California · Nonprofit
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies (California) receives grants from 212 organizations whose IRS filings report $230,518,233 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO ($26,342,005). 143 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $181M
- Funders on record
- 212
- Grants received
- $231M
- Net assets
- $687M
What The Salk Institute for Biological Studies does
Mission
Unlocking the secrets of life itself is the driving force behind the salk institute. Our team of world-class, award-winning scientists pushes boundaries of knowledge in areas such as neuroscience, cancer research, aging, immunobiology, plant biology, computational biology, and more. Founded by jonas salk, developer of the first safe and effective polio vaccine, the institute is an independent, nonprofit research organization and architectural landmark: small by choice, intimate by nature, and fearless in the face of any challenge.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a world-renowed, independent research institute dedicated to advancing our understanding of life sciences and improving human health. Its programs bring together leading scientists across disciplines to explore fundamental questions in biology, from the molecular mechanisms of disease to the complexities of the brain and the impact of climate change on living systems. Through collaborative, curiosity-driven research and innovative technology, salk's programs aim to translate scientific discoveries into real-world solutions that benefit society. Below are highlighted scientific achievements during july 2024 through june 2025. Study reveals key gene protecting plants from harmful metals in soil - the excessive use of manure and sewage sludge can increase heavy metal concentrations in agricultural land where vital crops are grown. One of these heavy metals is zinc, a micronutrient necessary for plant and animal health. In excess, however, zinc can be extremely damaging to sensitive plant species. Salk researchers identified a gene, called trichome birefringence or tbr, that helps plants manage excess zinc by trapping it in their root cell…
$148,586,524 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $148,586,524.
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 2020 to 2021, from $627M to $803M (+28%).
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 36% · 2018 41% · 2019 38% · 2020 45% · 2021 38% · 2022 50% · 2023 44% · 2024 51% · 2025 47%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
86% of The Salk Institute for Biological Studies’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (40% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Board chair
Marna C Whittington Phd
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 53 funders to 77 funders, grant income rose $19M → $26M.
34 of 212 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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 Salk Institute for Biological Studies’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 212 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 Salk Institute for Biological Studies has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 11 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 11 funders to its left
73% 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 Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 35% · 2019 35% · 2020 13% · 2021 11% · 2022 19% · 2023 23% — 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
51% of The Salk Institute for Biological Studies's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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 Salk Institute for Biological Studies draws 74% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 29 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $88M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 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 Salk Institute for Biological Studies runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 32 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 32 science & tech nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding The Salk Institute for Biological Studies receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $671.2M on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$634.2M
- Department of Defense$15.8M
- National Science Foundation$8.5M
- Department of the Interior$7.6M
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration$2.2M
- Department of Homeland Security$1.5M
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 The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
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
84% 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
Files a return copy in 40 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Salk Institute Commercial Services Corp · corp_trust
- Charitable Remainder Trusts (5) · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Salk Institute for Biological Studies: 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 Salk Institute for Biological Studies?
- The Salk Institute for Biological Studies (California) receives grants from 212 organizations whose IRS filings report $230,518,233 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO ($26,342,005). 143 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The Salk Institute for Biological Studies have?
- IRS filings report 212 organizations giving $230,518,233 in grants to The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 143 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Salk Institute for Biological Studies?
- JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO is the largest funder on record, with $26,342,005 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Salk Institute for Biological Studies 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 Salk Institute for Biological Studies →
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 212 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