Association of American Universities Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521947112
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2024087500
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$15,787,845
Expenses
$17,217,489
Assets
$27,465,266
Liabilities
$19,403,150

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

Leadership & pay

25 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BARBARA R SNYDER (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • BARBARA R SNYDER (PRESIDENT): $1,000,197 total reported compensation
  • TOBIN SMITH (SR VP FOR GOV RELATIONS & PUBLIC POLICY): $418,720 total reported compensation
  • ROXANNE MURRAY (SR VP OF ADMINISTRATION): $405,123 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Founded in 1900, aau is composed of 71 distinguished institutions in the united states and canada that continually advance society through education, research, and discovery. Our u.s. Member universities earn the majority of competitively awarded federal funding for academic research, are improving human life and wellbeing through research, and are educating tomorrow's visionary leaders and global citizens. Aau members collectively help shape policy for higher education, science, and innovation; promote best practices in undergraduate and graduate education; and strengthen the contributions of research universities to society.

What it reported doing in 2024

Grant-funded projects: aau advances projects that address critical research and education policy issues impacting aau member universities. We are selective in the grants we solicit to ensure that the grant-funded work aligns with aau's goals and priorities. Aau currently has two active grants supporting our undergraduate teaching evaluation project, and closed grants supporting our phd education initiative and our public access to research data project. Aau staff continually evaluate potential grant opportunities.undergraduate teaching evaluation project aau is committed to creating more equitable and effective means to evaluate educational contributions within faculty rewards structures. Aau is supporting five aau stem department demonstration projects and a broader aau learning community to develop practices to value, recognize, and reward the full range of intellectual work that goes into teaching as part of faculty promotion and annual review structures. In addition, this effort will work to integrate concepts of justice and equity into the faculty rewards system. The demonstration projects are made possible by a gift from the sarah gilbert & carl wieman charitable fund. The broader learning community is supported by funding from the howard hughes medical institute.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 97% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 93
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 90.9%; rating input score 91
  • Program expense ratio: 84.7%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -9.1%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.6; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.71; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.7%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.8% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 90.9% of revenue deployed · 84.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 16 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $14.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $1M · 25 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $457K reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 53/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.