Massachusetts · Nonprofit
Usher 1F Collaborative Inc
Usher 1F Collaborative Inc (Massachusetts) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,934,129 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($615,000). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $744k
- Funders on record
- 35
- Grants received
- $1.9M
- Net assets
- $636k
What Usher 1F Collaborative Inc does
Mission
To fund medical research to find an effective treatment to save or restore the vision of those affected with Usher Syndrome Type 1F.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
2025 Grants to Research Labs: Harvard Medical School, David Corey Lab: $320,000 Development of gene therapies for Usher 1F University of Oregon Institute of Neuroscience, Monte Westerfield Lab: $80,000 Testing existing drugs for repurposing for Usher 1F 2025 Grant for year 4 of RUSH1F, 4-year natural history study in partnership with Foundation Fighting Blindness: $200,000. 2026 is year 4 of 4. This study will provide critical data for a future clinical trial. $5000 awarded to Usher Syndroom, Netherlands, for support/sponsorship of international Usher syndrome scientific research conference Total payment to Unravel Biosciences to identify drugs for repurposing for Usher 1F: $45,610 with an additional $45,610 due early 2026 at conclusion of study. Total grants awarded in 2025: $350,610 Key Research advances realized in 2025: Harvard conducting further preclinical testing of mini-gene Harvard team published the following paper in peer-reviewed journal: Mini-Pcdh15b Gene Therapy Rescues Visual Deficits in a Zebrafish Model of Usher Syndrome Type 1F https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.05.686814v1 2 more papers in progress from Harvard lab for publication in 2026 Corey lab…
$712,836 spentof which $696,990 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $712,836.
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 $647k to $1.4M (+116%).
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.
62% of Usher 1F Collaborative Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
Melissa Chaikof
Chair and Trustee
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $17k → $268k.
10 of 35 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 51% 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 Usher 1F Collaborative Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 35 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
Usher 1F Collaborative Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 32% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
52% 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 Usher 1F Collaborative Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 48% · 2018 37% · 2019 30% · 2020 89% · 2021 21% · 2022 39% · 2023 19% — 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
47% of Usher 1F Collaborative Inc'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
51% of Usher 1F Collaborative Inc's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $944k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Massachusetts, across 12 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $990k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
Usher 1F Collaborative Inc is better cushioned than half of the 7,883 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,883 health nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Usher 1F Collaborative 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Usher 1F Collaborative 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.
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 Usher 1F Collaborative Inc?
- Usher 1F Collaborative Inc (Massachusetts) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,934,129 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($615,000). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Usher 1F Collaborative Inc have?
- IRS filings report 35 organizations giving $1,934,129 in grants to Usher 1F Collaborative Inc, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Usher 1F Collaborative Inc?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $615,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Usher 1F Collaborative Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 35 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