Rhode Island · Nonprofit
UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION
UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION (Rhode Island) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,761,142 to it, the largest being UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION & ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT ($1,734,256). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $4.8M
- Net assets
- $5.4M
What University of Rhode Island Research Foundation does
Mission
Be a leading driver of economic prosperity for rhode island by providing a scalable, flexible shared-support structure for our current and future portfolio entities and engaging uri and research, the manufacturing community, and other regional resources and partnerships to accelerate innovation, advancement, and entrepreneurship in ris commercial and technological ecosystem, particularly uri.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Facilitate the transition of uri technologies into useful products and services through intellectual property licenses to commercial entities.
$547,848 spent$349,226 earned by the program5% of program spendingPolaris manufacturing extension partnership provided services on behalf of the state of rhode island to improve the productivity and resilience of the states manufacturers and to support state incentives to grow the number of workers with the skills needed to sustain the states manufacturers.
$6,174,775 spent$432,909 earned by the program60% of program spending401 tech bridge serves as a super-connector for companies that are developing leading-edge advanced materials, technologies, and products, enabling business growth, and speeding the process of funding commercial and dual-use applications for technologies.
$2,825,499 spent27% of program spendingThe uri ventures division/program facilitated research collaborations between university of rhode island (uri) faculty members and industry sponsors. It hosted enterpreneurship educational programs to uri students.
$775,842 spent$228,773 earned by the program8% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,323,964.
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 $4.5M to $7.2M (+60%).
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 66% · 2018 70% · 2019 71% · 2020 70% · 2021 81% · 2022 73% · 2023 77% · 2024 83% · 2025 86%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
88% of UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (52% 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
Christian Cowan
Executive director
Board chair
Peter Kaczmarek
Director,board president
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income fell $1.6M → $490k.
5 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION’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
UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
71% 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 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 50% · 2020 100% · 2021 74% · 2022 42% · 2023 51% — 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
20% of UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
52% of UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Rhode Island funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION has grown faster than three-quarters of the 78 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 78 science & tech nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $45.6M on record.
- Department of Commerce$28.9M
- Department of Defense$14.4M
- Department of Labor$2.0M
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$250k
- Department of Energy$100k
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 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION
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 Rhode Island
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% 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
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- University of Rhode Island · exempt
- 401 Tech Bridge · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION: 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 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION (Rhode Island) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,761,142 to it, the largest being UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION & ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT ($1,734,256). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $4,761,142 in grants to UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION & ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT is the largest funder on record, with $1,734,256 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND RESEARCH FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Rhode Island. 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 University of Rhode Island Research →
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 18 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