American Cotton Shippers Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 620113620
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Memphis, TN, USA
- Phone
- 9015252272
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,996,240
- Expenses
- $3,490,997
- Assets
- $6,172,994
- Liabilities
- $249,619
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- WILLIAM H ALLEN (PRESIDENT AN)
Highest reported compensation
- WILLIAM H ALLEN (PRESIDENT AN): $884,346 total reported compensation
- SHEA GOULD ISHEE (VICE PRESIDE): $294,022 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
1. Encourage the production of an adequate and diverse supply of cotton at competitive prices to meet the needs of our domestic and foreign mill customers. 2. Educate producer and mill customers on the prudent and appropriate use of the available risk management instruments that will enable them to maximize their profit potential in the market. 3. Contract for the forward purchase and sale of cotton to lock in a market price for each of our customers. 4. Facilitate the prompt harvesting, processing, shipment and delivery acsa members are engaged in a great enterprise, the purchasing, storing, transporting, and merchandising of america's most valuable cash crop and its most abundant natural fiber. Our objectives, our challenges, our vital mission requires us to.
What it reported doing in 2025
The organization exists to protect and enhance the cotton merchandising industry.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Membership-supported. 79% of the money available for current operations came from membership dues.
- 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
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 43
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 26
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -16.5%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.77; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 33.8%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.5% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments
- Leadership: top reported pay $884K · 20 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $150K reported
- Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes foreign activity and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- 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.
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 53/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.