American Quarter Horse Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
750725576
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Amarillo, TX, United States
Phone
806-376-4811
Rating confidence
Limited

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$67,874,425
Expenses
$56,619,077
Assets
$110,245,475
Liabilities
$29,020,248

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

Leadership & pay

326 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ANDY REES (HONORARY VICE PRESIDENT)
  • DON TREADWAY (HONORARY VICE PRESIDENT)
  • DONNA JOHNSON (HONORARY VICE PRESIDENT)
  • EDWARD L SQUIRES (HONORARY VICE PRESIDENT)
  • FLOYD E WISE (PAST PRESIDENT)
  • FRANK G MERRILL (PAST PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • KARL R STRESSMAN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $687,871 total reported compensation
  • ANDREW BARBE (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $508,852 total reported compensation
  • ROBERT CHAD PIERCE (CHIEF GENERAL COUNSEL): $361,838 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 Quarter Horse Association is dedicated to preserving, improving, and promoting the American Quarter Horse—a breed celebrated for its versatility, athletic ability, and gentle disposition. Headquartered in Amarillo, Texas, AQHA maintains the official registry of American Quarter Horses, which includes more than 7 million horses worldwide. The organization supports a wide range of activities related to the breed, including competition, breeding, education, and equine welfare. [Our Mission. The American Quarter Horse Association is the world’s largest equine breed registry and membership organization. Founded in 1940, AQHA is dedicated to preserving, improving, and promoting the American Quarter Horse — a breed celebrated for its versatility, athletic ability, and gentle disposition. Headquartered in Amarillo, Texas, AQHA maintains the official registry of American Quarter...

What it reported doing in 2024

Aqha provides the aqha professional horseman's association for professional horse trainers in good standing; the aqha stewards program to ensure safety and fairness at events; and the aqha leveling program to provide a place for every level of exhibitor at aqha shows and events. Aqha shows offers something for everyone, no matter the experience level or preferred disciplines. We offer a wide range of show levels with classes in halter, english and western disciplines. In 2025, there were a total of 1,974 shows with 756,109 total show entries.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 82% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
  • Transparency & Controls: 72
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

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

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th 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: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 98.9%; rating input score 99; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 98.4%; rating input score 98; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 16.6%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.95; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.26; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
  • Governance: 309 of 314 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments
  • Leadership: top reported pay $688K · 326 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.8M reported
  • Consistency: 18 of 19 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 34 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 23 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: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.