California · Nonprofit
SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE
SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 100 organizations whose IRS filings report $53,695,170 to it, the largest being MAYO CLINIC GROUP RETURN ($5,880,182). 61 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $114M
- Funders on record
- 100
- Grants received
- $54M
- Net assets
- $282M
What Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute does
Mission
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute's mission is to advance the biomedical sciences by cultivating the next generation of scientific leaders, providing meaningful opportunities for researchers of all backgrounds to learn, innovate, and make breakthrough discoveries that improve human health.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute studies the toughest diseases. We are forward-looking, collaborative, flexible and multidisciplinary. We embrace data science and promote entrepreneurship. We are central to a vibrant biomedical community: local, national and international. We are a leader whose achievements are inspiring and measurable.see schedule o for additional information.
$95,573,862 spent$908,475 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $95,573,862.
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 2018 to 2019, from $431M to $339M (−21%).
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 56% · 2018 56% · 2019 55% · 2020 56% · 2021 51% · 2022 58% · 2023 59% · 2024 57% · 2025 61%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
88% of SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (1% 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
David Brenner
CEO & president
Board chair
Donald Kearns
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 33 funders to 32 funders, grant income fell $6.6M → $4.6M.
17 of 100 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE’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
SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
89% 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 SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 16% · 2018 24% · 2019 17% · 2020 14% · 2021 18% · 2022 22% · 2023 15% — 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
29% of SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE draws 80% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 25 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE is better cushioned than half of the 1,256 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,256 health nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $576.4M on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$532.2M
- Department of Defense$42.1M
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration$2.1M
- National Science Foundation$46k
- Department of Veterans Affairs$15k
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 SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY 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
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
79%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 33 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY 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 SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE?
- SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 100 organizations whose IRS filings report $53,695,170 to it, the largest being MAYO CLINIC GROUP RETURN ($5,880,182). 61 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 100 organizations giving $53,695,170 in grants to SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE, 61 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE?
- MAYO CLINIC GROUP RETURN is the largest funder on record, with $5,880,182 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY 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 Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery 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 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