American Association of Teachers of Japanese Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
391481425
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Boulder, CO, USA
Phone
3034925487
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,503,192
Expenses
$1,164,808
Assets
$867,612
Liabilities
$12,647

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SUSAN SCHMIDT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UNTIL FEB. 2025)
  • KATHRINA M ROSS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BEGINNING FEB. 2025)
  • NOBUKO CHIKAMATSU (PRESIDENT)
  • WILLIAM MATSUZAKI (PRESIDENT-ELECT)
  • YOSHIKO MORI (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)
  • STEPHEN LUFT (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • KATHRINA M ROSS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BEGINNING FEB. 2025): $80,000 total reported compensation
  • SUSAN SCHMIDT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UNTIL FEB. 2025): $14,816 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Support teaching of japanese.

What it reported doing in 2025

Japanese language proficiency test: administration of the japanese language proficiency test (jlpt) at 19 sites around the united states. The jlpt is a test developed in japan that is given once a year in paper form to approximately 6,800 in the us and more that 150,000 in other countries including japan.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 73% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 57
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 88.2%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $20.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 56; 56th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 22.5%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.74; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.1%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68% of revenue deployed · 88.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $80K · 23 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 56/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 42/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 56/100.