California · Nonprofit
SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,566,814 to it, the largest being Carnegie Mellon University ($1,758,571). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.9M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $3.6M
- Net assets
- $-3260800
What San Diego Biomedical Research Institute does
Mission
The SDBRI mission is to find new ways to predict and prevent cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disease, neurological disorders and HIV infection, and to accelerate medical advances that maintain health and improve quality of life.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
HIV-associated neurological disease: Currently, more than half of HIV patients have HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND). Although drugs to control HIV infection have been instrumental in preventing progression to AIDS, they do not protect from HAND, which is now on the rise as this patient population is aging. SDBRI scientists working on HAND have discovered a biological process that we believe is involved in accelerating the aging process in people with HIV, increasing their risk of dementia. SDBRI scientists are now focused on designing and testing strategies to stop that biological process for the purpose of preventing the onset of dementia. In addition, drug abuse, particularly methamphetamine, increases the number of cells that HIV likes to infect in the central nervous system, increasing the HIV reservoir and aggravating inflammation. SDBRI research is focused on how methamphetamine encourages cells in the brain to attract and provide a home for HIV infection. This information will then be used to design therapies to stop HIV from infecting cells in the brain. A Senior Staff Scientist from France and a Staff Scientist. From Malaysia received salary and benefits…
$2,155,607 spent$74,002 earned by the program25% of program spendingMultiple Sclerosis:Multiple Sclerosis is a debilitating autoimmune disease in which immune cells travel to the brain and spinal cord and destroy the protective coating that surrounds nerve fibers. Without the protective coating nerves are unable to send messages to different parts of the body and this causes an array of disorders including numbness in hands and feet, muscle weakness, fatigue, and blurred vision. It is estimated that there are 2.3 million people with MS worldwide. The goal of our cutting-edge research at SDBRI is to identify ways to manipulate and strengthen blood vessels so that the cells that cause multiple sclerosis (MS) are unable to enter the brain. In particular we seek to understand how the integrity of blood vessels in the brain is regulated by: (i) proteins of the extracellular matrix (ECM) that surround cells, and (ii) environmental stimuli such as mild hypoxia. By understanding these mechanisms, we can design new therapeutic approaches aimed at increasing blood supply and reducing vascular leak, thereby making blood vessels better equipped to protect against neurological damage. A Staff Scientist from Bangladesh and a Postdoctoral Fellow from Nepal…
$1,558,973 spent18% of program spendingCancer:A major question in cancer treatment remains, why do some people respond to treatment and others dont. Finding new ways to detect and treat cancer could potentially lead to cures that are currently unavailable to the majority of patients. At SDBRI scientists are developing a new technology to identify previously unidentifiable cancer-specific targets that might be used to design novel cancer fighting drugs. A Postdoctoral Fellow from Japan received salary and benefits while being trained at SDBRI in a variety of cellular immunology and sterile techniques to better understand techniques to help diagnose and treat cancer.DNA replication and disease DNA replicates in a highly organized way in healthy cells. However, in unhealthy cells, DNA replication is mis-regulated. SDBRI scientists are working to understand how DNA replication is mis-regulated in human disease in the hopes of finding new therapeutic approaches to preventing and reversing diseases such as cancer.Cells in our bodies eat internal parts of themselves to maintain their own health. This process, known as autophagy (spokeno-to-foh-jee), is essential for removing toxic material that causes diseases such as…
$1,423,018 spent16% of program spendingHIV/AIDS: The World Health Organization recently estimated that 36.7 million people live with HIV/AIDS worldwide with 1 million HIV-related deaths every year. New infections are estimated at an alarming 1.8 million worldwide. Developing a successful HIV vaccine is a major global health initiative. Research at SDBRI is focused on introducing novel designs to create an HIV vaccine that more people respond to. The SDBRI strategy of using HIV virus-like particles (VLPs) and mRNA as a vaccine platform is showing great promise. In addition, SDBRI scientists have designed ways to identify factors that help the immune system respond to HIV vaccines. This is very important because it might allow us to enhance the vaccine making it work in more people. SDBRI continues to participate in a multi-organization HIV vaccine research program. Our investigators work with scientists across the U.S. and in several foreign countries, including The Netherlands and Malaysia. A Staff Scientist from Malaysia received salary & benefits while being trained at SDBRI in a variety of cellular, molecular and biochemical techniques to better understand the human response to vaccines.
$1,160,489 spent13% of program spendingParkinsons Disease:Parkinsons disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects approximately 1% of the population over the age of 60. In the U.S. alone about 50,000 new cases are reported annually. It is believed that PD is caused by a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Scientists at SDBRI are working on the idea that allergic reactions represent an important environmental component in making people more susceptible to the development of PD. If this is true, components of the allergic response might be used as novel therapeutic targets to prevent PD or reduce its progression.
$1,113,358 spent13% of program spendingAllergy and Asthma Severe asthma is a rising health problem affecting millions of Americans with no current curative solutions. It is characterized by persistent airway inflammation and corticosteroid resistance. The study conducted at SDBRI aims to understand why some patients do not respond to standard asthma therapeutics, focusing on an immune cell type discovered by SDBRI investigators. These studies will teach us how pathogenic cells are generated in asthma and how these pathogenic cells interact with other immune cells subsets to curtail allergic airway inflammation and asthma. Findings could establish improved predictors for patient stratification, leading to more targeted therapies for asthma patients.
$637,878 spent7% of program spendingSYSTEMATIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS (SLE):SLE is caused by the immune system as it attacks the bodys tissue. Although there is a clear genetic predisposition to SLE, environmental factors also contribute to disease development. Ongoing work at SDBRI is focused on how genetic factors combine with virus infection and silica inhalation to cause SLE. It is hoped that understanding how the combination of these elements contribute to the development of SLE will provide information that can be used to develop therapies that block these interactions and the resulting disease.
$613,151 spent7% of program spending
The 7 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $8,662,474.
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 $931k to $18M (+1785%).
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 99% · 2018 99% · 2019 97% · 2020 99% · 2021 100% · 2022 97% · 2023 97% · 2024 98% · 2025 98%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (51% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
Joanna Davies
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $32k → $658k.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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 SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE’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
SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 49% of grant income and the top three 87%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
100% 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 SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 79% · 2020 63% · 2021 79% · 2022 45% · 2023 69% — 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.
Where its funders are
SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE draws 69% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $200k 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
SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE has grown faster than half of the 4,665 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,665 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $50.3M on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$50.3M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
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
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Ballad Research Institute · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE: 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 SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE?
- SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,566,814 to it, the largest being Carnegie Mellon University ($1,758,571). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $3,566,814 in grants to SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE?
- Carnegie Mellon University is the largest funder on record, with $1,758,571 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE 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 San Diego Biomedical Research Institute →
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 6 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