Wyoming · Nonprofit
THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS
THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS (Wyoming) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,607,483 to it, the largest being Fulk Family Foundation Inc ($2,088,050). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.0M
- Funders on record
- 55
- Grants received
- $5.6M
- Net assets
- $3.0M
What The Institute for Ethnomedicine Inc Dba Brain Chemistry Labs does
Mission
The institute for ethnomedicine searches for new cures by studying plant medicine and patterns of wellness and disease among indigenous people.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The Brain Chemistry Labs seeks to discover novel ways of preventing, diagnosing, and treating brain diseases. Our current focus is on progressive neurodegenerative diseases characterized by protein misfolds, including Alzheimers, ALS, Parkinsons, and Lewy Body disease. We are sponsoring a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled Phase II clinical trial of the amino acid L-serine for the treatment of Mild Cognitive Impairment (a precursor of Alzheimers disease) at Houston Methodist Research Institute. We are currently raising funds for advanced clinical trials of L-serine for ALS, and a clinical trial for WY40687, a new drug we have discovered for advanced Parkinsons disease. We have discovered microRNA fingerprints, extracted from extracellular vesicles in the bloodstream, which are diagnostic for ALS as well as a novel metabolite which is diagnostic for early-stage Alzheimers disease. We have also discovered that naturally occurring small proteins, called cyclotides, may be useful as chemotherapy adjuvants for glioblastoma.
$2,573,712 spent$20,000 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,573,712.
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 2019 to 2020, from $2.2M to $4.7M (+111%).
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: 2020 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS’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. 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.
Board chair
Elizabeth Susan Severson
board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $181k → $561k.
17 of 55 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% 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 THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 55 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
THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 61%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 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 THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 42% · 2018 27% · 2019 63% · 2020 39% · 2021 75% · 2022 49% · 2023 46% — growing more concentrated.
“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
27% of THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Wyoming, across 20 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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
THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 8,121 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 8,121 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS
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 Wyoming
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS: 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 THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS?
- THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS (Wyoming) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,607,483 to it, the largest being Fulk Family Foundation Inc ($2,088,050). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS have?
- IRS filings report 55 organizations giving $5,607,483 in grants to THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS, 33 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS?
- Fulk Family Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $2,088,050 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE INSTITUTE FOR ETHNOMEDICINE INC DBA BRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wyoming. 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 Institute for Ethnomedicine Inc Dba Brain Chemistry Labs →
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 55 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