International Society of Infrared Millimeter and Terahertz Waves

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
270578778
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2013
Location
La Canada, CA, USA
Phone
8186699077
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Science and Technology N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$131,333
Expenses
$51,440
Assets
$1,064,570
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

40 people listed

People named in this filing

  • ENRIQUE CASTRO-CAMUS (DIRECTOR)
  • MARTINA HAVENITH (DIRECTOR)
  • FRANK HEGMANN (DIRECTOR)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Scientific society that hosts one scientific conference each calendar year, promotes the contribution of research to two scientific journals (ieee trans. On terahertz science and technology and journal of infrared, millimeter, and terahertz waves), and serves as steward and distributor of the kenneth j button prize for significant advances in the field of infrared, millimeter, and terahertz waves. The society is an all volunteer organization with by laws and website at www.irmmw-thz.org

What it reported doing in 2025

Established and relayed specific conference guidelines, promoted the conference series, selected the general location, date, length and program focus, assured a high standard of scientific excellence at each venue, approved the local organizing committee (loc) chair, as well as specific conference location, dates, program and financial arrangements, assisted with invited speaker selections, maintained technical co-sponsorship with the ieee, assured digest issuance and the archiving of proceedings, and both sought and maintained the endorsement and approval of the attending scientific community.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 64% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 52
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 89
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 37%; rating input score 37
  • Program expense ratio: 94.7%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 60.8%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 20.7; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 37% of revenue deployed · 94.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 40 of 40 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $49K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 40 people listed
  • Consistency: 14 of 14 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 37/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.