Where Does Revenue to the American Nurses Association Go?

The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a non-profit tax-exempt 501 (3) (6) – a professional association – that works to “advance and promote the improvement of health standards and the standards of nursing.”  Based in Silver Spring, Maryland, the ANA is also one part of a 3-prong enterprise:  The Ana Enterprise. The other two organizations in the enterprise are the American Nurses Association Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) and the American Nurses Credentialing Center, a 501 (c) (6).  All 3 non-profits are headquartered at the same location in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The purpose of this post is to just focus on ANA and how the organization spends revenue.  The primary source of revenue for most professional associations is membership dues and ANA is no different. Annual membership is $174 annually. It is important to note that ANA represents nurses through 54 constituent associations (primarily state associations).

In 2017, ANA reported total revenue of $45 million which primarily came from two sources: membership dues ($16 million) and Service Fees ($14 million). The remaining $15 million in revenue came from conference fees, publications, contributions, investment income and gains, net sales, and real estate income.

Expenses totaled $48 million – $3 million more than ANA collected, which they were able to do because ANA had $20 million in net fund assets and a $2.5 million unrealized gain on investments.  The $48 million in expenses were categorized as follows:

• $22 million (49% of revenue):  Compensation
• $ 9 million (20% of revenue):  Office-related Expenses
• $ 6 million (13% of revenue):  Fees for Services
• $ 3 million (7% of revenue):  Advertising/Promotion
• $ 3 million (7% of revenue):  Other Expenses (bad debt, losses, depreciation, etc)
• $ 2 million (4% of revenue):  Travel and Conferences
• $ 2 million (4% of revenue):  Grants
• $ 1 million (2% of revenue):  Dues and Subscriptions

As illustrated above, the largest expense for ANA is compensation.  255 employees received $22 million in compensation which equates to an average compensation of $86,000.  60 employees received more than $100,000 in total compensation, including the CEO, Marla J Weston who received $442,897 in compensation.

Fees for Services were primarily $5.6 million in consulting fees (no other detail provided). Grants were primarily to domestic individuals and to the ANA Foundation.

Using the above information, every $100 in revenue was used as follows:

$100:  Revenue

-$ 49:  Compensation

-$ 20:  Office-related Expenses

-$ 13:  Fees for Services

-$  7:  Advertising and Promotion

-$  7:  Other Expenses

-$  4:  Travel and Conferences

-$  4:  Grants

-$  2:  Dues and Subscriptions

$106: Total Expenses

As illustrated above, ANA spent $106 for every $100 in revenue and was able to do so because the organization had $20 million in the endowment to cover these extra costs.

If you are a member of ANA and paid $174 in membership dues, then your dues were spent as follows:

$174:  Membership Dues

-$ 85:  Compensation

-$ 35:  Office-related Expenses

-$ 23:  Fees for Services (primarily consulting)

-$ 12:  Advertising and Promotion

-$ 12:  Other Expenses

-$  7:  Travel and Conferences

-$  7:  Grants

-$  3:  Dues and Subscriptions

-$184:  Total Expenses

In summation, the ANA has three larges expenses:  compensation, office-related expenses and fees for services. These three expenses use 82% of revenue.

To read the IRS Form 990 (2017), click here.