EIN 86-1153859

The Biomimicry Institute

IRS 501(c) type
501(c)(3)
Num. employees
18
State
Year formed
2005
Most recent tax filings
2022-12-01
Description
The Biomimicry Institute promotes biomimicry, offers innovation programs, and provides youth education and design challenges. Headquartered in Missoula, MT.
Total revenues
$2,688,978
2022
Total expenses
$2,546,403
2022
Total assets
$2,118,943
2022
Num. employees
18
2022

Program areas at The Biomimicry Institute

Systems change:-design for decomposition (d4d)in 2021 we initiated a new systems change program to continue building on The interest generated by our The nature of fashion report (2020). This program looks at system level challenges, with an initial focus on textile decomposition and how we can design systems that ultimately support The safe breakdown and build up of materials. We rely on a consortia of international partners in germany, The netherlands, ghana, and in The us. The d4d initiative has four primary elements: a physical pilot in western europe, a physical pilot in accra, ghana; gaining a deep understanding of biological and abiotic degradation and how we can better test and design for degradation; and a narrative component. As part of both physical pilots, we began identifying dozens of technologies that could break down textiles and generate biocompatible products of value, such as glucose or soil amendments. In partnership with The university of ghana, we began ecological monitoring of several sites in accra that are subject to textile and other waste. We also conducted a biological literature review to deeply understand natural decomposition, and partnered with The yale center for green chemistry to conduct another literature review on biodegradation science and testing.
Innovation:-biomimicry launchpadthe Biomimicry launchpad supports a community of early-stage scientists and entrepreneurs who benefit from each other as they deepen their biological knowledge and develop The skills needed to transform their ideas from concept to proven prototype and beyond. The program features a virtual 10-week customer discovery and technology validation incubator. The launchpad equips nature-inspired scientists, designers, and researchers with The skills and tools they need to turn their work into scalable startups.in 2021, we ended The Biomimicry global design challenge in order to realign with our innovation department's goal of accelerating The rate of nature-inspired solutions to extractive problems. Since this program was The feeder for The Biomimicry launchpad, we did not run a Biomimicry launchpad program in 2022. Instead, we spent The year collecting data to inform a new and improved program, which launched applications in q4 of 2022. This program improvement was supported via an sbir growth accelerator fund competition award, and new topics were created such as indigenous knowledge sharing, university technology transfer best practices, and storytelling. -ray of hope prizethe ray of hope prize program identifies startups with nature-inspired solutions, amplifies their stories and connects them to mentors and investors. This is a hybrid program, with participants attending a nature retreat designed to create a life-long community of environmental entrepreneurs, followed by a 10-week virtual program focused on science communication and sustainable business practices. The program culminates with a $100,000 prize that helps companies cross a critical threshold in becoming viable businesses. In supporting The next generation of businesses to solve big challenges, The Institute brings attention to The innovative, nature-based solutions needed to build a sustainable and resilient world.the 2022 award recipient was greenpod labs, from chennai, india. Greenpod labs have created bio-inspired packaging sachets that release plant based volatiles to activate The built-in defense mechanism within specific fruits or vegetables, in order to slow down The ripening rate and minimize microbial growth. By understanding crop physiology and spoilage types, greenpod labs is able to create The right formulation for produce to fight against biotic and abiotic stresses at ambient temperature, lessening The need for cold storage and cold supply chains. Fusion bionic, from dresden, germany, creates laser-generated surface textures inspired by textures found in nature, took home The $25,000 runner-up prize. In total, ten startups (selected from 212 applicants) participated in this year's ray of hope prize program, which consisted of training on sustainable business practices and science communication skills, in addition to accessing a curated community of expert mentors, advisors, and investors. Additionally, these 10 startup companies participated in a week-long nature immersion in The coastal California redwoods, in which they built a life-long community of peers and participated in activities designed to foster a conservation and environmental mindset.
Asknature:as The largest open-access database for innovators to find biological models for design guidance, asknature is mission-critical for our work. Students use asknature when they first learn design and engineering skills in our programs and continue to use it as they advance through university and become innovators. Our aim is to have nature-inspired design become standard practice, with asknature as a primary tool. We currently have more than 1,750 articles describing biological strategies (a characteristic, mechanism, or process that performs a function for an organism or other type of living system), 300 about innovations (stories behind realized and conceptual products, services, and system components that are inspired by biology), 75 indexed resources specifically designed for educators, and 35 feature pages featuring curated subsets of our content and contextualizing intros or essays. Asknature is The world's go-to and largest open-access source of Biomimicry education resources for primary, secondary, post-secondary, and professional audiences. In 2022 we improved functionality and added or updated hundreds of pages of content to this service.in 2022, approximately 675,000 people visited The site for 945,000 sessions and accessed free resources and content (in 2020 there were 638,000 visitors over 876,000 sessions). The us is our largest audience, but 63% of our traffic is international, coming from 233 countries. Our users also come from a wide variety of sectors including education, architecture, design, engineering, biotechnology, environment, land use, health, transportation, energy, fashion, government, non-profits, and media. The year saw The launch of our first monthly newsletter, which gained more than 5,000 subscribers and consistently outperforms industry standards for high open rates, high engagement rates, and low unsubscribes. To meet a long-standing request from educators and students for more visuals, we brought on an in-house illustration and visuals lead both to create original materials and manage relationships with external art providers. This produced an official style guide for illustrations on asknature. We also produced a subset of printable asknature pages to serve as aids in classroom and conference work.we entered The world of podcasting by writing and recording 40 roughly 1-minute audio stories about biological strategies in nature for The wonderspace podcast out of The uk. Picking up an ongoing topic of interest for asknature, we began a new project investigating The potential application of artificial intelligence to aid in The creation of new content for asknature. We developed presets and model training that will allow our editors to employ ai reliably in their process and see this as a potential source of greatly expanding The volume of content on our site.
Design challenges and other education

