Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in May 1938.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
61 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
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Who runs it and what they're paid
66 people listed on the 990; $11.0M paid to officers and key staff.
Paula Volent’s $1.9M as Chief Investment Officer is at the 89th percentile of top reported officer pay among 674 $100M+ education nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 8 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paula Volent | $1,928,555 | $1,806,255 | $1,630,953 | $396,604 | — | — |
| Amy Falls | — | — | — | $200,194 | — | $1,452,137 |
| Amy Falls Till 42021 | — | — | — | — | $1,439,048 | — |
| Richard P Lifton MD PHD | $1,308,593 | $1,271,737 | $1,221,729 | $1,231,319 | $1,170,198 | $1,165,464 |
| Betty Y Chen - Managing | $926,322 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Thomas Lenehan | — | — | — | — | — | $913,988 |
| Thomas Lenehan Till 122020 | — | — | — | — | $911,783 | — |
| Maren Imhoff | $803,309 | $731,411 | $736,718 | $720,446 | $689,310 | $725,957 |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
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Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2Yes
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
- Loans to or from officersSch L · Pt II9 listed
Programs and updates
Conducts advanced biomedical and scientific research while providing tuition-free graduate education to improve human health and understand life sciences.
Questions for Rockefeller University
Your first name shows with your question. Rockefeller University answers here, for everyone.
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Research Education
70 laboratories (and 19 emeritus laboratories) including 81 faculty members, 280 post-doctoral scholars, 236 graduate students and weill medical college of cornell university medical students.
Hospital
Consists of 40 beds and serves as a clinical research center for outpatients and inpatients. The rockefeller university hospital exists solely to conduct clinical research. The specialized personnel and other resources available at the hospital facilitate clinical research for both the investigator and the research participant.
Library contains 241,013 volumes (of which 189,700 are on-line) and 7,206 on-line subscriptions and is maintained on an open stock policy. The library strives to advance knowledge by supporting our university's world class research community with technology, innovation, and collaboration in the field of science information and…
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2021 990, line by line.
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| Line | Start FY21 | End FY21 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $82.6M | $78.2M |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $2.34B | $3.02B |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $1.17B | $1.14B |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $3.88B | $4.53B |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $1.42B | $1.52B |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $2.46B | $3.01B |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic individualsLn 2 | $11.5M | $11.5M | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $7.2M | $1.6M | $5.0M | $650K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $124.4M | $106.3M | $14.0M | $4.1M |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $11.4M | $9.4M | $1.4M | $546K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $39.5M | $32.2M | $5.9M | $1.4M |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $8.4M | $7.0M | $1.1M | $301K |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $1.2M | $1.2M | ||
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $445K | $70K | $374K | |
| Investment management feesLn 11f | $591K | $591K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $24.5M | $22.4M | $2.0M | $96K |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $677K | $377K | $41K | $260K |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $50.4M | $48.8M | $1.5M | $93K |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $2.8M | $2.3M | $983 | $475K |
| RoyaltiesLn 15 | $9.7M | $9.7M | ||
| OccupancyLn 16 | $10.2M | $9.6M | $450K | $113K |
| TravelLn 17 | $82K | $71K | $11K | $149 |
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $123K | $106K | $17K | $224 |
| InterestLn 20 | $36.8M | $32.9M | $3.9M | |
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $56.2M | $51.2M | $3.8M | $1.2M |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $4.1M | $1.0M | $3.1M | |
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $184.6M | $12.7M | $171.9M | |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $585.0M | $359.5M | $216.2M | $9.2M |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest | $458.4M | $504.4M | −$46.0M | $2.6B | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $501.0M | $571.3M | −$70.3M | $2.5B | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $514.6M | $521.2M | −$6.6M | $2.6B | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $535.3M | $596.1M | −$60.7M | $2.7B | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 Viewing | $530.3M | $585.0M | −$54.7M | $3.0B | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $455.4M | $549.3M | −$93.9M | $2.5B | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2021 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $530,345,700 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 38 of 40 board members independent, 1 to look at
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $530,345,700 across 11 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $585,011,703 across 21 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $4,529,661,441 assets, 21 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $3,008,914,443 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2021 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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