Organization of American Historians

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
470426520
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Bloomington, IN, USA
Phone
8128557311
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Professional Societies, Associations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,433,065
Expenses
$2,583,590
Assets
$3,575,617
Liabilities
$783,128

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Annette Gordon-Reed (President Elect (EXP. April 2025), President (BEG. April 2025))
  • Anthea Hartig (Past President)
  • David Blight (President (EXP. April 2025), Past President (BEG. April 2025))
  • Erika Lee (Past President)
  • Marc Stein (Vice President (EXP. April 2025), President Elect (BEG. April 2025))
  • Natalia Molina (Vice President ( BEG. April 2025))

Highest reported compensation

  • Beth English (Executive Director): $159,967 total reported compensation
  • Stephen Andrews (Executive Editor): $111,130 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 Organization promotes excellence in the scholarship, teaching, and presentation of American history, and encourages wide discussion of historical questions and equitable treatment of all practitioners.

What it reported doing in 2024

Journal of american history-published four times a year, the journal of american history is the leading scholarly publication and the journal of record in american history. In addition to the print issues, the journal creates a wide range of online projects, including the biannual teaching of the journal of american history and special projects. Organization of american historians (oah) members also have access to a vast citation database, recent scholarship online. The journal makes selected content freely available, including web site reviews, the textbooks and teaching section, and the recent scholarship print listing. Approximately 8,200 copies are printed each quarter and the journal is considered a primary benefit to our members.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 83% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91%; rating input score 91
  • Program expense ratio: 85.3%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.9 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -6.2%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.38; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.22; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.5%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 91% of revenue deployed · 85.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $160K · 21 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 8/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.