American Speech-language-hearing Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
526055761
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Rockville, MD, USA
Phone
3012968644
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Ear and Throat Research

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,108,854
Expenses
$1,869,360
Assets
$23,879,781
Liabilities
$496,106

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • STACY L WILLIAMS (PRESIDENT)
  • TOMMIE L ROBINSON JR (PAST PRESIDENT/VP, ORGANIZATION)
  • SHARON E MOSS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • SHARON E MOSS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $252,747 total reported compensation
  • ELIZABETH R SHAPIRO (DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT): $155,966 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 ashfoundation's mission is to advance knowledge and improve practice in serving children and adults with speech, language, or hearing disorders by supporting research and education and by facilitating innovative directions for the discipline of communication sciences and disorders. The vision of the american speech-language-hearing foundation is to ensure that all individuals reach their full communication potential.

What it reported doing in 2024

Scholarships, research grants and clinical achievement awards - nationally competitive programs foster advances and scholarly excellence. In 2024, the ashfoundation awarded 645,823 through 74 research grants, scholarships and clinical achievement awards in support of research investigations, doctoral and master's education, and clinical developments. In addition to the recipient funding, expenses include the cost of preparing and distributing guidelines, the selection of recipients and underwriting attendance at selected scholarly activities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 65% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 41% for direct work, and 59% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 72
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 69
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.1%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 62.1%; rating input score 62
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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: Pass
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 43rd 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: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 11.4%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 12.77; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21.9%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.1% of revenue deployed · 62.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $253K · 20 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $122K reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 21 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.