American Camping Association Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
350962419
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Martinsville, IN, USA
Phone
7653428456
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$16,504,617
Expenses
$15,993,848
Assets
$63,668,985
Liabilities
$3,745,026

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

Leadership & pay

31 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Henry DeHart Jr (Interim President/Chief Executive Officer)
  • Thomas Rosenberg (President/Chief Executive Officer (Partial Year))

Highest reported compensation

  • Thomas Rosenberg (President/Chief Executive Officer (Partial Year)): $321,876 total reported compensation
  • Henry DeHart Jr (Interim President/Chief Executive Officer): $238,949 total reported compensation
  • Christa Cassidy M (Chief Financial Officer): $208,527 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 camping association's (aca) purpose is to further children, youth, and adult welfare and education through the camp experience and to ensure the quality of camp and youth development programs by providing leading practices and standards.

What it reported doing in 2024

Camp and youth development education reflects aca's community of parents and professionals who join together to share knowledge to enhance human development. As a result of aca educational programs and services, youth and adults learn powerful lessons in community, character-building, skill development, and healthy living . A primary vehicle for disseminating education and information to camp professionals is through the annual aca national conference. More than 2,100 individuals attended the four-day conference in dallas Texas in february 2025. Numerous local and regional events are offered. In addition, online education, including asynchronous courses, webinars, and certificates of added qualification extend professional development opportunities to non-traveling learners. More than 12,000 learners participated in 2024-2025 offerings. Camp and youth development also includes aca's research programs at the national level.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 72% for direct work, 19% for grants, and 9% for affiliated organizations.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 58
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.1%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 86.7%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.36 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th 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: Missing
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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: 3.1%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.98; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.8%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.2% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.9% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.1% of revenue deployed · 86.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 8 filed program accomplishments · $13.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $322K · 31 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $427K reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 39 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 33 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 44/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 47/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.