Aoac International

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
530029357
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2020, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Rockville, MD, USA
Phone
3019247077
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$7,175,708
Expenses
$7,046,212
Assets
$9,475,272
Liabilities
$5,918,902

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

Leadership & pay

28 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DAVID SCHMIDT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • JONATHAN GOODWIN (DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DAVID SCHMIDT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $377,204 total reported compensation
  • JONATHAN GOODWIN (DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $270,959 total reported compensation
  • DAWN FRAZIER (DEPUTY EXEC DIRECTOR, ENGAGEMENT): $262,209 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Aoac international is an independent third-party association of analytical scientists recognized worldwide for bringing together stakeholders to reach consensus on the fitness for purpose for analytical methods needed in the areas of food, agriculture, biological threat agents, and the environment, and then conducting validation studies through the aoac official methods program to ensure that the methods work as intended and are reproducible in many laboratories.

What it reported doing in 2025

Program projects: aoac has contracts with several government and industry groups tasked to establish voluntary consensus standard method performance requirements (smprs) for high priority nutrients and ingredients with the goal of obtaining first action official methods. An ongoing contract for infant formula and adult nutritionals has engaged global stakeholders to produce twenty-four smprs for nutritional ingredients and six methods as final action aoac official methods.similar contracts have developed smprs and evaluated analytical methods for agents of terror and other analyses of interest. Aoac hosts the analytical solutions forum (asf) which builds consensus on methodology impacting the community and develops standards related to food for the strategic growth of the food industry.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 89% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71.9%; rating input score 72
  • Program expense ratio: 66.2%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th 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 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: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.8%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.34; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.62; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 29.9%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71.9% of revenue deployed · 66.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $4.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $377K · 28 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1M reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 33/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 44/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.