American Values

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521762320
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Arlington, VA, USA
Phone
7036719700
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Media, Communications Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,595,125
Expenses
$1,297,930
Assets
$5,484,457
Liabilities
$356,827

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GARY BAUER (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • GARY BAUER (PRESIDENT): $259,267 total reported compensation
  • DORIE BLACK (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE): $199,778 total reported compensation
  • WILLIAM MOELLER (WRITER/RESEARCHER): $183,941 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

American values is dedicated to defending the founding principles of our nation as articulated in the declaration of independence and the constitution. American values works to educate the public and policy makers about critical issues, including the sanctity of life, religious liberty, free enterprise, a strong national defense and a robust alliance with israel.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, american values worked closely with the administration and elected officials to advance conservative policies on a host of issues, including securing the border and immigration reform, foreign policy, religious liberty, parental rights, and tax reform.american values president gary l. Bauer was quoted in media interviews on a broad variety of public policy matters. American values provided contemporaneous analysis on critical issues through its daily educational e-mail report, social media efforts, and daily radio commentaries.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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.
  • 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 49
  • Sustainability: 62
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63.1%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 75.3%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th 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: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 72.6%; rating input score 73; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 60%; rating input score 60; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 18.6%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.23; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 57.2%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 63.1% of revenue deployed · 75.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $977K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $259K · 7 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 41/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.