Missouri · Nonprofit
CORTEX
CORTEX (Missouri) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,766,322 to it, the largest being BJC HEALTH SYSTEM DBA BJC HEALTHCARE ($1,294,919). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $65M
What Cortex does
Mission
Founded in 2002, Cortex mission is the creation of the midwest's premier innovation hub of bioscience and technology research, development and commercialization, serving as the anchor of st. Louis' growing ecosystem for innovative startup programs and established companies through urban revitalization.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
In addition to Cortex's acquisition/development of real estate and the promotion of development activities of the Cortex innovation district, Cortex serves as the manager of st. Louis land company, l.l.c. (sllc) a missouri limited liability company, that serves as a land holding entity in the revitalization of an approximate 200 acre tract of land in midtown st. Louis that will serve as a center of research, technology and entrepreneurial exchange. Cortex is the manager of sllc and incurred expenses in developing and maintaining the properties.
$8,570,714 spentof which $2,273,404 as grants$4,572,846 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $8,570,714.
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 2022 to 2023, from $95M to $85M (−10%).
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: 2017 90% · 2018 16% · 2019 1% · 2020 1% · 2021 6% · 2022 63% · 2023 6% · 2024 59%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
62% of CORTEX’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 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
Sam Fiorello
President & CEO
Board chair
June Fowler
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income fell $218k → $155k.
2 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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: $1.1M from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest St Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association). These are real filings, and they are not money CORTEX raised.
From the IRS filings of CORTEX’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 12 of 13 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
CORTEX leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
51% 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 CORTEX.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 77% · 2020 100% · 2021 71% · 2022 62% · 2023 65% — diversifying over time.
“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
43% of CORTEX's funders are still giving 1 year after their first grant; 23% 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
90% of CORTEX's grant income comes from Missouri funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $121k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
CORTEX holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 659 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 659 community improvement nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like CORTEX
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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 7 related entities
- St Louis Innovation District · disregarded
- 4260 Forest Park LLC · disregarded
- Cortex Tdg 1 LLC · disregarded
- 4232 Forest Park LLC · disregarded
- Cortex Support Corporation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CORTEX: 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 CORTEX?
- CORTEX (Missouri) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,766,322 to it, the largest being BJC HEALTH SYSTEM DBA BJC HEALTHCARE ($1,294,919). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CORTEX have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $2,766,322 in grants to CORTEX, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CORTEX?
- BJC HEALTH SYSTEM DBA BJC HEALTHCARE is the largest funder on record, with $1,294,919 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CORTEX find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 13 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