United States Cannabis Council
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 861919739
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2022569933
- Rating
- 54
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,325,942
- Expenses
- $1,316,931
- Assets
- $578,988
- Liabilities
- $191,215
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
24 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- EDWARD CONKLIN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- EDWARD CONKLIN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $182,102 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To build a future of legal access to cannabis delivered through an equitable and values-driven industry by advancing federal cannabis legalization and promoting restorative justice for communities harmed by cannabis prohibition.
What it reported doing in 2024
Membership - uscc uses membership dues to lobby for cannabis regulation, primarly with the federal government. Additionally, uscc holds regular policy/strategy meetings where the membership is invited to attend where they get briefed on uscc's government relations activities.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 97% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and a relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 48
- Transparency & Controls: 60
- Accountability: 69
- Sustainability: 30
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 53.8%; rating input score 54
- Program expense ratio: 54.3%; rating input score 54
- Fundraising efficiency: $0.56 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 0.7%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.44; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.33; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 13.8%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -34.3% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -7.7% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.1% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 53.8% of revenue deployed · 54.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $715K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $182K · 24 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $344K reported
- Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 54/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 54/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 2/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.