Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 860138043
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Washington, DC, United States
- Phone
- (202) 483-2101
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public, Societal Benefit
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $468,809,827
- Expenses
- $465,014,744
- Assets
- $146,567,872
- Liabilities
- $121,094,916
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
46 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CHARLES MOUNTAIN (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- CHARLES MOUNTAIN (PRESIDENT): $667,437 total reported compensation
- JENNIFER LOTZ (NOIRLAB - GEMINI/STSCI DIR): $518,596 total reported compensation
- KENNETH SEMBACH (ASTRONOMER): $447,694 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
AURA enables astrophysics breakthroughs by creating and sharing universal access to world-class facilities. _Our Mission: AURA provides innovative, open resources to enable discovery and excellence in research, to unify the astrophysics communities, and to promote public understanding of our universe and the benefits of scientific exploration._ The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1957, is a consortium of 49 US institutions and 2 international affiliates. Although it began as a small organization with just eight founding members, AURA is now a thriving scientific institution with 51 members and over 1,700 employees. AURA’s role is to establish, nurture, and promote public observatories and facilities that advance innovative.
What it reported doing in 2024
Aura operated the national science foundation's (nsf) national optical infrared laboratory (noirlab), the national solar observatory (nso), and the vera c. Rubin observatory construction (rubin construction or lsstpo) under cooperative agreements with the nsf. Aura also operated the space telescope science institute (stsci) under an agreement with the national aeronautics and space administration (nasa). The federal agreements are dependent on annual congressional appropriation.
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 84% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 68
- Accountability: 96
- Sustainability: 28
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 90.3%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 91%; rating input score 91
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- 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: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 95.5%; rating input score 95; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 44th 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: 0.8%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.32; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.83; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.9%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 90.3% of revenue deployed · 91% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 15 of 16 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $423M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $667K · 46 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $28M reported
- Consistency: 34 of 36 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 191 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 167 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 36/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 57/100.