Society for Mining Metallurgy & Exploration (Sme)

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
742338444
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Englewood, CO, USA
Phone
3039484277
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Physical & Earth Sciences,

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$18,506,436
Expenses
$17,598,346
Assets
$44,186,998
Liabilities
$8,433,647

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BILL HANCOCK (PRESIDENT)
  • MARY KORPI (PRESIDENT -ELECT)
  • MARC HERPFER (PAST PRESIDENT)
  • DAVID L KANAGY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DAVID L KANAGY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $663,915 total reported compensation
  • MELANIE PENOYAR-PEREZ (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $269,725 total reported compensation
  • CORINNE KNASINSKI (DIRECTOR OF MEETINGS): $224,580 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Society for mining, metallurgy and exploration (sme) serves the mining, resources and underground construction communities for a sustainable future.

What it reported doing in 2024

The minexchange 2025 sme annual conference & expo and sma 127th national western mining conference took place at the Colorado convention center in denver, co on february 23-25. In addition, minexchange attendees were also able to attend sessions for the 2025 world gold conference. The expo floor featured a large world gold pavillion. Minexchange included 692 presentations, 9 short courses, 103 preprints, 41 world gold manuscripts, 601 exhibiting companies and 78 sponsors. Over 7,035 individuals were in attendance. This included 600 students, 973 international attendees from 46 countries. Those from the united states hailed from all 50 u.s. States plus puerto rico and the district of columbia.the rapid excavation and tunneling conference (retc) was held june 8-11 at the sheraton dallas hotel in dallas, tx. Drawing an attendance of 1,340 attendees, the event featured 172 exhibiting companies and 27 sponsoring companies. The technical program featured rich content and networking opportunities including networking events specifically for woners and women in tunneling.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 80% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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 the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 69
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 54
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91.8%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 90%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.96 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.9%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.51; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.7%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 91.8% of revenue deployed · 90% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $15.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $664K · 18 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.4M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 2/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.