American Political Science Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
530200001
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2024832512
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public, Societal Benefit

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$9,087,562
Expenses
$9,941,766
Assets
$62,990,493
Liabilities
$3,370,630

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

Leadership & pay

49 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TAEKU LEE (PRESIDENT)
  • SUSAN STOKES (PRESIDENT ELECT (AS OF SEPT.))
  • MARK WARREN (PAST PRESIDENT)
  • JULIET HOOKER (VICE PRESIDENT (AS OF SEPT.))
  • VINCENT HUTCHINGS (VICE PRESIDENT (AS OF SEPT.))
  • CAROLINE TOLBERT (VICE PRESIDENT (AS OF SEPT.))

Highest reported compensation

  • STEVEN RATHGEB SMITH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (UNTIL SEPTEMBER)): $241,498 total reported compensation
  • KIMBERLY A MEALY SR DIR ((UNTIL SEP)/EXEC. DIR. (AS OF SEPT.)): $229,620 total reported compensation
  • DANIEL GIBSON (SR. DIRECTOR, COMMUNICATIONS): $186,563 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 political science association ("apsa") supports excellence in scholarship and teaching and informed discourse about politics, policy, and civic participation. The association promotes a lively, diverse community of scholars, teachers, students, and practitioners who bring wide-ranging interests, methodologies, and perspectives to the analysis and conduct of government and politics. The association disseminates information, facilitates collaboration among its members, and publicizes research findings on important theoretical and political issues, and publishes a variety of materials relevant to the discipline. It enhances the capacity of political scientists to conduct research, improve teaching, develop professionally, and communicate their ideas within the discipline and to wider publics.

What it reported doing in 2024

Journals: apsa sponsors and supports four journals that are core to the political science discipline: the american political science review, perspectives on politics, ps: political science and politics, and the journal of political science education. The american political science review (apsr) is political science's premier scholarly research journal, providing peer reviewed articles and review essays from subfields throughout the discipline. Areas covered include political theory, american politics, public policy, public administration, comparative politics, and international relations. Apsr has published continuously since 1906. Perspectives on politics (pop) seeks to provide a space for broad and synthetic discussion within the political science profession and between the profession and the broader scholarly and reading publics. Such discussion necessarily draws on and contributes to the scholarship published in the more specialized journals that dominate our discipline. At the same time, pop seeks to promote a complementary form of broad public discussion and synergistic understanding within the profession that is essential to advancing research and promoting scholarly community. Ps: political science & politics publishes scholarly essays, spotlights, and symposia focused on politics, the discipline, and teaching. The journal of political science education (jpse) publishes evidence based and theoretically informed scholarship on teaching and pedagogical issues in political science. The journal supports research that engages with the broad scholarship of teaching and learning in the discipline. In addition to its four journals, apsa provides a news magazine to members of the association: political science today. Political science today features member spotlights, news of the discipline, association updates, and other news items.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 82% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 85.1%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.02 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Limited
    • Conducts field audits: Pass
    • May suspend future funding: Limited
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Limited
    • Requires grant agreements: Limited
    • May require repayment: 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: 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: -9.4%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.34; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.9%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 85.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 31 of 31 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 10 filed program accomplishments · $8.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $241K · 49 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.3M reported
  • Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.