American Association of Critical-Care Nurses

Legal name: American Association of Critical Care Nurses

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
952706905
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Aliso Viejo, CA, USA
Phone
228-229-9472
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Professional Societies, Associations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$37,374,234
Expenses
$49,757,212
Assets
$117,028,322
Liabilities
$38,285,300

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

24 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Dana Woods (Exec Director/CEO)
  • Rebekah Marsh (President-Elect)
  • Jennifer Adamski (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Dana Woods (Exec Director/CEO): $791,295 total reported compensation
  • Tracey Van Dell (Chief Integration Officer): $442,578 total reported compensation
  • Vicki Good (Chief Clinical Officer): $382,938 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) drives excellence in acute and critical care nursing.

What it reported doing in 2024

Practice Excellence: Using feedback from members, volunteers, constituents and outside leaders, research is funded through grants in areas such as palliative and end-of-life care, pain management, advance directives, and healthy work environments. Also includes the CSI Academy, a regional 12 to 16-month nursing excellence and training program designed to leverage staff nurses' expertise to enhance patient care and decrease hospital expenses. Lastly, includes the Beacon Award for Excellence which recognizes individual hospital units that distinguish themselves by improving every facet of patient care. The Beacon Award's three levels of designation recognize significant milestones along a unit's journey. For patients and families, the Beacon Award signifies exceptional care through improved outcomes and greater overall satisfaction. For nurses, a Beacon Award signals a positive and supportive work environment with greater collaboration between colleagues and leaders, higher morale and lower turnover.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 88% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The program-spending lines do not add up, so the filing cannot show reliably whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 90
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 79.1%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $44.89 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 95%; rating input score 95; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: -33.1%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.35; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.33; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.1%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 79.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $39.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $791K · 24 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.4M reported
  • Consistency: 47 of 48 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 19 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 8 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.