American Public Power Association

Legal name: The American Public Power Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
530026315
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Arlington, VA, USA
Phone
202-467-2900
Rating confidence
Limited

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$35,029,416
Expenses
$31,978,517
Assets
$43,791,162
Liabilities
$22,395,655

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

Leadership & pay

56 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SCOTT CORWIN (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • SCOTT CORWIN (CEO): $779,339 total reported compensation
  • DESMARIE WATERHOUSE (SVP & GENERAL COUNSEL): $513,553 total reported compensation
  • ADRIENNE LOTTO (SVP, TECH & OPERATIONS): $462,627 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 American Public Power Association (APPA) is the national service organization representing the interests of community-owned, not-for-profit electric utilities. Its mission is to advance the interests of public power utilities and their customers through advocacy, education, and member services.

What it reported doing in 2024

Technical and operations services: the technical and operations services department provides technical assistance to internal programs/departments and the appa membership. The department staff represents appa on code/standard making committees and files comments or provides testimony as necessary before federal agencies such as epa, osha/dol, doe, omb, fmcsa, eia, nerc and dhs/fema. The department is responsible for the appa safety manual, the reliable public power provider (rp3) program, the e-reliability tracker program, the mutual aid program, and assists the education department with programming for the engineering & operations conference. The program has several cooperative agreements with the department of energy (doe) totaling over $23.5m.demonstration of energy & efficiency developments (deed) programappa's demonstration of energy & efficiency developments (deed) program is the only research and demonstration program funded by and for public power utilities. Established in 1980, deed is dedicated to improving the operations and services of public power utilities by supporting and demonstrating its members' innovative activities through research, funding, and education. Deed members pilot-test cutting-edge technologies, evaluate new service offerings, create new resources and tools, and share the knowledge gained through the program with their public power peers. Deed also awards scholarships to support and mentor students interested in energy-related careers or performing research and internships with public power utilities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 73% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: Limited
  • Program expense ratio: Limited
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • 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: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 96.7%; rating input score 97; 26th 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.7%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.37; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.51; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.4%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
  • Governance: 32 of 32 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments
  • Leadership: top reported pay $779K · 56 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $940K reported
  • Consistency: 14 of 15 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 32 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 18 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.