Grants made by The Biomimicry Institute

GranteeGrant descriptionAmount
Yale UniversityGift To School for Their Green Chemistry and Green Engineering Program$20,700
Network for GoodGift To Non-Profit Organizations on Behalf of the Winners of Our Youth Design Challenge Program$5,198

Who funds The Biomimicry Institute

Grants from foundations and other nonprofits
GrantmakerDescriptionAmount
The Ray C Anderson FoundationGray Note Grant - $500,000 of Direct Support & $150,000 for Pass Through To Ray of Hope Prize Winners.$650,000
Wend IITo Leverage Wend's Existing Investment in Both the Youth Design Challenge and Ask Nature By Creating Synergistic Content for Both.$550,000
Kendeda FundGeneral & Unrestricted$331,069
...and 14 more grants received

Personnel at The Biomimicry Institute

NameTitleCompensation
Beth RattnerExecutive Director$170,389
Megan DwyerAsknature Brand Marketing Director / Board Member$101,020
Megan SchuknechtBoard Member
Jim BunchSecretary / Board$0
Angela NahikianVice President / Board$0
...and 6 more key personnel

Financials for The Biomimicry Institute

RevenuesFYE 12/2022
Total grants, contributions, etc.$2,632,352
Program services$48,867
Investment income and dividends$5,178
Tax-exempt bond proceeds$0
Royalty revenue$0
Net rental income$0
Net gain from sale of non-inventory assets$1,061
Net income from fundraising events$0
Net income from gaming activities$0
Net income from sales of inventory$0
Miscellaneous revenues$1,520
Total revenues$2,688,978

Form 990s for The Biomimicry Institute

Fiscal year endingDate received by IRSFormPDF link
2022-122023-11-01990View PDF
2021-122022-11-01990View PDF
2020-122021-11-11990View PDF
2019-122021-02-26990View PDF
2018-122020-01-14990View PDF
...and 9 more Form 990s
Data update history
August 10, 2024
Received grants
Identified 5 new grant, including a grant for $650,000 from The Ray C Anderson Foundation
May 18, 2024
Received grants
Identified 6 new grant, including a grant for $650,000 from The Ray C Anderson Foundation
January 10, 2024
Posted financials
Added Form 990 for fiscal year 2022
December 24, 2023
Received grants
Identified 3 new grant, including a grant for $550,000 from Wend II
August 19, 2023
Received grants
Identified 9 new grant, including a grant for $750,000 from Wend II
Nonprofit Types
Social advocacy organizationsResearch centersCharities
Issues
Science and technology
Characteristics
Conducts researchOperates internationallyNational levelTax deductible donationsAccepts online donations
General information
Address
PO Box 9216
Missoula, MT 59807
Metro area
Missoula, MT
County
Missoula County, MT
Website URL
biomimicry.org/ 
Phone
(415) 800-1401
IRS details
EIN
86-1153859
Fiscal year end
December
Taxreturn type
Form 990
Year formed
2005
Eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions (Pub 78)
Yes
Categorization
NTEE code, primary
U50: Biological, Life Science Research
NAICS code, primary
813319: Social Advocacy Organizations
Parent/child status
Independent
California AB-488 details
AB 488 status
May Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes
Charity Registration status
Current - Awaiting Reporting
FTB status revoked
Not revoked
AG Registration Number
CT0247521
FTB Entity ID
3212851
AB 488 data last updated ("as-of") date
2024-11-06
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