CharityWatch Scrutinizes Dean Kamen’s Federally Funded Nonprofit

The Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute
(ARMI) is a member-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance the
bioeconomy of the United States. “More than $215 million in federal money” has
been allocated to ARMI, according to a November 19, 2023 article published by New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) entitled, “Private companies owned by Segway inventor reap
millions from the federally funded nonprofit he runs.” Of the millions ARMI has received
from the United States government, NHPR estimates “At least $34 million is
flowing through ARMI to for-profit companies controlled by its executive
director [Dean Kamen].” Also, important to add, Kamen not only acts as Executive
Director for ARMI, but also its landlord, according to NHPR, which reported that Kamen has received “millions of
dollars in rent from the nonprofit [ARMI] for the space it leases in his mill
buildings.”

“’It isn’t healthy for the nonprofit to allow any one person to have so much
power–or for so much power to be centralized to one person that it’s
impossible for the organization to make decisions independently,’ said
CharityWatch Executive Director Laurie Styron, an expert in nonprofit accounting
and governance, after reviewing ARMI’s [Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute]
publicly available records.”

“Styron from CharityWatch said that without disclosures, there is no way for
taxpayers to determine if ARMI is getting its money’s worth.”

“’If this property happens to be the amount of space that the nonprofit needs
in an area that’s advantageous for the nonprofit’s mission and they’re
getting the space at below market rate, then that ticks all the boxes for this
to be a good transaction on its face,’ Styron said.”

Read NHPR’s complete article here
for more information on Dean Kamen and his nonprofit, ARMI.

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