American Dental Education Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911993281
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
202-289-7201
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Graduate, Professional Schools (Separate Entities)

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$38,833,967
Expenses
$41,271,111
Assets
$36,291,367
Liabilities
$8,541,404

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

Leadership & pay

25 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KAREN WEST (PRESIDENT AND CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • KAREN WEST (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $638,350 total reported compensation
  • SONYA SMITH (COO AND CHIEF OF STAFF): $460,480 total reported compensation
  • MARSHA PYLE (SENIOR SCHOLAR IN RESIDENCE): $432,641 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

ADEA is the voice of dental education. Its mission is to lead individuals and institutions to improve health by advancing dental education, research, and service.

What it reported doing in 2024

The adea division of communications and membership (dcm) is responsible for adea's efforts to advance public understanding and support of academic dental institutions and their contributions to the nation's health. Dcm serves as the organization-wide resource for adea's communications and marketing strategy, messaging, media relations and social media; website content development, strategy and redesign efforts; branding and reputation management; graphic design and advertising; publications, including the adea print and online journal of dental education, bulletin of dental education, adea official guide to dental schools and online dental school explorer; dental education jobs board and adea directory of institutional members; publishing and editorial services; video and photography services; membership services and member engagement, recruitment and retention efforts; product quality control and the development of new and digital technologies and strategies to reach the organization's priority audiences; and development of communications and marketing campaigns to promote adea programs, products, services, meetings and events.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 96% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 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: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.2%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 73.9%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 86.7%; rating input score 87; 1st 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: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 73%; rating input score 73; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 23rd 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: -6.3%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.88; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.6%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 77.2% of revenue deployed · 73.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $30.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $638K · 25 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $13.7M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 40 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 21 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 6 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.
  • 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: 8 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.