Hi Brady, thanks for digging in! This was very eye opening. I was very annoyed with this statement and I called the NRS for some answers.
After 2 days, the Director of the NRS gave me a call back. I asked him why so little goes to research and he said that almost all of the money from individual contributions goes to research (his numbers were ~$110,000 from individual contributors and ~$100,000 given to research). However, he stated that the rest of the money from corporate sponsors had "strings attached" and that it couldn't go to research, only promotions, pamphlets, etc. This obviously isn't ideal, but it's corporate money and they can spend it how they please.
I took him at his word, but let me know if there is something else I should have countered his argument with. Overall, I'm still pro-NRS for the moment.