Ctia - the Wireless Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521347628
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2027363200
- Rating confidence
- Limited
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $104,314,179
- Expenses
- $94,202,288
- Assets
- $311,078,665
- Liabilities
- $71,995,222
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
50 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MEREDITH A BAKER (PRESIDENT & CEO)
- BRADLEY GILLEN (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- MEREDITH A BAKER (PRESIDENT & CEO): $6,240,526 total reported compensation
- BRADLEY GILLEN (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT): $1,920,276 total reported compensation
- ROCCO CARLITTI (SVP, CFO): $994,816 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Ctia-the wireless association ("ctia") is a nonprofit membership organization that represents the u.s. Wireless communications industry, including wireless providers, their suppliers, and other providers and manufacturers of wireless services and products. Ctia advocates on their behalf before the executive branch, the federal communications commission, congress, and state regulatory and legislative bodies. The association also coordinates the industry's voluntary best practices, hosts educational events that promote the wireless industry and co-produces the industry's wireless tradeshow.
What it reported doing in 2024
The association administers the common short codes ("cscs") for the wireless communications industry and for the benefit of all members of that industry. In that capacity, the association administers a catalog of cscs, assigns cscs contained in the catalog to various parties wishing to use those codes, and maintains a registry of which cscs have been assigned and for what purposes, and which cscs are available for assignment. Cscs are assigned to advertisers and advertising agencies, direct marketing agencies, and other content providers that wish to receive text messages from, or send text messages to, wireless subscribers to facilitate such activities as information requests, direct response marketing promotions, wireless advertising, and customer engagement.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 89% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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: 93
- Accountability: 98
- Sustainability: 64
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: Limited
- Program expense ratio: Limited
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 83.1%; rating input score 83; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 96.8%; rating input score 97; 52nd 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: 9.7%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.3; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 18.8%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
- Governance: 30 of 31 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments
- Leadership: top reported pay $6.2M · 50 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $14.1M reported
- Consistency: 15 of 16 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 63 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 53 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.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.