This page summarizes Brain Support Networks expenses and donations. The following pie charts summarize expenses and donations for 2015.
Expenses
Brain Support Network Program expenses (brain donations, web site, events) constitute the bulk of Brain Support Network’s (BSN’s) expenses at 89% of total in 2015. Program expenses are still lower than you would expect because much of our work is accomplished by volunteers. For example, all Support Group discussion coordinators and all members of our Board of Directors are unpaid volunteers. We don’t maintain our own physical offices. Instead, we use information technology to allow us to collaborate at minimum cost.
| Expenses | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Program Expenses | 27% | 82% | 89% | 89% |
| Management Expenses | 72% | 13% | 8% | 8% |
| Fundraising Expenses | 2% | 5% | 3% | 3% |
BSN has full-time volunteers, but no full-time employees. Thanks to the generosity of our medical community collaborators, we rarely compensate (or pay the transportation costs of) persons to speak at our events. The work of our staff specialists in brain donation constitutes our single largest program expense.
Management expenses, at 14% of total, consist of insurance premiums, legal fees, accounting fees, postage-related expenses, and a shared part-time employee. These premiums and fees make possible the work of three dozen employees and volunteers.
Fundraising expenses amount to only 6% of our expenses, where a major expense is printing memorial flyers to honor brain donors. We are especially grateful to the families who have donated a loved-one’s brain to research and have subsequently donated funds to make possible brain donation arrangements for the next family. Brain Support Network does not use any outside (“Professional”) fund raising organizations.
BSN could not execute its mission without the commitment of our staff and volunteers. They allow much work to be done at very low cost. At the same time, BSN could not exist without the generosity of our donors without whom the infrastructure and scale of the organization could not be maintained.
Donors and Donations
Over 95% of Brain Support Network donors are individuals. In 2015, our average donation was $254 and our median donation was $100.
Individual Donors and Donations
| Individual Donors and Donations | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual Donations Total | $61,705 | $59,724 | $99,378 | $132,738 |
| Number of Individual Donations | 36 | 364 | 478 | 523 |
| Average Individual Donation | $1,714 | $164 | $208 | $254 |
| Median Individual Donation | $80 | $75 | $100 | $100 |
Corporate/Governmental Donors and Donations
In 2015 Brain Support Network received less than 5% of its funding from institutional donors.
| Institutional Donors and Donations | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Institutional Donations Total | $0 | $2,000 | $2,800 | $6,250 |
| Number of Institutional Donations | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Average Institutional Donation | none | $2,000 | $560 | $1,042 |
| Median Institutional Donation | none | $2,000 | $100 | $250 |
These donors are primarily businesses, though we did receive our first “Government” donation in 2015. The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors in California graciously supported our conference on Dementia that took place in Santa Rosa on November 14, 2015.
Highest Paid Directors and Employees
In addition to summaries of donations and expenses, the IRS requires disclosure of the highest paid members of the Board of Directors and the highest paid employees. No member of the Brain Support Network’s Board of Directors is paid. All employees of BSN are part-time.
| Annual Gross Salary of the Highest-Paid… | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Members of the Board of Directors | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Employees | None | $2,503 | $17,683 | $19,532 |
IRS Form 990s
Each year BSN reports financials to the IRS to maintain our 501(c)(3) non-profit status. Links to our IRS Form 990s, the IRS for non-profit financial disclosures, follow. Because our accounting firm provides pro bono tax reporting assistance, they put us (naturally) at the back of the queue. For this reason, our 990s are generally submitted to the IRS in the last quarter of the following year.
2016
Brain Support Network IRS Form 990 for calendar year 2016: Not yet available. Expected in November 2017.
2015
Brain Support Network IRS Form 990 for calendar year 2015.
2014
Brain Support Network IRS Form 990 for calendar year 2014.
2013
Brain Support Network IRS Form 990 for calendar year 2013.
2012
In our first year of operations as a non-profit, we did not meet the thresholds required for a full tax return. Instead, we submitted the required “postcard”: Brain Support Network IRS Form 990N (postcard) for calendar year 2012.