American Antiquarian Society
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042103652
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Worcester, MA, USA
- Phone
- 5087555221
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Libraries
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $7,798,791
- Expenses
- $7,491,789
- Assets
- $120,286,066
- Liabilities
- $4,231,342
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
28 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SCOTT E CASPER (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- SCOTT E CASPER (PRESIDENT): $293,734 total reported compensation
- MARY L SWAIN (VP ADVANCEMENT): $161,875 total reported compensation
- LAUREN HEWES (VP COLLECTIONS): $156,641 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Supports and maintains a research library of american history and culture. The american antiquarian society cultivates a deeper understanding of the american past, grounded in its ever-growing collection of printed and manuscript sources. As a national research library, aas collects, preserves, and makes available for study the record of what is now the united states from early european settlement through 1900. As a learned society, aas fosters a broad community of inquiry through inclusive programs and generous support for scholarship. Our audiences include professional scholars, pre-collegiate, undergraduate, and graduate students and educators, professional artists and writers, genealogists, and the general public.
What it reported doing in 2024
Conservation, cataloging and other - to preserve and catalog the society's collection of books, newspapers, manuscripts & graphic arts in conjunction with other research libraries.
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 94% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 63
- Accountability: 93
- Sustainability: 61
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 76.7%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.74 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 95.7%; rating input score 96; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 3.9%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 16.06; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.1%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 76.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 22 of 23 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $5.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $294K · 28 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 11/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 47/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.