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Illinois · Nonprofit

UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC

UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC (Illinois) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $36,667 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FIRE SPRINKLER ASSOCIATION INC ($36,667). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$46M
Funders on record
1
Grants received
$37k
Net assets
$1.1B
0/1 repeat funders
01What it does

What Underwriters Laboratories Inc does

Mission

Underwriters Laboratories Inc.'s mission is: to advance safety science through research and investigation for the public good; to promote safe living and working environments for people by the application of safety science research and hazard-based safety engineering; to support the research and development of products that are physically and environmentally safe and to apply our research efforts towards prevention or reduction loss of life and property for the broader public good; to educate the general public about safety science through the publication and dissemination of research results

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Underwriters Laboratories Inc. Performs research & investigation to advance safety science. Additionally, the organization engages in public advocacy and provides education to the public to enhance safety awareness.

    $49,522,131 spentof which $8,873,402 as grants$1,088,367 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $49,522,131.

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 ($30M) Expenses 100 ($35M) Net assets 100 ($787M)2018 Revenue 98 ($29M) Expenses 110 ($38M) Net assets 99 ($778M)2019 Revenue 101 ($30M) Expenses 139 ($48M) Net assets 97 ($760M)2020 Revenue 114 ($34M) Expenses 131 ($46M) Net assets 95 ($748M)2021 Revenue 4124 ($1.2B) Expenses 22098 ($7.7B) Net assets 138 ($1.1B)2022 Revenue 6 ($1.6M) Expenses 170 ($59M) Net assets 120 ($941M)2023 Revenue 52 ($15M) Expenses 263 ($92M) Net assets 133 ($1.0B)2024 Revenue 156 ($46M) Expenses 317 ($110M) Net assets 142 ($1.1B)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (156)Expenses (317)Net assets (142)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 2020 to 2021, from $855M to $1.1B (+29%).

$856M
$851M
$851M
$855M
$1.1B
$951M
$1.1B
$1.1B
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 4% · 2018 6% · 2019 3% · 2020 5% · 2021 0% · 2022 128% · 2023 7% · 2024 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

19% of UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 287 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 8 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$5.1M
’17
−$8.9M
’18
−$18M
’19
−$12M
’20
−$6.5B
’21
−$58M
’22
−$76M
’23
−$64M
’24
1.2
months of
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

T Brady

FMR President & CEO

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed3942373740424133
Joined·+5+3+3+10+11+5+1
No longer listed·2837969
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

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

Funder
'25*
total
funders
1

From the IRS filings of UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES 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.

Where its funders are

UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 1 state in all.

MD

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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

UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC's revenue grew 56% between 2017 and 2024.

Operating margin−137% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve1.2mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)7% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 270 public benefit nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024

Government funding UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $38.8M on record — $38.8M federal, $13k state.

Federal$38.8M
grants $10.9Mcontracts $27.9M
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Top agencies
  • Department of Homeland Security$33.2M
  • Department of Energy$2.2M
  • Department of Health and Human Services$1.7M
  • Department of Justice$1.5M
  • National Science Foundation$150k
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration$22k
State$13k
06
07
08
15
Top programs
  • DIRECT STATE SERVICES - NON-SALARY$7k
  • SPECIAL TRANSPORTATION TRUST FD$5k
  • REVOLVING$870
  • DEDICATED$750

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 UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES 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 Illinois

Ulse Inc90%Ui Labs Inc80%UChicago Research International79%National Safety Council78%Health and Medicine Policy Research Group78%The Uniform Law Foundation78%Human Service Center78%United Way of Effingham Cnty Inc77%

Nationally

Ulse Inc90%Science and Technology Futures Inc81%Services for the Underserved Inc81%United States Public Interest Research Group Inc80%Upper Peninsula Region of Library Cooperation Inc80%United Advocacy Group Inc80%US Institute Against Human Trafficking Inc80%Human Engineering Laboratory Inc80%
05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

62% of spending goes to programs.

Program 62%Management 38%Fundraising 0%

Governance

8
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

20%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

OK

Part of a family of 125 related entities

  • Ul Do Brasil Certificacoes · exempt
  • Ulc Standards · exempt
  • Ulse Inc · exempt
  • Underwriters Laboratories Thailand Ltd · corp_trust
  • Ul Responsible Sourcing Mexico Sa de Cv · corp_trust

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC?
UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC (Illinois) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $36,667 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FIRE SPRINKLER ASSOCIATION INC ($36,667). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC have?
IRS filings report 1 organization giving $36,667 in grants to UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC.
Who is the largest funder of UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC?
NATIONAL FIRE SPRINKLER ASSOCIATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $36,667 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 1 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