SME

Legal name: Society of Manufacturing Engineers

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 380298770
IRS 990 coverage: 2010–2024
Official website data refreshed: Sep 2026
Forms available: Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location: Southfield, MI, USA
Phone: 3134253000
Rating: 76
Verdict: SUPPORTED
Rating confidence: Moderate
Sector: Chambers of Commerce & Business Leagues

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $65,762,279
Expenses: $74,245,701
Assets: $80,866,635
Liabilities: $37,368,912

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

Leadership & pay

28 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

WINSTON F EREVELLES (PRESIDENT)
VINCENT W HOWELL (PRESIDENT-ELECT)
REBECCA R TAYLOR (VICE PRESIDENT)
ROBERT WILLIG (CEO & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

ROBERT WILLIG (CEO & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $755,559 total reported compensation
STAVROS PRAHALIS (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $602,399 total reported compensation
JEANNINE KUNZ (CHIEF WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $506,205 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Advancing manufacturing and developing a skilled workforce.

What it reported doing in 2024

Publications - sme incorporates education & training into everything we do. Sme media's editorial content calendar schedules a theme for each month which is selected to enhance the knowledge in a particular engineering discipline. The schedule of monthly themes correlates with the appropriate upcoming conferences or trade shows to round out the educational experience. For each theme, the editor and staff of sme media interviews organizations with products, services & new technologies that help advance the featured engineering discipline. Many of these organizations will be included in the editorial content of the magazines and digital products, while others are invited to place an advertisement meeting certain specifications designed to enhance the educational experience of the audience with respect to the featured editorial content. The sme media content is often linked to the conference or trade show theme to advance promote the event and corresponding topic. Sme media provides timely information about emerging technologies and industries through its educational content and advertisements. The magazines and digital properties further sme's exempt purpose by providing education in support of sme's expositions and other educational events. The total print and digital audience for sme media in 2024 was 861,405 copies. Sme media also provides a weekly e-newsletter which focuses on our four core disciplines: aerospace & defense, energy, medical and motorized vehicles. The content is delivered through a fully integrated media portfolio, which makes information available in print, online, email, mobile apps, social media and webinars. In addition, sme publishes three scholarly, peer-reviewed journals on manufacturing letters, manufacturing processes and manufacturing systems.

Operating model

Revenue model: Earned-program. 96% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model: Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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 the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 72
Transparency & Controls: 72
Accountability: 100
Sustainability: 21
Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 85.8%; rating input score 86
Program expense ratio: 71.6%; rating input score 72
Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- 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: 48.5%; rating input score 49; 10th 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; 77th percentile among comparable filings
Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

Operating margin: -12.9%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.09; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.46; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 6.2%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Details

What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
Where the money goes: 85.8% of revenue deployed · 71.6% of spending went to programs
Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $53.2M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $756K · 28 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $7.6M reported
Consistency: 38 of 40 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 14 filed money-flow records
Related organizations: 4 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 49/100.
High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.
Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.