American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
366169577
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
8004438456
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,906,439
Expenses
$1,656,290
Assets
$6,660,822
Liabilities
$307,760

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

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOBY YOUNG (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • VINCENT DUVALL (CHAIRMAN): $717,700 total reported compensation
  • ELLEN STEEN GREER (GENERAL COUNSEL & SECRETARY): $483,207 total reported compensation
  • JOBY YOUNG (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT): $466,799 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 american farm bureau foundation for agriculture strives to build awareness, understanding, and a positive perception of agriculture through education. The foundation offers a variety of fun and engaging standards-based programs and activities for students at all grade levels, and for educators interested in learning more about where food comes from.

What it reported doing in 2024

White-reinhardt fund for education - this fund provides grants and scholarships to boost agricultural literacy among kids, teachers and volunteers focused on agriculture education. The white-reinhardt project grant program invites county and state farm bureaus to apply for grants to initiate new ag literacy programs or expand existing programs for grades k-12. The white-reinhardt fund for education scholarship program enables eligible full-time educators and/or volunteers who actively participate in classroom ag literacy programs to attend the national agriculture in the classroom conference. They agree to use knowledge gained to expand their outreach to students on topics related to food, fiber, and fuel. The christina sue lilja teacher resource grant program provides educators with grants to purchase american farm bureau foundation for agriculture fact-based resources to use in their classrooms.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 63
  • Accountability: 87
  • Sustainability: 65
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82.9%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 85.3%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $22.29 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 70.4%; rating input score 70; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 13.1%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.02; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.9%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82.9% of revenue deployed · 85.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 16 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $718K · 22 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $1.7M reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 31 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • Related organizations: 2 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.