American College of Rheumatology

Legal name: American College of Rheumatology Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
581627547
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Atlanta, GA, USA
Phone
4046333777
Rating confidence
Limited

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$37,209,245
Expenses
$37,724,278
Assets
$49,584,697
Liabilities
$14,403,022

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

Leadership & pay

34 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Adam Goode (ARP President 2025)
  • Aileen Ledingham (ARP President 2024)
  • Carol Langford (ACR President Elect 2024 / ACR President 2025)
  • Deborah Desir (ACR President 2024)
  • Liana Fraenkel (FDN President 2024 & 2025)
  • William Harvey (ACR Secretary 2024 / ACR President Elect 2025)

Highest reported compensation

  • Steve Echard (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT): $707,893 total reported compensation
  • Sheryl McCalla (SR. VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER): $347,686 total reported compensation
  • Colleen Merkel (VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS & FINANCE): $295,381 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 primary purpose of these principles is to support the mission of the American College of Rheumatology.

What it reported doing in 2024

The acr provides professional education for its members through several venues. Its annual scientific meeting, held each fall, is devoted to rheumatology through programs of education, research, advocacy and practice support that foster excellence in the care of people with or the acr provides professional education for its members through several rheumatology through programs of education, research, advocacy and practice support that foster excellence in the care of people with or the rheumatic diseases. This meeting draws thousands of rheumatologists and arthritis health professionals from around the world. A winter rheumatology symposium, spring clinical meetings, and other topical conferences round out the acr's education offerings. The acr has three scientific journals: "arthritis & rheumatology", research in the rheumatic diseases, "arthritis care & research", which focuses on the health services and clinical aspects of rheumatology, and "open rheumatology" which is an open access online journal that publishes articles, reviews, and letters related to all important areas of experimental and clinical research in rheumatology. The acr supports the rheumatology research foundation, a related entity. This foundation invests over $10 million annually in rheumatology research and training.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 80% of the money available for current operations came from other operating 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: 91
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

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

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 97.2%; rating input score 97; 27th 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; 66th 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: -1.4%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.31; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.29; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.3%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
  • Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
  • Leadership: top reported pay $708K · 34 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $7.2M reported
  • Consistency: 13 of 14 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 24 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 25/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.