American Marketing Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
362130315
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2011
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3125429000
Rating
61
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Chambers of Commerce & Business Leagues

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$16,825,368
Expenses
$17,233,900
Assets
$11,774,344
Liabilities
$7,989,607

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

Leadership & pay

30 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BENNIE F JOHNSON (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
  • JULIE SCHNIDMAN (VICE PRESIDENT, ALLIANCES)
  • MOLLY SOAT (VICE PRESIDENT, PROF DEVEL)
  • MATTHEW WEINGARDEN (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNITIES AND JOURNALS)
  • CHARLES WIGGINS (VICE PRESIDENT, TECHNOLOGY)
  • AMY GWIAZDOWSKI (VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS)

Highest reported compensation

  • BENNIE F JOHNSON (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $500,906 total reported compensation
  • JEREMY VAN EK (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $356,686 total reported compensation
  • MATTHEW WEINGARDEN (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNITIES AND JOURNALS): $199,409 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

As the leading global professional marketing association, the ama is the essential community for marketers. See schedule o for additional information.

What it reported doing in 2024

Communities and journals: the ama is home to five premier scholarly journals and nurtures new ideas, fosters collaborative relationships, and advances the field of marketing through credible, peer-reviewed scholarly research. In 2025, journal articles reached over 5 million readers. Ama's academic journals publish the latest peer-reviewed research aimed at advancing the marketing industry and equipping business professionals with the insight needed to make better managerial decisions. The program publishes articles in the marketing discipline and supports the community of marketing professionals that create, curate, and execute programming and content for marketing professionals, scholars, students, and educators.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 97% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 53
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 87
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.1%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 58.1%; rating input score 58
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.06 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 86.7%; rating input score 87; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • 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: 48.9%; rating input score 49; 11th 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; 27th 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: Fail
    • 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: -2.4%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.68; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.68; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.4%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -4.5% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60.1% of revenue deployed · 58.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 16 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $10M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $501K · 30 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $352K reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 40 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 6 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: 13 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 58/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 1/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 49/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grants require schedule f did not reconcile in the filed values.