Asia Society Northern California

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
873562503
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4154218707
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,233,258
Expenses
$1,949,461
Assets
$3,610,123
Liabilities
$345,452

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • MARGARET CONLEY (EXEC. DIR. / SEC. / TREAS.): $291,912 total reported compensation
  • DIVYA JHAWAR (SENIOR ACCOUNTANT (THRU 04/25)): $73,701 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Asia society northern California is one of 16 global centers with a purpose of navigating shared futures for asia and the world across policy, arts and culture, education, sustainability, business, and technology. Our mission is to foster insight, encourage engagement, elevate regional voices, inform and educate new audiences, address complex - and where necessary - contentious challenges, engage in creative problem-solving, and help deliver real solutions for the benefit of all. Asia society northern California is nonpartisan, nonprofit, and is uniquely positioned on the edge of the pacific and at the entrance to silicon valley. The center provides its members an opportunity to become part of our global network to help shape a prosperous, sustainable, and secure future for us all.

What it reported doing in 2024

Signature half-day india conference - for four years, asia society northern California has hosted a half-day conference on examining u.s.-india relations. Launched in april 2022, this series pays tribute to the legacy of our long-time and beloved advisory board member, naren gupta (1948-2021) and addresses the topics closest to his heart: business, entrepreneurship, and cultivating the next generation of innovative leaders, especially those hailing from india. Our 2025 conference agenda included sessions on india's foreign policy, its progressive space trajectory, future of u.s.-india venture collaboration, and a keynote by justice surya kant, supreme court of india.sam talks: seattle speaker series. This was the inaugural year of the program series that our seattle center developed with the seattle asian art museum designed and dedicated to promoting understanding of asia and the asia diaspora. With three events each year, we host speakers, artists, musicians, and live performers for an audience of 200 people.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 85% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 50
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 92
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 64.4%; rating input score 64
  • Program expense ratio: 40.6%; rating input score 41
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.65 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: -58.1%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.85; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.8%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.5% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -75.2% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -15% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 64.4% of revenue deployed · 40.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 16 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $791K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $292K · 18 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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 — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 41/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.