American Conference of Academic Deans
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521002050
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2012
- Location
- Raleigh, NC, US
- Phone
- 202-281-5115
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Higher Education Institutions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $411,575
- Expenses
- $449,032
- Assets
- $393,679
- Liabilities
- $72,302
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- LAURA BEST (EXECUTIVE DI): $116,363 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Founded in 1945, the American Conference of Academic Deans (ACAD) is an individual membership organization dedicated to the professional development of academic leaders. Recognizing that provosts, deans, and other academic administrators undertake academic leadership as their 'second discipline,' ACAD's mission is to assist these leaders as they advance in careers dedicated to the ideals of liberal education. Through meetings and workshops relevant to the current and future directions of higher education, ACAD facilitates professional networking across institutional types in order to promote collaboration, innovation, and effective practice.
What it reported doing in 2024
Membership: the acad membership is made up of over 800 individual academic leaders from more than 500 colleges and universites in the united states and abroad. Acad members are current and former deans, provosts, academic vice presidents, associate and assistant deans, and other academic leaders. Acad members are also characterized by their commitment to the ideals of a liberal education and acad focuses its efforts on supporting leaders in their work by providing resources, networking, and professional development opportunities among other member benefits.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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
STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 26
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 87.6%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 81%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -9.1%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.88; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 25.9%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 87.6% of revenue deployed · 81% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $364K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $116K · 20 people listed
- Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 23/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.