Autism Speaks

Legal name: Autism Speaks Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
202329938
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2022
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
6463858500
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$28,799,237
Expenses
$34,172,414
Assets
$29,672,783
Liabilities
$2,759,793

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

Leadership & pay

39 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KEITH WARGO (PRESIDENT/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • KEITH WARGO (PRESIDENT/CEO): $472,064 total reported compensation
  • JOSEPH VANYO (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $376,346 total reported compensation
  • ANDY SHIH (CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER): $370,654 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

See schedule owe achieve our organizational mission by ensuring access to reliable information and services across the lifespan; supporting research and innovation that drives toward improved quality of life and well-being for individuals with autism throughout their lives; through advocacy, partnerships and collaboration, leveraging our assets to support, extend, and convene the work of service providers; accelerating delivery of solutions for adult quality of life needs, including transition, employment, housing, and health and wellness; and living and promoting principles of diversity, equity, access and inclusion both in and outside the organization.

What it reported doing in 2024

We increase knowledge through research to deepen our understanding of autism and lead to advancements in autism diagnosis, early intervention, and personalized healthcare. Connected families in 50 states and 37 countries with resources and access to autism experts. We unveiled a new resource for the treatment of adhd, anxiety and irritability in autism, providing clinicians with a structured, evidence-informed approach that will ultimately improve care for people on the spectrum. We funded three new research projects to reveal how auditory processing differences affect autistic people, unlocking insights that could transform diagnosis, communication, and daily support. Continued on schedule o.we also supported fellowships for two early career autistic scientists to advance our understanding of autism, amplify autistic voices and reflect the real experiences of autistic people. As result from the thought leadership summit of autism aging, we joined forces with the american heart association to fund pioneering research to learn more about cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health in autistic people. In addition, we co-organized a workshop with alzheimer's association to explore the emerging research on dementia and older autistic adults. Autism speaks' mssng project, the world's largest autism genome database, expanded by adding 2,489 fully sequenced genomes, fueling global discoveries and accelerating progress toward more personalized care for autistic people. We released abn 2.0, an expansion of the original abn 1.0. The updated report includes more recent statistics, an increased focus on issues affecting adults, such as mental health and heart health, and new data on various topics.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82.4%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 68.9%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.7 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Pass
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: -18.7%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.87; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.5%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -4.3% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.6% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
  • Where the money goes: 82.4% of revenue deployed · 68.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 26 of 26 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $23.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $472K · 39 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.3M reported
  • Consistency: 44 of 44 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 32 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 22 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 14/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.