Association on American Indian Affairs Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 131623902
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Clarksville, MD, USA
- Phone
- 2403147155
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Ethnic, Immigrant Centers
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,792,489
- Expenses
- $1,213,868
- Assets
- $4,717,075
- Liabilities
- $64,862
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- FRANK ETTAWAGESHIK (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- SHANNON O'LOUGHLIN (CHIEF EXECUT): $225,008 total reported compensation
- KIM METTLER (PROGRAM DIRE): $113,743 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Founded in 1922, the association assists american indian and Alaska native nations in their efforts to achieve full economic, social and civic equality, and to defend their rights. The association is governed by a board of directors consisting of prominent native american people from such fields of law, education, health and public services, and is funded by its members and contributors.
What it reported doing in 2025
Become an ally: the association on american indian affairs has over 100 years of providing meaningful public education on issues that affect native country and does so through its become an ally program. The association believes that a society that understands native peoples, their sovereign nations and diverse cultures will make better decisions about the environment, the economy, education, healthcare, and how we can all exist together on one planet. The become an ally program is about building relationships that will support allyship, education and accountability for our world and each other. This program utilizes our various social media platforms to deliver public education, create productive dialogue, and encourage action from our supporters about native nation issues. Become an ally is our public affairs and communication arm that works to lift up native country by sharing information about our program successes and how you can help support our vision, mission and goals. Become an ally includes all of our programs and initiatives, as well as the association's 100 years of history, our indian affairs journal that has been published since the 1930s, our internships, fellowships, and volunteer programs, murdered and missing indigenous relatives, and red hoop talk video podcast, among other public education initiatives.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 92% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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 total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 62
- Transparency & Controls: 74
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 76
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 41.6%; rating input score 42
- Program expense ratio: 89%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: $75.04 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 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: 56.5%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.89; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 27.9%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 10.6% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 41.6% of revenue deployed · 89% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $225K · 12 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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: Mission deployment rate scored 42/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.