American Kennel Club
Legal name: American Kennel Club Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 134923060
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 2126968200
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Other Services - Specialty Animals
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $99,646,198
- Expenses
- $96,419,009
- Assets
- $266,505,329
- Liabilities
- $96,195,645
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
25 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DENNIS B SPRUNG (PRESIDENT & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- DENNIS B SPRUNG (PRESIDENT & CEO): $1,728,328 total reported compensation
- Gina M DiNardo (EXECUTIVE SECRETARY): $888,514 total reported compensation
- MARK DUNN (EXECUTIVE VP): $786,663 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 Kennel Club (AKC) is the recognized and trusted expert in breed, health, and training information for all dogs. AKC actively advocates for responsible dog ownership and is dedicated to advancing dog sports.
What it reported doing in 2024
Dog & litter registrations: registration and certification of purebred dogs and litters, contributed to accurate genealogy records and advanced the quality of each breed. Educating the dog-loving public about responsible ownership and breeding, providing knowledge and guidance about proper care, health and training for all dogs.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 95% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 93% 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: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 66
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 51
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 88.3%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 84.3%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 58.9%; rating input score 59; 12th 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; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 3.2%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.76; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.36; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.9%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 88.3% of revenue deployed · 84.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $81.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $1.7M · 25 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $9.1M reported
- Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 31 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 13 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: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 59/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.