American Academy of Diplomacy
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521341314
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2023313721
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Professional Societies, Associations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,575,314
- Expenses
- $856,503
- Assets
- $5,555,852
- Liabilities
- $405,951
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
39 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Ronald Neumann (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Ronald Neumann (President): $110,250 total reported compensation
- Michael Van Dusen (Director): $45,000 total reported compensation
- Deborah McCarthy (Director): $14,583 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To support and strengthen u.s. Diplomacy and enhance public appreciation of its critical role in advancing the national interest.
What it reported doing in 2024
Publications: AADs most recent publication is the Blueprint 2: Professional Education and Training, which is a chapter in the 2022 Report by Marc Grossman and Marcie Ries titled Blueprints for a More Modern US Diplomatic Service. The report as a whole, published by Arizona State University, offers an actionable guide for producing operationally significant change in the ways the United States organizes and executes its diplomacy. More specifically, Blueprint 2, written by AAD, develops concrete measures necessary to increase the professional capacities of U.S. diplomats by expanding opportunities for professional education and training. Other recent publications include Bringing Americas Multilateral Diplomacy into the 21st Century (2022), which proposes recommendations for bringing U.S. multilateral diplomacy into the mainstream of policymaking, diplomatic practice, and diplomatic training in order to deal effectively with the pressing international challenges; Changing the Risk Paradigm for U.S. Diplomats (2021), which offers the State Department a set of recommendations for addressing the growing risk aversion at its overseas missions, including the legislative change of the Accountability Review Boards; and Strengthening the Department of State (2019), which offers recommendations for how to enhance the structures and processes of the State Department.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 58
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 76
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 45.4%; rating input score 45
- Program expense ratio: 80.7%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $15.9 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 81.6%; rating input score 82; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 45.6%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.49; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 20.5%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 45.4% of revenue deployed · 80.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 31 of 38 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $691K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $110K · 39 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 45/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 52/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.