Gsma
Legal name: Gsm Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 980506316
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- London, England, United Kingdom
- Rating
- 40
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Chambers of Commerce & Business Leagues
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $140,769,578
- Expenses
- $136,268,515
- Assets
- $98,876,146
- Liabilities
- $68,018,925
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
42 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- John Hoffman (CEO - GSMA LTD)
Highest reported compensation
- Mats Granryd (DIRECTOR GENERAL(THRU 3/2025)): $3,067,068 total reported compensation
- John Hoffman (CEO - GSMA LTD): $1,717,252 total reported compensation
- Louise Easterbrook (Chief Financial Officer): $1,214,801 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To help business and society thrive by uniting the mobile ecosystem.
What it reported doing in 2025
Technology - shaping the mobile future generation in 5g, ai, cloud, and ip communications through development of innovative technologies and commercial principals. Mobilising the internet of things to help operators add value and accelerate the capabilities of connected devices and adoption of mobile.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 80% 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
MIXED - Most voting board members are independent and revenue has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 0
- Transparency & Controls: 56
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 33
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
- Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- 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: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 3.2%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.73; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.69; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.7%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 8 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments
- Leadership: top reported pay $3.1M · 42 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $21.1M reported
- Consistency: 12 of 14 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes foreign activity and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2009 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 16 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 6 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX CompCurrentOfficersDirectors column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.