American Association of Geographers

What American Association of Geographers does

The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional and scholarly association founded in 1904 and headquartered at 1701 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC. It serves geographers worldwide—faculty, researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, K-12 teachers, community college programs, government and private-sector practitioners, and developing-region members across nearly 100 countries. Core offerings include four peer-reviewed journals (Annals of the AAG, The Professional Geographer, AAG Review of Books, GeoHumanities), the 15-volume International Encyclopedia of Geography published with Wiley, the flagship five-day Annual Meeting (drawing attendees from 60+ countries), nine regional division meetings, more than 70 specialty and affinity groups, awards and grants, an advocacy program, the Elevate the Discipline public-scholarship program, and a dedicated community college initiative covering 210 associate-degree programs.

AAG monetizes primarily through individual membership dues (tiered across student, faculty, professional, K-12, retired, post-doc, and developing-region categories, with a free Explorer tier), annual meeting registration fees (in-person and virtual, tiered by member status and timing), institutional journal subscriptions distributed via Taylor & Francis, donations to earmarked 501(c)(3) funds, and event sponsorships and advertising. The technology footprint is conventional association infrastructure—WordPress CMS, CloudFlare CDN, Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, and Vimeo/YouTube—rather than a proprietary technology platform; differentiation comes from content authority (Annals Impact Factor 2.9, ranked 30/173), brand heritage, and the density of the specialty group and regional division ecosystem. Governance is by an elected Council with a small staff (11-50 employees) led by Executive Director Gary M. Langham and Director of Operations Candida Mannozzi.

The go-to-market is community-led and event-driven: specialty and affinity groups, regional divisions, and the rotating annual meeting function as both acquisition and retention engines. Distribution is digital-direct via the AAG member portal plus institutional channels through Taylor & Francis and Wiley, supplemented by a podcast partnership with the New Books Network. The organization has earned Charity Navigator's four-star rating and Candid/GuideStar Platinum Transparency status in 2025.

Name

American Association of Geographers

Legal name

American Association of Geographers

Website

https://aag.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1904

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The American Association of Geographers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional association founded in 1904 that serves geographers worldwide through membership, four scholarly journals, the International Encyclopedia of Geography, the Annual Meeting, 70+ specialty groups, grants, and career services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Association Services and Scholarly Publishing in Geography

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Earth Science & Geoscience Programs (EDAMABAI)

Keywords

• Scholarly publishing
• Professional membership
• Academic conferences
• Research grants funding
• Geography education

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership fees from individual members including students, faculty, professionals, retired members, K-12 teachers, and developing region members at discounted rates. Members receive access to journals, grants, awards, networking, and event discounts.
2. Annual Meeting Registration: Registration fees for the annual meeting with tiered pricing for members, students, developing regions, non-members, and virtual options. In-person and virtual attendance options with various pricing tiers.
3. Journal Subscriptions: Members receive online access to four AAG journals: Annals of the AAG, The Professional Geographer, The AAG Review of Books, and GeoHumanities. Non-member institutional subscriptions also available through Taylor & Francis.
4. Donations and Charitable Contributions: Tax-deductible donations to various AAG funds including Student Travel Fund, Enhancing Diversity Fund, Research Grants, and specialty award funds. AAG is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
5. Sponsorships and Advertising: Sponsorship and advertising opportunities at annual meetings and in publications. Includes exhibit booth sales, advertising in journals, and event sponsorships.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The American Association of Geographers is a nonprofit professional membership association that serves geographers worldwide. Its core offerings center on individual membership subscriptions granting access to four scholarly geography journals, the flagship multi-day AAG Annual Meeting, nine Regional Division meetings, more than 70 specialty and affinity groups, research grants and travel funds, career and jobs services, and discipline-wide advocacy.

Product overview

The American Association of Geographers operates as a professional membership association rather than a traditional technology company. Its core offerings include scholarly journals (Annals of the AAG, The Professional Geographer, AAG Review of Books, GeoHumanities), the International Encyclopedia of Geography, annual and regional meetings (including the flagship Annual Meeting and nine Regional Division Meetings), specialty and affinity groups (70+), awards and grants, career services, advocacy programs, and the Elevate the Discipline program for public scholarship training. The organization serves geographers worldwide through membership subscriptions providing access to publications, events, professional development, and networking opportunities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Annals of the American Association of Geographers: AAG's flagship journal published since 1911, ranked 30th out of 173 geography journals worldwide with an impact factor of 2.9.
• The Professional Geographer
• AAG Review of Books
• GeoHumanities
• The International Encyclopedia of Geography

