families with the clinical context needed to pursue surgical treatment options that are known to improve the ten-year life expectancy of children with drug-resistant seizures. This digital outreach was supported by a robust online resource hub that saw 80,000 page views, alongside nine expert-led webinars and ten technical blog posts that translated complex seizure management into actionable guidance for caregivers. To improve the daily lives of students, we trained 140 school staff members across 16 states, moving beyond basic safety to address the specific cognitive and educational hurdles children who have had epilepsy surgery face in the classroom. On a direct-service level, our parent support navigator program managed more than 150 requests for assistance, providing a clear roadmap for families overwhelmed by a new diagnosis or a change in care. By facilitating one-on-one peer mentorship for 90+ parents, we…
$174,534 spent66% of program spendingAdvocacy and collaboration: through active participation in leading national and international networks, the alliance ensures the needs of families navigating complex epilepsy are represented within the broader medical and educational sectors. In 2025, we contributed our expertise to several high-impact groups, including the rare epilepsies network, the infantile spasms action network, the epilepsy leadership council of the american epilepsy society, and perkins school for the blind. Our staff provided technical presentations and advocacy-focused sessions at major professional meetings, such as the national association of school nurses, the council of parent attorneys and advocates, the american epilepsy society, and the american academy of audiology, directly informing the clinicians and school-based professionals who manage patient care and scholastic education. Furthermore, we facilitated two in-person transition of care meetings, bringing together clinicians and industry stakeholders to address the specific challenges young adults who had epilepsy surgery face when moving into adult healthcare systems.
$44,455 spent17% of program spendingFinancial aid :the dreams for danny surgical evaluation scholarship program removes financial barriers for families seeking specialized care for children with drug-resistant epilepsy. By providing up to $1,000 for travel and lodging, the program ensures that geographical distance and the high costs of multi-day diagnostic monitoring do not prevent children from accessing level 4 epilepsy surgery centers. In 2025, the alliance awarded $46,000 in financial aid, authorizing critical support for families traveling over 50 miles to reach pediatric specialists. Of these commitments, $26,137 was disbursed during the fiscal year to cover immediate airfare, transportation, and accommodations, with the remaining balance allocated for ongoing clinical evaluations. By subsidizing these essential logistical costs, the scholarship enables equitable access to surgical consultations and allows caregivers to focus entirely on their child's medical path and recovery.
$31,744 spentof which $26,137 as grants12% of program spendingResearch: the alliance initiates and funds patient-powered research designed to understand and improve long-term surgical outcomes. In 2025, our global pediatric epilepsy surgery registry the reached a milestone of 494 enrolled participants, providing the robust data set necessary to finalize a major manuscript on functional outcomes following hemispheric surgery. To ensure this research translates into clinical practice, we convened a consortium of leading clinicians to develop a formal paper on standardized symptom surveillance and screening protocols after hemispherectomy. Our commitment to advancing the field was further demonstrated at the american epilepsy society annual meeting, where we convened a critical working group of neurologists and neurosurgeons to address the systemic gaps in transitioning pediatric patients to adult neurosurgical care. By facilitating these high-level clinical dialogues and serving on research committees for the pediatric epilepsy surgery consortium and the international league against epilepsy, rhe alliance ensures that the caregiver perspective directly informs the global research agenda and the evolution of clinical standards.
$14,197 spent5% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $264,930.
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 2024 to 2025, from $202k to $286k (+42%).
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 6% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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
Monika Jones
President and CEO
Board chair
Matt Flesh
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income fell $154k → $142k.
9 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 89% 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 BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT’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
BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT leans on a few funders — its largest provides 73% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
97% 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 BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 79% · 2018 73% · 2019 67% · 2020 71% · 2021 100% · 2022 87% · 2023 79% — 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.
How long its funders stay
33% of BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
89% of BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT'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 $129k that is directly attributable, 77% of it comes from funders outside California, across 8 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M 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
BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 7,883 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,883 health nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT
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
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
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 BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT: 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 BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT?
- BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT (California) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,192,858 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($868,450). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 89% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $1,192,858 in grants to BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $868,450 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BRAIN RECOVERY PROJECT 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.
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 18 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