American Board of Medical Specialties

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
410847713
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3124362600
Rating confidence
Limited

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$25,196,152
Expenses
$27,474,805
Assets
$46,205,542
Liabilities
$10,885,353

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

Leadership & pay

47 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • RICHARD E HAWKINS MD (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • RICHARD E HAWKINS MD (PRESIDENT & CEO): $953,044 total reported compensation
  • GREGORY OGRINC MD (SVP, CERT STANDARD & PRGM): $596,993 total reported compensation
  • JENNIFER MICHAEL (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $473,001 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

In collaboration with its member boards, abms creates standards for initial and continuing board certification of physicians and medical specialists. (continued in sch o)

What it reported doing in 2025

In terms of advocacy, abms communicates information about and emphasizes the importance of board certification to diplomates, medical professionals, health care organizations, insurers, legislators and the general public. These communications provide these audiences and advocates with factual information about the importance of board certification and the marker of trust signified by the credential. Certificationmatters.org, a free, publicly accessible website offered by abms to provide information about board certification. Any individual may access this site to determine if a physician or medical specialist is board certified by an abms member board. In terms of research and professional development, abms and its member boards actively study and support research into the impact that certification programs have on both the profession of medicine as well as improving patient safety and health care. Abms is also committed to physician professional development as part of its member boards' continuing certification programs, including continuing medical education and quality and practice improvement activities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 92% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 98
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: Limited
  • Program expense ratio: Limited
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 97.1%; rating input score 97; 27th 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: -9%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.68; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.9%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
  • Governance: 34 of 35 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments
  • Leadership: top reported pay $953K · 47 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.1M reported
  • Consistency: 13 of 13 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 18 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 6 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: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.