John Quincy Adams Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
813308969
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2021, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Arlington, VA, USA
Phone
7039863621
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,169,161
Expenses
$891,114
Assets
$527,747
Liabilities
$69,338

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • John Gay (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • John Gay (Executive Director): $145,711 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The john quincy adams society is committed to identifying, educating, and equipping the next generation of scholars and policy leaders to encourage a new era of realism and restraint in american foreign policy.

What it reported doing in 2024

We conduct educational activities to prepare professionals and students for work in u.s. Foreign policy. These activities include a fellowship program for midcareer professionals involving salons with experts, a crisis simulation, and an international study trip. Another fellowship prepares early-career professionals, jobseekers, and students with hands-on learning to produce a think-tank-quality policy paper and supporting materials. We conduct regular reading groups in person and online. We support chapters on campuses by helping them host speakers and conduct other educational activities. We conduct a summer conference in Washington, d.c. We produce a podcast with foreign policy experts. We distributed a weekly newsletter with a roundup of news, internships, and jobs relevant to aspiring foreign-policy professionals. We provide career advice to early career professionals and students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% 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 - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 52
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70.4%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 92.4%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 23.8%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.59; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.4%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23.8% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -5.5% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70.4% of revenue deployed · 92.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $823K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $146K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and grants
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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 scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.