International Accountability Project
Overview
Mission
The international accountability project is an international human and environmental rights organization that works with communities, civil society and social movements to change how today's development is done. Iap works for a world in which communities lead development where they live, work and play. In contrast to current practice, iap advocates for a development process in which people claim and uphold their rights, the environment is respected, and all are able to live with dignity and thrive on the land they love. Iap works in solidarity with communities, civil society and social movements to inform and amplify their campaigns, broaden access to information, and create spaces within and outside dominant power systems for communities to lead the development decisions that affect their lives and environment.
What it reported doing in 2024
For more than two decades, the international accountability project (iap) has been strengthening community-led campaigns to achieve local and global impacts. Iap is recognized as strategic convener and connective tissue for collective action. At its core, iap leverages community-level expertise and experience to increase community-led participation and reinforce campaigns supporting development justice and community-led development. Iap is known for its nimble, thouhtful and inclusive work.continued on schedule othe bulk of iap's work is mobilizing and reinforcing 20 community-led responses in 17 countries. Iap supports communities in negotiations and advocacy towards the companies, governments and investors involved in development projects that affect them. Iap partners with communities that wish to influence the design, construction or benefit-distribution of a project or the resettlement and compensation plans - all of whichmay have been done without their participation.as part of the community-led campaign work, the early warning system ensures local communities, and the organizations that support them, have verified information about projects being proposed at major development finance institutions and clear strategies for advocacy ideally before funding is decided. The early warning system exchanges information, advice, tools and resources with communities, the local organizations supporting them to inform development actors. The information exchanged includes accessible information about projects at development finance institutions, including the roles of any private actors, and critical data from community-led research efforts, with data from local communities and development finance institutions, the early warning system exposes trends in development by sector, bank, geography and community response.iap's global advocacy team initiative brings together incrediblecommunity organizers from around the world to conduct community-led research and mobilize their communities to change how development is designed, funded and implemented. From may-july 2021, iap hosted 7 global and regional discussions on community-led development planning to collectively co-create this current iteration of the global advocacy team on community-led development planning. In total 53 activists from 25 countries, representing 46 organizations contributed to these conversations and the collective report global and regional expert meeting report. A 6-member advisory group was elected from these meetings to direct the initiative through 2022-2024. The co-created initiative resulted in 8 communities in 8 countries being selected for 3 years of training and support by iap to research their communities development needs and design their own community-led development plan.iap produces community action guides with local activists and partners. Used by community organizers around the world to start or strengthen local campaigns, iap's materials and tools are interactive and accessible. The community action guides, now in 15 languages, demystify the development process, introduce the actors involved, and offer strategies for community-led solutions to development. These are reinforced with collective exercises and accessible case examples about how other communities around the world have responded to development challenges.companies have significant power and influence over our lives. The impact can be incredibly positive, for example, increased employment opportunities, access to goods and services, and improved technology. However, the examples of companies causing harm continue, as have the local and international actions, largely initiated by communities and civil society, to improve legal protections and open accessible routes for justice and remedy. In the globalized economy, ensuring corporate accountability across borders can be incredibly challenging for a local campaign. Without corporate accountability, there is a risk of corporations exploiting
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 91% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 270608154
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2011
- Headquarters
- Brooklyn, NY, USA
- Phone
- 7184274737
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- International Development
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 74
- Sustainability: 14
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 84.2%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: $14.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -34%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.44; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 25.3%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.5% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 84.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $387K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $116K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 annual filings from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- RYAN SCHLIEF (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $116,350 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.