Association for Practical & Professional Ethics Incorporated

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
464885125
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Greencastle, IN, USA
Phone
7656585015
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Professional Societies, Associations

Reported finances

Revenue
$249,118
Expenses
$235,859
Assets
$183,896
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KRISTEN FUHS WELLS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • KRISTEN FUHS WELLS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $50,000 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 association for practical and professional ethics (appe) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) membership organization dedicated to advancing scholarship, education, and practice in practical and professional ethics.

What it reported doing in 2024

Appe fosters moral reasoning skill development, works to promote ethical conduct in all sectors of our daily lives, and seeks to advance civil public discourse on diverse ethical issues. Appe's signature programs include the appe intercollegiate ethics bowl (appe ieb), appe research integrity scholars and educators consortium (appe rise) and the ethics center directors consortium. Appe's website provides ethics related educational information and appe ieb resources to members and the public. Appe holds an annual conference focusing on a wide array of topics in practical and professional ethics. Appe also sponsors and hosts the national appe ieb competition every year and supports the work of the regional competitions.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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.

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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 46
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.1%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 90.6%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5.3%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.78; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21.2%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1% per year; rating input score 0; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.6% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 86.1% of revenue deployed · 90.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $214K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $50K · 16 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.