How Sociogene reads an association

What's on an association page

Every association page follows the same order, top to bottom:

1. Who backs itEvery company the association names publicly as a supporter, exactly as published, with the source and the date we read it.
2. Named by its peersCompanies its five peer societies name that its own published list doesn't.
3. Peer societiesFive associations of the same type and a similar field, each with its own page.
4. Six years of filingsIRS Form 990 figures exactly as filed, with each year linked to its filing.
5. The outside viewA reading of the association's shape from its public footprint, with the confidence level of the read.

Coverage varies. Some associations publish long supporter lists and file full returns every year; others publish nothing and file the short notice for small organizations. When a section has nothing to show, the page says so and gives the date we looked.

And a page for every company. Each company named as a supporter gets its own page: every association that names it, how each one describes the support, and the companies named alongside it.

How an association gets a page

A page is published once we have read that organization's public record and released it. The set is not every U.S. association, and it grows over time. An organization that is missing is not a judgment about it.

Where supporter lists come from

Only from what an association publishes itself: sponsor and exhibitor pages, corporate member and partner rosters, donor lists, meeting prospectuses, annual reports and continuing education disclosures. When a list lives on a meeting site or with a management company, we use it there.

• Companies onlyHospitals, universities, government bodies, unions, foundations and other nonprofits are left out, and each list says what it covers.
• Names as publishedA company appears under the name the association uses. How spellings and parent companies are linked is explained below.
• Checked against the sourceEvery name is checked against the text it came from before it's published, with the list's title, page and date.
• Gated lists stay gatedLists behind a member login are marked as members only and not shown.

What "named" means

Named means the company appears on a public list the association published and we reviewed. It is not a contract, and it is not a payment.

"Not found in reviewed public records" means the company was not on the lists we reviewed for that association. Those lists are dated on the page. It does not mean the relationship does not exist.

How support is labeled

We keep the association's own tier words. When a source states a kind of support, we map it onto one of these labels: meeting sponsor, exhibitor, corporate member, corporate partner, foundation donor, award sponsor, education grant, or in-kind. When the source does not say, the page says Named.

Company names, spellings, and parents

Each association page keeps the spelling that association published. A company page gathers the namings we have linked to that company. Other spellings we have linked are listed as "Also published as." When a naming belongs to a subsidiary, the page can say "Part of" the parent and link to it, for example DePuy Synthes within J&J MedTech.

A similar name we have not linked stays its own page. We do not treat two spellings as the same company unless that link has been made.

Why there are no dollar amounts

Associations publish support in very different ways: named tiers, gift ranges, annual totals, or nothing at all. Dollar figures beside company names would compare things that aren't comparable. So we show the company, the type of support, and a tier name only when the association publishes one. Sociogene never estimates what a company spends.

What "named by peers" means

On each association page, we list companies that at least one of its five peers names publicly and that its own published list does not. It is a comparison of published lists, nothing more.

A company missing from an association's list may still support it. Lists differ in scope: some cover one meeting, some only a foundation's donors, and some are years old. Each list's scope and date are shown with it.

How peers are chosen

Each association is read alongside five peers: organizations of the same type, working in a similar field, with the closest shapes preferred. Peers are chosen, never ranked, and each has its own page.

Financials

Figures come from IRS Form 990 filings, Part I, through ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, with IRS e-file data for the newest years ProPublica hasn't processed yet. Figures appear exactly as filed, for up to six years, and each year links to its filing.

Many associations file under more than one entity: the association itself, a foundation, a related charity. Before any figure is shown, the filer's EIN is confirmed, and the page names the entity shown and lists related filers it doesn't show.

Total revenue includes investment and other income, so contributions and program services alone won't add up to it. Organizations filing Form 990-EZ show the fields that form reports; those filing the 990-N notice show a single line saying so. We add no commentary, no growth rates and no trend charts, and we never show compensation, even though the 990 reports it.

How current it is

Every supporter list and every filing shows the date we read it. Lists are refreshed on each association's own calendar, usually around its annual meeting. When a list changes, the new edition is added and the old one is kept, so history builds over time.

How the reading is done

Sociogene uses AI to read public sources: to draft the outside view from an association's public footprint, and to pull company names from sponsor pages, reports and PDFs. Every company name is checked against the text it came from before it's published, and every financial figure comes straight from the filing, not from AI. The outside view is an interpretation, and should be read as one.

Corrections

Every association and company page has a link to tell us what we got wrong. The more specific the better: what's wrong, and where the right information is published. We fix errors quickly and note the date of the change on the page.

Because everything on a page is already public, we don't take pages down on request. We do fix anything that's wrong, and we add context an association sends us when it helps readers understand the record.

The idea behind it

Decades of organizational research point to a useful truth: you can describe an organization not by what it does, but by where it sits on a few core tensions. Sociogene stands on that lineage, including the dimension-based culture mapping behind frameworks like the Competing Values Framework, and adapts it for associations specifically.

The four dimensions

An association's shape comes from where it falls on four spectrums. How power works, from a strong center to shared consensus. How it meets change, from preserving what works to building what is next. Who it serves, from its members inward to its mission outward. And what powers the work, from volunteer passion to professional operations. Each one names a real tension every association lives with.

From public footprint to a shape

The outside view reads an association's public footprint (its website, programs, governance, publications and filings) and places it along all four dimensions, which gives it a position in a four-dimensional space. We compare that position to nine archetypes, each defined by a characteristic blend of the four, and the nearest match becomes its lead shape. Because almost no organization sits exactly on an archetype, we also show how it blends, the shapes it leans toward next.

Each read carries a confidence level (high, medium or low) that reflects how much public material there was to read. A small association with a thin website gets a lower confidence read, and says so.

The signature

An association's signature is generated directly from its four positions, so it is unique to its exact place. Two organizations that share an archetype but differ in their blend get different signatures. It is a portrait of the read, not decoration.

Patterns, not scores

There is no good or bad shape, and no ranking. Every dimension and every archetype carries its own strengths and blind spots. Sociogene describes identity, not performance, so nothing here is a grade.

What it can and cannot tell you

The outside view is a mirror held up to an organization's public footprint, not a clinical or validated diagnostic. It reflects how an organization appears from what it publishes, which can differ from how it experiences itself, and that gap is often the useful part. It is not an assessment of staff, leadership, culture or effectiveness. Treat it as a starting point for a conversation, and revisit it over time to see how the shape moves.

How we handle your data

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