Usenix Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
133055038
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
5105288649
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,570,885
Expenses
$6,180,423
Assets
$6,265,302
Liabilities
$458,676

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Amy Rich (President)
  • William Enck (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Casey Henderson (Executive Dir.): $295,964 total reported compensation
  • Camille Mulligan (Development Dir.): $204,475 total reported compensation
  • Hyejean Jessica Kim (Operations Dir.): $158,464 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

USENIX, The Advanced Computing Systems Association, fosters technical excellence and innovation, supports and disseminates research with a practical bias, provides a neutral form for discussion of technical issues, and encourages computing outreach into the community.

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, USENIX organized ten major technical conferences and workshops on advanced computing systems topics. We also administered diversity, student, and Black student grants to encourage conference attendance by these communities. In 2024, USENIX organized the following conferences, which included subjects related to security, privacy engineering, file and storage technologies, networked and operating systems design and implementation, and site reliability engineering: 22nd USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies (FAST); 21st USENIX Symposium on Networked System Design and Implementation (NSDI); SREcon24 Americas, SREcon24 Europe/Middle East/Africa (site reliability engineering conferences); 18th USENIX Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (OSDI); 2024 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (USENIX ATC); Twentieth Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS); 33rd USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security); 18th USENIX WOOT Conference on Offensive Technologies (WOOT); 2024 USENIX Conference on Privacy Engineering Practice and Respect (PEPR).

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 63
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 97.3%; rating input score 97
  • Program expense ratio: 87.5%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
    • 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: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: -10.9%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.01; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17.2%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 97.3% of revenue deployed · 87.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $5.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $296K · 14 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.1M reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 33/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 12/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.