Illinois · Nonprofit
BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION
BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 100 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,583,882 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($354,500). 52 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.0M
- Funders on record
- 100
- Grants received
- $3.6M
- Net assets
- $22M
What Brain Research Foundation does
Mission
The foundation is committed to supporting neuroscience research that leads to advances in understanding of brain function and treatment of brain-related disorders.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Brain Research Foundation supports professional training, education, and research by providing start-up money for innovative neuroscience research projects across the broad spectrum of these illnesses, including but not limited to: als (lou gehrig's disease), alzheimer's disease, attention deficit disorder, autism, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety, epilepsy, head injuries, parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, and stroke. Advancing science in these areas will help all humans afflicted with neurological disorders.
$2,473,603 spentof which $2,150,000 as grants90% of program spendingThe Brain Research Foundation uses promotions, marketing, and printed materials to raise funds for research on brain-related illnesses and to educate the public about neurological disorders and the foundation itself. Our fundraising efforts are to help the over 50 million americans afflicted with neurological disorders.
$146,615 spent5% of program spendingThe Brain Research Foundation supports educational programs for researchers and the general public through our website, printed materials and seminars. Brf sponsors an annual neuroscience day, which educates researchers working on the brain and nervous system. The foundation educates the public on such topics as autism, stroke and sports-related brain injuries.
$133,446 spent5% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,753,664.
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 $25M to $19M (−23%).
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.
76% of BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (51% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Terre Constantine
Executive director/CEO
Board chair
Scott P Serota
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 25 funders to 33 funders, grant income rose $157k → $693k.
11 of 100 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.0M from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Chicago Community Trust). These are real filings, and they are not money BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 100 funders by total. 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 RESEARCH FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 10% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
35% 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 RESEARCH FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 16% · 2018 15% · 2019 17% · 2020 21% · 2021 21% · 2022 15% · 2023 17% — 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
42% of BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
73% of BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $982k 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 RESEARCH FOUNDATION's funding base is broadening — from 25 funders to 33 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,002 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
64%
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 RESEARCH FOUNDATION: 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 RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 100 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,583,882 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($354,500). 52 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 100 organizations giving $3,583,882 in grants to BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION, 52 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $354,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Brain Research →
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 100 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