Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
Universities Space Research Association
Universities Space Research Association (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,745,879 to it, the largest being JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ($478,732). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $51M
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $1.7M
- Net assets
- $27M
What Universities Space Research Association does
Mission
To provide a collaborative membership organization where universities and other research organizations may cooperate effectively with each other, with the United States government, and other entities to develop knowledge associated with space science and technology
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Air Force research laboratory (afrl) future scholars stem offers stipend-paid internship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate-level university students pursuing stem degree, as well as upper-level high school students; select locations also offer internships to unversity students persuing education-related degrees and k-12 professional educators. the selected interns gain valuable hands-on experience working iwth full-time afrl scientists and engineers on cutting-edge research and technology and are able to contribute to unique, research-based projects. graduate interns are able to collaborate with afrl on current research and incorporate the research into their graduate work.
$11,748,047 spentof which $4,064,993 as grants29% of program spendingLunar & planetary institute (lpi) supports nasa's research in lunar, planetary, and related scientific fields. The institute is a center for lunar and planetary science, conducting research studies on the formation, evolution, and current state of the moon, planets, comets, asteroids, planetary satellites, cosmic dust, and our solar system as awhole through analysis of data and samples obtained through nasa's long history of missions and exploration, service to nasa and the planetary science community. The institute coordinates scientific meetings on lunar and planetary topics, and disseminates scientific informationthrough technical journals and conferences, including an abstract database of more than 25,000 presentations made by scientists atlpi-sponsored meetings. The institute also curates an extensivecollection of lunar and planetary data that is accessible online.
$10,737,575 spentof which $285,648 as grants26% of program spendingScience and technology institute (sti) in huntsville, al employes a dedicated workforce of approximately 30 scientists, engineers, postdocs, and interns in research areas of astrophysics, earth sciences, and heliophysics. Sti operations are co-located with the nasa marshall space flight center (MSFC) science research office in the national spacie science and technology center (nsstc) located at the university of alabama in huntsville.
$8,891,292 spentof which $406,499 as grants22% of program spendingRESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED COMPUTER SCIENCE (RIACS): THE RIACS IS FOCUSED ON DEVELOPING THE NEXT GENERATION ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES THAT WILL FACILITATE BOTH HUMAN AND ROBOTIC SPACE EXPLORATION. SINCE ITS INCEPTION IN 1983, THE INSTITUTE HAS CONDUCTED BASIC AND APPLIED COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH ACROSS A VARIETY OF AEROSPACE-RELATED DISCIPLINES, INCLUDING SUPERCOMPUTING, COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS, COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY, HIGH-PERFORMANCE NETWORKING, AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. NASA Academic Mission Services (NAMS) contract to deliver new concepts, tools and technologies related to aeronautics, science and aeroflightdynamics. This five-year agreement for a $193 million award launches an integrated multi-year research effort to be conducted at NASA's Ames Research Center, which ranges from fundamental research and development through field test deployments and operational science missions. the low-gravity science program at nasa's glenn research center continues to achieve mission success on numerous flight experiments on the international space station (iss) and other suborbital platforms while also supporting ground-based r&d that is often the precursor of future iss flight…
$9,301,436 spentof which $736,094 as grants$3,297,981 earned by the program23% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $40,678,350.
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 $62M to $47M (−23%).
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 97% · 2018 97% · 2019 97% · 2020 101% · 2021 100% · 2022 99% · 2023 110% · 2024 97% · 2025 92%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of Universities Space Research Association’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (52% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Dr Elsayed Talaat
President & CEO (start jan 25)
Board chair
General Lester Lyles US Air Force
Chair, Board of Trustees
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020, and between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $254k → $96k.
3 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 Universities Space Research Association’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
Universities Space Research Association leans on a few funders — its largest provides 27% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
92% 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 Universities Space Research Association.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 73% · 2019 45% · 2020 38% · 2021 82% · 2022 46% · 2023 70% — 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
33% of Universities Space Research Association's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
Universities Space Research Association draws 88% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $250k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
Universities Space Research Association's revenue fell 68% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 78 science & tech nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding Universities Space Research Association receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $297.8M on record.
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration$247.8M
- Department of Defense$44.6M
- Department of the Interior$2.9M
- Department of Energy$1.4M
- National Science Foundation$1.1M
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 Universities Space Research Association
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% 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 4 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- E Street Technologies LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Universities Space Research Association: 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 Universities Space Research Association?
- Universities Space Research Association (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,745,879 to it, the largest being JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ($478,732). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Universities Space Research Association have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $1,745,879 in grants to Universities Space Research Association, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Universities Space Research Association?
- JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY is the largest funder on record, with $478,732 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Universities Space Research Association find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 Universities Space Research Association →
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 11 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