American Indigenous Tourism Association Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

Tribal relations and outreach -- the tribal relations and outreach program conducts direct outreach to tribes and native-owned businesses to identify capacity and training needs and to increase the content on ait's consumer website, destinationnativeamerica.com (consumer-facing destination website dedicated to indigenous tourism) and ait's proprietary database. The tribal relations and outreach program introduces ait resources and programs to tribes, native-owned tourism businesses and partners, especially in the areas of planning and funding for cultural tourism development. During interviews, the team gathers information about indigenous tourism attractions and encourages future tourism development. The program cultivates strategic partnerships with an emphasis on establishing/ maintaining relationships with indigenous travel, tourism and recreation staff; tourism industry leaders; federal, state and local government agencies; educational institutions; museum professionals; historic preservation officers; artists and entrepreneurs. The destinationnativeamerica.com website provides inspiration and information to travel trade professionals and individual travelers to assist them in locating authentic cultural heritage and indigenous tourism destinations to explore within native nations and communities. Ait invites each federally recognized tribe to claim and populate their own page, providing a profile of the history, culture and experiences they wish to share. The site includes a blog to showcase trends or groups of similar destinations. Ait has increased outreach to native nations and communities to encourage their participation and visitor exploration of indigenous attractions, destinations and experiences. Destinationnativeamerica.com is evolving into a powerful tool for native nations and communities to promote indigenous tourism regionally, nationally and internationally. Ait is engaging and training indigenous tourism leaders to use this tool to perpetuate and promote their cultural heritage and economic sustainability. Marketing and public relations -- ait provides outreach and marketing support to expand the impact of indigenous tourism development. In the past year, ait reached potential travelers domestically and in nearly 50 countries via social media, americanindigenoustourism.org and destinationnativeamerica.com. Ait earns millions of media impressions annually and reaches thousands of individuals through e-mail news blasts, weekly and monthly newsletters, and speaking engagements. Ait's reach is extended through a targeted media relations campaign, with press releases distributed to leading indigenous publications, including native news online, native america calling, cherokee one feather, indianz.com and high country news, to name a few. Additionally, ait targets leading travel trade (travel agent and tour operator) publications, such as travel weekly, travelage west, travelpulse, wanderlust and skift to name a few. Ait also communicates with leading consumer travel writers, both freelance and editorial staff to further generate stories for indigenous tourism. Ait invites media and the travel trade out to experience indigenous destinations, attractions and events on curated fam (familiarization) tours. Visitor outreach -- ait plays a critical role in supporting the national travel and tourism strategy to bring more visitors to the united states, especially in our participation at domestic and international trade shows to promote tourism in native nations and communities. Ait's visitor outreach program is critical to fulfilling our mission and promise to american indian tribes and native communities. Unique to ait, we work with native nations and communities throughout the process of preparing for and entering the tourism marketplace. Currently, ait promotes indigenous destinations to visitor markets at international and domestic travel tradeshows, including ipw (held in rotating u.s. Destinations) and go west.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 80.9%; rating input score 81
• Program expense ratio: 89.1%; rating input score 89
• Fundraising efficiency: $40.12 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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; 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: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 9.3%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.7; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.29; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 4.6%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 15.1% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings