American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works

What it reported doing in 2025

Committees and other programs: committees: aic maintains four standing committees: 1.) the membership committee reviews and approves applicants for the professional associate and fellow classes of membership and promotes aic membership in general. 2.) the ethics and standards committee reviews instances of unethical or questionable conduct in relation to the aic code of ethics, guidelines for practice, and the commentaries to the guidelines for practice. These documents set forth the principles that guide conservation professionals and others who are involved in the care of cultural property. 3.) the appeals committee hears appeals of all actions of the aic board of directors taken in response to the evidence provided by the ethics and standards committee; this committee is ad hoc, populated as needed by the board. 4.) the nominating committee presents a slate of candidates for the annual election of directors and officers of the aic.aic has additional board-approved committees that assist in the ongoing activities of the organization and these include: audit, awards, bylaws, communications, education & training, emergency, equity & inclusion, financial advisory, program (annual meeting programming), and sustainability.task forces and working groups: the aic board of directors periodically creates a task force or working group to research and make recommendations to the board regarding particular issues. Task forces and working groups are given charges and a timeframe in which to complete their activities and recommendations. The materials selection & specification working group, imaging working group, and ethics core documents review task force were active in 2025.networks: networks address topics that are of interest across specialties and are designed to augment the work of specialty groups. Any aic member can be a member of a network. A small additional fee may be charged for network membership. Active networks include preventive care network (formerly collection care network), emerging conservation professionals network, health & safety network, contemporary art conservation network, and the archaeological heritage network.discussion groups: some of our members and groups create subgroups or topical groups to discuss particular issues and techniques on a smaller scale than a full materials-based group or member-wide network. The book and paper group's art on paper discussion group is a forum at the aic annual meeting for exchanging focused experiences and ideas on art on paper conservation; the book and paper group's library and archives conservation discussion group (lacdg) is a forum at the aic annual meeting for exchanging focused experiences and ideas on library collections and archives conservation. In 2024, the microfading tester international discussion group (mft-idg), sponsored by aic's preventive care network, was formed to advance mft practice and support the global mft user community. The laser discussion group was approved in 2025 to focus on advancing the use of laser technologies in art and heritage conservation; they co-host programming and maintain an online community.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: Limited
• Program expense ratio: Limited
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Limited
• Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 0.6%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.09; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.76; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 18.1%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: Limited
• Revenue growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings