PMSE Division

Legal name: American Chemical Society Div of Polymeric Materials S and E

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
526055670
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
State College, PA, USA
Phone
7818881736
Rating
65
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Chemistry, Chemical Engineering

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$381,215
Expenses
$351,473
Assets
$3,284,618
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Cristina Thomas (PAST CHAIR)
  • Jennifer Schaefer (CHAIR)
  • Dominik Konkolewicz (CHAIR-ELECT)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

PMSE is an American Chemical Society Division that provides a polymer-based forum for the exchange of technical information and activities to foster interactions in polymer materials science and engineering.

What it reported doing in 2025

Collaboration to the chemistry community to advance our mission through grants to support polymer-related programming at Regional and International meetings not affiliated with the semi-annual ACS National Meetings, award programs for polymer scientists, and support for advancing education in polymer science.

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 47% for direct work, and 53% for grants.

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 the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 64
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 68
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 72.6%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 62.8%; rating input score 63
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Limited
    • Conducts field audits: Limited
    • May suspend future funding: Limited
    • Requires financial reports: Limited
    • Conducts site visits: Limited
    • Requires grant agreements: Limited
    • May require repayment: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 52.3%; rating input score 52; 46th 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: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 7.8%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.35; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 31% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.1% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 72.6% of revenue deployed · 62.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 106 of 106 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $221K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 43 of 44 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and grants
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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 6 not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 52/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.