American Arbitration Association Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 130429745
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2012
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 2127165800
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Dispute Resolution, Mediation Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $189,148,203
- Expenses
- $168,324,671
- Assets
- $612,360,410
- Liabilities
- $416,310,716
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
28 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- BRIDGET MCCORMACK (PRESIDENT AND CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- BRIDGET MCCORMACK (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $1,937,644 total reported compensation
- FRANCESCO ROSSI (EVP/ CHIEF OPERATING AND REVENUE OFFICER): $1,525,539 total reported compensation
- DIANA N DIDIA (EVP/CHIEF TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION OFFICER): $1,163,324 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
See schedule o.
What it reported doing in 2025
Case administration: the aaa administers hundreds of thousands of arbitrations, mediations and other forms of dispute resolution in a given year. The aaa's administrative role in these processes is to provide a forum where disputes can be resolved, to provide qualified arbitrators, mediators and other dispute resolution professionals, and to apply our rules that govern the conduct of those proceedings. The result of the aaa's collective programs has resulted in a lessening of the burdens of our courts and government.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 90% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 74
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 59
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 79.2%; rating input score 79
- Program expense ratio: 93.8%; rating input score 94
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 86.8%; rating input score 87; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 11%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.64; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.68; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.4%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.7% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 79.2% of revenue deployed · 93.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $157.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $1.9M · 28 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $24M reported
- Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 18 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 7 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.