Country Music Association
Legal name: Country Music Association Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 620606066
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Nashville, TN, USA
- Phone
- +1 615 244-2840
- Rating confidence
- Limited
- Sector
- Arts, Culture, and Humanities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $78,217,001
- Expenses
- $61,787,999
- Assets
- $132,698,680
- Liabilities
- $17,512,015
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
85 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JAY WILLIAMS (PRESIDENT)
- TYNE PARRISH (PRESIDENT-ELECT)
- SARAH TRAHERN (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- SARAH TRAHERN (CEO): $933,543 total reported compensation
- KELLY STRIEWSKI (SVP MARKETING & STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS): $375,695 total reported compensation
- TODD HARTLEY (SVP LEGAL & BUSINESS AFFAIRS): $284,151 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Heighten the awareness of Country Music and support its on-going growth, both domestically and internationally. Founded in 1958, the Country Music Association (CMA) is the premier trade association of the Country Music industry. Representing professionals making a living in Country Music globally, the organization serves as a critical resource of support and information, honors excellence in the genre and provides a forum for industry leadership. CMA is dedicated to expanding Country Music around the world through a number of core programs and initiatives including the organization’s three annual television properties—the CMA Awards, “CMA Fest” and “CMA Country Christmas,” all of which air on ABC. The organization’s philanthropic arm, the CMA Foundation, works tirelessly to provide equitable access to.
What it reported doing in 2024
Cma fest is an annual four-day music festival that hosts tens of thousands of fans providing them the opportunity to listen to and discover hundreds of country music acts while raising money for the cma foundation.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 93% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
- Transparency & Controls: 72
- Accountability: 98
- Sustainability: 72
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: Limited
- Program expense ratio: Limited
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- 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: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.6%; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 97.3%; rating input score 97; 53rd 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: 21%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.15; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.1%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
- Governance: 73 of 75 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments
- Leadership: top reported pay $934K · 85 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $16M reported
- Consistency: 15 of 15 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 19 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 10 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.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.