California · Nonprofit
VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO
VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO (California) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,095,844 to it, the largest being The George Washington University ($2,297,210). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $16M
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $6.1M
- Net assets
- $314k
What Veterans Medical Research Foundation of San Diego does
Mission
Honoring military service with science; our bench-to-bedside approach has led to breakthroughs in areas such as shingles prevention, heart disease, metabolic diseases and ground breaking work on post-traumatic stress disorder.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Dr. Norman clinical effectiveness and implementation of massed pro:over twenty well-controlled clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy and effectiveness of prolonged exposure (pe) for ptsd, including several with service members and veterans. Pe is a time-limited (about 12 session) psychotherapy that helps people change trauma-related cognitions such as "the world is completely dangerous and "I am incompetent" through in-vivo exposure to trauma reminders and imaginal exposure to the trauma memory. Over time, exposure to these avoided but safe stimuli helps patients reduce their belief in their trauma-related cognitions which is associated with recovery from ptsd. In one of the largest study of pe to date, pe resulted in large effect sizes with 73% of patients responding to treatment and 40% losing their ptsd diagnosis. Pe has been shown to be effective with a variety of complex and comorbid populations and all five major u.s. And international clinical practice guidelines for ptsd treatment give pe their highest rating. Given the strength of this evidence, pe has been implemented in multiple healthcare systems over the past decade, such as the department of defense (dod),…
$1,755,654 spent$1,755,654 earned by the program15% of program spendingDr. Ix - kidney tublar damage and dysfunction identify a novel axis of chronic kidney:pathologic studies demonstrate that kidney tubule injury, atrophy, and fibrosis are common features of chronic kidney disease (ckd) and are highly predictive of progression to dialysis. Established ckd risk factors including hypertension and advanced age are associated with tubular injury and fibrosis on biopsy. However, current clinical assessment of ckd evaluates only glomerular function (gfr) and glomerular injury (albuminuria), but not kidney tubular dysfunction or injury. The overall hypothesis of this application is that kidney tubular dysfunction and injury are measurable contributors to ckd pathogenesis and prognosis. Dysfunction of the kidney tubules will be assessed by three indices: (1) renal tubule resistance to hormone actions of fgf23 and pth; (2) acid/base homeostasis; and (3) urine re-absorptive capacity.we will: (1) determine the association of kidney tubular dysfunction and injury with risk of cvd events, (2) determine the association of kidney tubular dysfunction and injury with ckd progression, and (3) determine whether randomization to intensive blood pressure management arm…
$882,758 spent$694,120 earned by the program7% of program spendingDr. Lang multi-site feasibility of compassion meditation for veterans with ptsd he overall goal of this application is to leverage an existing compassion meditation (cm) protocol to develop the cognitively based compassion training (cbct-vet) for veterans with ptsd. Specifically, this project aims to examine the feasibility of a multi-site trial of cbct-vet compared to a relaxation control (veteran.calm); develop procedures for therapist training and fidelity monitoring; and, pilot test multi-modal assessment procedures. If successful, this project could inform the study design of a future larger-scale rct multi- site efficacy study and contribute to the knowledge base of non-pharmacological behavioral approaches for ptsd in undertreated veterans, a significant public health concern.
$676,530 spent$676,530 earned by the program6% of program spendingVeterans Medical Research Foundation of San Diego, where we honor service with science, is the region's only medical research institute dedicated to veterans. We facilitate world-class research at the va san diego healthcare system that provides improvements for veterans' healthcare. While focused on veterans, our medical advances extend to the entire population and raise the standard of care for everyone.
$8,506,708 spent$441,906 earned by the program72% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $11,821,650.
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 2024 to 2025, from $6.7M to $4.8M (−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 77% · 2018 71% · 2019 66% · 2020 73% · 2021 73% · 2022 68% · 2023 71% · 2024 67% · 2025 75%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
78% of VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (7% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 8 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
Maria Sittmann
Executive director/CEO
Board chair
Phillip L Jelsma Esq
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024, and between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 7 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $956k → $334k.
4 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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 VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO’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
VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
100% 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 VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 71% · 2019 58% · 2020 97% · 2021 61% · 2022 80% · 2023 79% — 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
44% of VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO draws 75% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $6.1M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,843 health nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $88.8M on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$55.0M
- Department of Defense$33.8M
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 VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO
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
71% 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 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO: 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 VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO?
- VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO (California) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,095,844 to it, the largest being The George Washington University ($2,297,210). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $6,095,844 in grants to VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO?
- The George Washington University is the largest funder on record, with $2,297,210 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like VETERANS MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO 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 Veterans Medical Research Foundation of San Diego →
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 16 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