Products and services

• AAG Annual Meeting Five-day flagship annual conference hosting thousands of geographers and GIS professionals from 60+ countries for presentations, workshops, field trips, special events, exhibits, and networking.
• AAG Regional Division Meetings Nine North American regional divisions conducting fall meetings for local geographers, hosting student paper awards and the World Geography Bowl.
• Annals of the American Association of Geographers AAG's flagship journal published since 1911, featuring major research articles contributing to geographic knowledge. Ranked 30th of 173 geography journals with an Impact Factor of 2.9 and 10 issues per year.
• The Professional Geographer Journal of academic and applied geography emphasizing empirical studies and methodologies, published six times per year. Has an Impact Factor of 1.9, ranking 64th of 173 geography journals.
• AAG Review of Books Online journal launched in 2013 publishing scholarly reviews of recent texts in geography and related disciplines, with four issues per year.
• GeoHumanities Journal launched in 2015 covering interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of geography and humanities, published twice yearly with an Impact Factor of 1.1 (ranked 88th of 173 geography journals).
• The International Encyclopedia of Geography Comprehensive 15-volume reference work with online access containing more than 1,000 entries from over 900 scholars across 40+ countries, covering human geography, physical geography, geographic information science, earth studies, and environmental science; published with Wiley and updated annually online.
• AAG Specialty and Affinity Groups More than 70 voluntary associations of AAG members sharing interests in geographic regions or topics, providing focused networking, research, and professional development within specialized subdisciplines.
• AAG Membership Annual membership subscription offering exclusive access to AAG publications, journals, advocacy, grants, scholarships, professional opportunities, specialty groups, and event discounts. Categories include Student, Individual, Post Doc, Retired, K-12 Teacher, MSI Faculty, Developing Region, and free Explorer.
• AAG Awards and Grants Portfolio of competitive awards and grants supporting geographers at all career stages, including travel funds, research grants, dissertation grants, and recognition awards.
• Community College Geography Programs Support Program supporting community college geography through a Guide to Programs and Opportunities documenting 210 Associate-degree-granting programs, a Community College Affinity Group, the Award for Associates Program Excellence, and travel grants.
• AAG Advocacy Program Advocacy initiative protecting the practice of geography through statements, coalition work, and lobbying for state or federal bills, with policy positions on academic freedom, science funding, climate change, and inclusion.
• Elevate the Discipline Program Three-tiered training program helping geographers connect their research to public and policy arenas, with a Cohorts Tier (10-15 applicants per year on specific themes), Programs Tier, and Resource Tier.

Quantifiable outcome

• Annals of the AAG ranked 30th out of 173 geography journals worldwide with Impact Factor of 2.9
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• WileycoreTechnology or Integration · 20 October 2022Wiley collaborates with AAG to publish The International Encyclopedia of Geography, a 15-volume authoritative reference work with online access. The encyclopedia contains more than 1,000 entries from 900+ scholars from over 40 countries.
• Taylor & FranciscoreTechnology or IntegrationTaylor & Francis serves as the publishing partner for AAG's four journals (Annals of the AAG, The Professional Geographer, The AAG Review of Books, GeoHumanities). The partnership provides online platform access, publication infrastructure, and distribution services for AAG's scholarly publications.
• New Books Network (NBN)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAAG collaborates with the New Books Network, a consortium of author-interview podcast channels, to sponsor the Geography channel. The platform showcases new publications across geography with hosts receiving $25 stipend per interview.
• Energy and Environment Specialty Group (EESG)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEESG is a specialty group of AAG that organizes the Annual Energy Geographies Conference. The group consists of EESG Executive Committee and Board of Advisors members who coordinate conference programming, abstracts, and awards.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• Association of Pacific Coast Geographers: A regional geography association covering the US Pacific Coast and Western states, hosting an annual meeting and student paper awards. It is a smaller regional peer that sits one level below AAG in scale and could compete for dues and meeting attendance in its footprint.
• Canadian Association of Geographers: The national scholarly society for geography in Canada, offering membership, journals (Canadian Geographer), and an annual meeting. It mirrors AAG's structure at a smaller national scale and serves overlapping academic audiences in North America.
• European Association of Geographers (EUROGEO): The pan-European association for geographers, focused on geography education and research across EU member states. It overlaps with AAG on educator membership and on convening geographers in a different geography than AAG's North America-centric regional divisions.

Broad incumbents

• National Geographic Society: A much larger, century-old organization with a global brand spanning exploration, education, and grant-making. While not a scholarly society, it overlaps with AAG on geography education, grants, and public engagement, and operates as a much larger incumbent in adjacent space.
• American Geophysical Union (AGU): A large, established earth and space sciences society with a comparable structure of journals, membership, sections, and an enormous annual meeting (AGU Fall Meeting). It overlaps with AAG on physical geography members and competes for the same academic and government-affiliated earth science audience.
• Geological Society of America (GSA): A long-standing earth science professional society with membership, journals, sections, and a major annual meeting. It overlaps with AAG on physical geography and geoscience members and competes for institutional library subscriptions and academic mindshare.

Direct peers

• International Geographical Union: The global union of national geography societies and geographic organizations, organizing the International Geographical Congress and commissions across sub-fields. AAG participates as a member organization, and the IGU competes for international geographer mindshare and convening.
• Royal Geographical Society: The UK's premier learned society for geography, with a similar mix of scholarly journals, membership, awards, expeditions programming, and public engagement. It is AAG's most direct international counterpart in scale, mission, and member offerings.

Others

• American Meteorological Society (AMS): A scientific and professional society for atmospheric and related sciences, operating journals, membership, and a major annual meeting. It is structurally analogous to AAG and competes for climate, atmospheric, and physical geography researchers as members and authors.
• Ecological Society of America (ESA): A peer scientific society publishing ecology journals, hosting a large annual meeting, and serving a discipline adjacent to physical geography. It is thematically and operationally comparable (membership + journals + meeting model) and competes for some of AAG's environmental and biogeography members.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/geographers
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/association-of-american-geographers
• Instagraminstagram.com/aag_geographers
• Xx.com/theAAG

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about American Association of Geographers