Council of American Ambassadors

What Council of American Ambassadors does

The Council of American Ambassadors is a nonpartisan, nonprofit membership association established in 1983 and headquartered at 888 17th St. NW, Suite 306, Washington, DC. It is the recognized association of former non-career United States Ambassadors — private citizens appointed by U.S. Presidents to diplomatic posts abroad — and serves a finite, credentialed membership pool with peer networking, policy discussion, and public diplomacy advocacy.

Its core offerings are programmatic rather than technological: membership services; semi-annual conferences and Ambassadors' Roundtables; international fact-finding missions; the Annenberg Summer Fellowship and the Kathryn W. Davis Public Diplomacy Fellowship (with academic partners including the Institute of World Politics, University of Southern California, and George Mason University); and publications including the bi-annual American Ambassadors Review journal, the Ambassadors Perspectives online forum, the CAA Live! podcast, and Mission Reports. The underlying technology stack is minimal and undifferentiated: the Council runs on YourMembership.com for its website, community, event management, and email marketing.

The business model is a recurring membership dues and voluntary contributions structure, supplemented by an Annual Fund, an Endowment Fund, and the Thomas Jefferson Legacy Society for major gifts. The organization employs 1-10 staff, has no parent company or external investors, and reports no revenue. Member acquisition is community-led, driven by word-of-mouth within diplomatic circles and State Department connections, with no disclosed pricing for membership.

Name

Council of American Ambassadors

Legal name

Council of American Ambassadors

Website

https://americanambassadors.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Council of American Ambassadors is a nonprofit membership association of former non-career U.S. Ambassadors, providing conferences, fellowships, publications, and networking to support U.S. diplomacy from its Washington, DC headquarters.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Diplomatic Association

NAICS

Business Associations (81391), Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (8139), Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), International Affairs (9721)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Diplomacy, Cultural Diplomacy & Strategic Communications (BPAIAIAE)

Keywords

• Diplomatic association services
• Professional membership organization
• Public diplomacy fellowships
• Ambassador networking programs
• Foreign policy conferences

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, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership dues and contributions: The organization generates revenue through membership dues and voluntary contributions from former non-career U.S. Ambassadors. As a nonprofit organization, members support the Council through annual fund donations and endowed gifts.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Council of American Ambassadors is a nonpartisan, nonprofit membership organization that unites former non-career United States ambassadors. It delivers membership services, fellowship programs for emerging leaders in international affairs and public diplomacy, semi-annual conferences, ambassadors' roundtables, international fact-finding missions, and publications including the American Ambassadors Review journal and the American Ambassadors Live! podcast. Members support the Council through annual fund donations, endowed gifts, and membership dues.

Product overview

The Council of American Ambassadors is a nonpartisan, nonprofit membership organization for former non-career U.S. ambassadors. The organization provides a unified platform centered on membership services, featuring fellowship programs (the Annenberg Summer Fellowship and Kathryn W. Davis Public Diplomacy Fellowship), publications (American Ambassadors Review and CAA Live! podcast), conferences, ambassadors' roundtables, and international missions. These programs collectively aim to strengthen America's conduct of diplomacy and foster relationships with the U.S. Department of State.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• American Ambassadors Review: Bi-annual journal published by the Council.
• American Ambassadors Live!
• Ambassadors Perspectives
• Annenberg Fellowship
• Kathryn W. Davis Fellowship

Products and services

• Council of American Ambassadors Membership

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Institute of World Politics (IWP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCAA partnered with the Institute of World Politics (IWP) to design a 10-week course for Annenberg Fellows, enabling them to meet and learn from scholars and practitioners of statecraft and intelligence. IWP provided academic instruction as part of the fellowship program.
• Public Diplomacy Council of AmericacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Public Diplomacy Council of America partners with CAA on the Kathryn W. Davis Fellowship program, providing mentorship by its members alongside CAA ambassadors for junior Public Diplomacy officers.
• George Mason UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStudents in the International Affairs Summer Fellowship program took academic courses in foreign policy and economics at George Mason University as part of their fellowship curriculum.
• University of Southern CaliforniacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDavis Fellows begin their fellowship with a two-week Public Diplomacy Training program at the University of Southern California before commencing their year of mentorship.
• DACOR Bacon HouseminorOthersThe DACOR Bacon House serves as the venue for CAA graduation dinners and welcome events for fellows, including the 2023 Annenberg Fellows graduation dinner and 2024-2025 Davis Fellows welcome dinner.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Council on Foreign Relations: A larger, established foreign policy membership organization. While broader in scope than CAA, it is a directly analogous membership-based foreign policy nonprofit serving a similar elite diplomatic and policy audience.
• Atlantic Council: A broader international affairs think tank and membership organization headquartered in Washington DC. Comparable as an established diplomatic/policy membership nonprofit that engages former ambassadors for events and programming.

Direct peers

• Institute of World Politics (IWP): An accredited graduate school in Washington DC focused on statecraft, intelligence, and diplomacy. IWP delivers the 10-week academic course for CAA's Annenberg Fellows, making it a directly comparable diplomacy-focused nonprofit with a fellowship/education component.
• Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST): A nonprofit that preserves U.S. diplomatic history through oral histories and training. Comparable as a diplomacy-focused nonprofit serving the foreign affairs community in Washington DC.
• American Foreign Service Association (AFSA): The professional association of active and retired U.S. Foreign Service employees. While its members are career officers rather than non-career ambassadors, AFSA operates the same membership-based model with publications, events, and advocacy in the same diplomatic space.
• American Academy of Diplomacy: A nonprofit that draws on senior U.S. diplomats and statespeople for advocacy on foreign policy. Comparable as a membership-based diplomatic nonprofit with similar convening and advisory functions in the public-diplomacy ecosystem.
• Public Diplomacy Council of America: A membership organization dedicated to advancing public diplomacy, which the CAA explicitly partners with on the Kathryn W. Davis Fellowship. Directly comparable as a member-driven nonprofit in public diplomacy.
• DACOR Bacon House Foundation: An organization of U.S. foreign affairs professionals (diplomatic and consular officers retired), DACOR offers a comparable membership model, headquarters in Washington DC, and event programming that overlaps with CAA's ambassador community.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/AmerAmbassadors
• Facebookfacebook.com/americanambassadors
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/amerambassadors

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Council of American Ambassadors