American Press Institute Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 132690182
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Arlington, VA, USA
- Phone
- 5713661140
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Professional Societies, Associations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $10,235,473
- Expenses
- $5,142,031
- Assets
- $50,633,721
- Liabilities
- $1,795,417
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DANIELLE COFFEY (PRESIDENT & CEO)
- MICHAEL BOLDEN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- DANIELLE COFFEY (PRESIDENT & CEO): $988,495 total reported compensation
- ROBERT WALDEN (CFO): $537,377 total reported compensation
- MICHAEL BOLDEN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $522,190 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
American press institute acts as a scout on the frontier of technology and audience behavior to identify where change is occurring and helps news organizations learn how to implement and scale that change successfully so they have a sustainable future.
What it reported doing in 2024
Trusting news project: the trusting news project aims to demystify trust in news and empower journalists to demonstrate credibility and actively earn trust. In a continual cycle of research, learning and sharing with the industry, they explore how to incorporate trust-building into journalism's standards and practices.
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 83% 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 the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 81
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 88.7%; rating input score 89
- Program expense ratio: 53.1%; rating input score 53
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 47.9%; rating input score 48; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: 49.8%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.85; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 29.9%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 13.8% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 12.1% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 88.7% of revenue deployed · 53.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 9 filed program accomplishments · $2.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $988K · 22 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 12 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 8 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 53/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 48/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.