Federation of American Scientists

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237185827
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2021
Location
Washington, DC, US
Phone
2029338969
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arms Control, Peace

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$35,602,788
Expenses
$36,430,648
Assets
$36,146,420
Liabilities
$5,103,055

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DANIEL CORREA (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • DANIEL CORREA (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $779,473 total reported compensation
  • GINGER ZIELINSKIE (CHIEF IMPACT OFFICER (THRU 10/24)): $318,469 total reported compensation
  • SARA SCHAPIRO (DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL INNOVATION): $311,851 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

FAS envisions a world where cutting-edge science, technology, ideas and talent are deployed to solve the biggest challenges of our time. We embed science, technology, innovation, and experience into government and public discourse in order to build a healthy, safe, prosperous and equitable society.

What it reported doing in 2024

Science policy entrepreneurship and day one project: a platform for shaping public policy that democratizes the policy process by supporting individuals across the science and technology ecosystem with promising ideas and turning them into actionable policy. In fy2025, fas hosted the day one 2025 summit, a culmination of a year-long policy sprint that created more than 200 nonpartisan, implementation ready policy proposals for a new administration spanning a broad range of science and technology domains. This summit showcased the proposals, convening more than 130 participants, and laid the groundwork for the newly-launched the center for regulatory ingenuity (cri), a new hub dedicated to applying the insights of the government capacity movement to specific, thorny problems that require a fundamental reimagining of regulation and governance.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 75% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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

STRONG - 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: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 69
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 90.7%; rating input score 91
  • Program expense ratio: 88.4%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $61.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 14th 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: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • 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: 96.2%; rating input score 96; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90%; rating input score 90; 22nd 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: -2.3%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.99; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.7%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 28% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 24.5% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19.2% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 90.7% of revenue deployed · 88.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 10 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $32.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $779K · 19 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $6.3M reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 13 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 23/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.