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Massachusetts · Nonprofit

HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC

HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $937,050 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($401,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 82% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$63M
Funders on record
3
Grants received
$937k
Net assets
$295M
0/3 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 0%
01What it does

What Hansjorg Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard Univ Inc does

Mission

Formed as a supporting organization of president and fellows of harvard college to conduct, support and develop research and inventions in the life sciences and engineering.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Research and technology development focused on the field of biologically inspired engineering. The institute conducts its research and development activities to solve challenges in health care and the environment.

    $74,795,685 spentof which $9,605,705 as grants$672,992 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $74,795,685.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($50M) Expenses 100 ($88M) Net assets 100 ($111M)2018 Revenue 89 ($45M) Expenses 97 ($85M) Net assets 65 ($72M)2019 Revenue 407 ($205M) Expenses 94 ($82M) Net assets 175 ($195M)2020 Revenue 104 ($52M) Expenses 89 ($78M) Net assets 152 ($170M)2021 Revenue 95 ($48M) Expenses 95 ($83M) Net assets 130 ($145M)2022 Revenue 96 ($48M) Expenses 83 ($73M) Net assets 105 ($117M)2023 Revenue 618 ($311M) Expenses 97 ($85M) Net assets 308 ($342M)2024 Revenue 123 ($62M) Expenses 98 ($86M) Net assets 288 ($320M)2025 Revenue 126 ($63M) Expenses 104 ($91M) Net assets 266 ($295M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (126)Expenses (104)Net assets (266)Peer revenue range

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 $166M to $539M (+225%).

$114M
$76M
$198M
$226M
$179M
$166M
$539M
$513M
$479M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 85% · 2018 75% · 2019 15% · 2020 60% · 2021 72% · 2022 45% · 2023 6% · 2024 27% · 2025 45%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

93% of HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,251 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$37M
’17
−$41M
’18
$123M
’19
−$26M
’20
−$35M
’21
−$25M
’22
$226M
’23
−$24M
’24
−$28M
’25

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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed222225242427252122
Joined·+3+5+1+4+4+2+2+2
No longer listed·32241461
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.

2 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 82% 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 HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC’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

HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

82% 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 HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC.

43%
largest funder
100%
top three
~3
effective funders

“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

82% of HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC'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 $165k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Massachusetts, across 1 state.

MN

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $772k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC's revenue grew 26% between 2017 and 2025.

Operating margin−45% · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Organizations like HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC

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 Massachusetts

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

82% of spending goes to programs.

Program 82%Management 17%Fundraising 1%

Governance

12
board members
58%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MA

Part of a family of 295 related entities

  • Africa Academy for Public Health · exempt
  • American Repertory Theatre Company Inc · exempt
  • Associacao David Rockefeller Center de U · exempt
  • Axim Collaborative · exempt
  • Blue Marble Holdings Corp · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC: 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.

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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 HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC?
HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $937,050 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($401,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 82% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC have?
IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $937,050 in grants to HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC.
Who is the largest funder of HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC?
Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $401,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like HANSJORG WYSS INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ENGINEERING AT HARVARD UNIV INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 3 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