American Academy of Religion

What American Academy of Religion does

The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit scholarly society founded in 1909 and headquartered at 825 Houston Mill Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia. AAR self-describes as the largest scholarly society dedicated to the academic study of religion, serving faculty, researchers, doctoral candidates, and graduate students in religious studies departments at universities, colleges, and divinity schools worldwide. Its members include tenured professors (e.g., at Princeton Theological Seminary, Boston University, Appalachian State University, Indiana University at Bloomington, and the University of Oklahoma) who use AAR to present research, network with peers and senior scholars, access grants and awards, and advance their careers.

AAR's offering centers on a digital platform (aarweb.org and the member portal my.aarweb.org) powered by Nimble AMS by Community Brands, which was launched in 2025 to handle membership management, event registration, and resource access. Core programs include Annual Meetings (June Online Sessions and the November Annual Meeting with nearly 60 sessions), monthly WebinAARs, publications (Religious Studies News and the Reading Religion book review site), an Awards Program, a Grants Program (including the Holstein Dissertation Fellowships at UC Riverside), Professional Development, Mentoring, a Member Directory, AAR Regions (regional chapters), and the public-facing Religious Studies Matters advocacy initiative. Technology integrations include Vimeo (video hosting), Google Analytics, and active social channels on Facebook, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Vimeo, and (as of 2025) Instagram.

AAR's revenue model combines recurring membership dues, transaction-based event registration fees, and publication-related revenue, with supplementary donations and grants. Specific pricing is gated behind member login. The organization earns additional reputational and engagement currency through partnerships with WikiEducation (Wikipedia-as-pedagogy), the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) on the 'Religion and America at 250' series, and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) on federal research-grant advocacy. AAR is independently governed with no parent company and is funded primarily through member dues, events, and philanthropy rather than equity investment.

Name

American Academy of Religion

Legal name

American Academy of Religion, Inc.

Website

https://aarweb.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1909

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit scholarly society, founded in 1909 and headquartered in Atlanta, serving academic scholars of religion through membership-based programming including Annual Meetings, webinars, publications, awards, grants, and a member portal.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Scholarly Association

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813), Business Associations (813910), Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (8139)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Scholarly Society & Association Publishing (EDAGAFAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Scholarly Societies & Conference Proceedings Publishing (MPAJABAK)

Keywords

• Academic religion society
• Scholarly publishing religion
• Membership association services
• Annual academic conferences
• Religious studies education

Headquarters

HQ city

Atlanta

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

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership fees providing access to conferences, webinars, awards, grants, mentoring, professional development resources, and the member community.
2. Event Registration: Revenue from Annual Meeting registrations (June Online Sessions and November Annual Meeting) including discounted rates for verified members.
3. Publications and Book Reviews: Revenue from publications including Religious Studies News and the Reading Religion book review platform.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the largest scholarly society dedicated to the academic study of religion. It sells annual memberships that grant scholars access to Annual Meetings, monthly WebinAARs, publications, awards, grants, mentoring, professional development, and a member directory. Core revenue is generated through membership dues, event registration, and donations supporting its nonprofit mission to foster excellence in religious studies research, publishing, and teaching.

Product overview

The American Academy of Religion (AAR) operates a membership-based scholarly society offering a unified digital platform (aarweb.org and my.aarweb.org) alongside a portfolio of in-person and virtual programs. The core offering centers on Annual Meetings (June Online Sessions and November Annual Meeting) and monthly WebinAARs, supplemented by publications including Religious Studies News and the Reading Religion book review site. Member services encompass an Awards Program, Grants Program (including Holstein Dissertation Fellowships), Professional Development, Mentoring, a Resource Library, a Member Directory, and AAR Regions. AAR also runs the Religious Studies Matters advocacy initiative and publishes newsletters. All services are accessed through the new Nimble AMS-powered membership platform launched in 2025.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AAR Annual Meetings AAR's flagship conferences held multiple times per year (June Online Sessions and November Annual Meeting), offering nearly 60 sessions, presidential panels, networking opportunities, and scholarly presentations for religion scholars. Available to members and non-members with discounted rates for verified members.
• WebinAARs Monthly webinars produced and sponsored by AAR on topics related to the academic study and teaching of religion. Recordings are typically accessible to AAR members. Topics include pedagogy, AI in education, public scholarship, and the 'Religion and America at 250' series.
• Religious Studies News AAR's openly accessible news publication covering developments in the academic study of religion, including journalism award winners, member news, and organizational announcements.
• Reading Religion An openly accessible book review website hosted at readingreligion.org, publishing reviews of books relevant to scholars of religion.
• AAR Awards Program AAR administers multiple awards including the AAR Journalism Award, Religion and the Arts Travel Grant, and Teaching Award, recognizing excellence in journalism, teaching, and scholarly contributions in the academic study of religion.
• AAR Grants Program AAR provides grant opportunities for scholars including the Holstein Dissertation Fellowships (for doctoral candidates working in queer and/or trans studies in religion, held at UC Riverside) and the Religion and the Arts Travel Grant supporting research presentation at annual meetings.
• AAR Mentoring Program AAR's mentoring initiative connecting early-career scholars with senior colleagues for professional guidance and career support within the field of religious studies.
• AAR Professional Development Career development resources and programming offered by AAR to support scholars in the academic study of religion, including workshops, webinars, and skill-building opportunities.
• AAR Member Directory An online directory enabling AAR members to connect with fellow scholars, view colleague profiles, and build professional networks within the academic study of religion.
• AAR Regions Regional chapters of AAR organized geographically, providing local networking, professional development, and community engagement opportunities for members.
• AAR Resource Library A curated collection of professional resources, teaching materials, and scholarly tools accessible to AAR members to support their academic work and career advancement.
• Religious Studies Matters (Advocacy Initiative) AAR's public-facing advocacy initiative promoting the importance of religious studies education, supporting religion scholars, and improving public understanding of religion through advocacy, public engagement, and teaching resources.

Named customers5 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• WikiEducationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAAR partners with WikiEducation to host WebinAAR sessions, specifically focused on incorporating Wikipedia editing into pedagogy for religious studies education. The collaboration includes joint webinars exploring how Wikipedia can help students shape public understanding of religion.
• International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAAR collaborates with IAHR on the 'Religion and America at 250' webinar series, exploring central questions about religion at the founding of the United States. IAHR also partners on workshops such as the 'Study of Religion Without an Object? Global Perspectives' event.
• Columbia University - Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public LifeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAAR endorses and promotes the Claremont Publication Prize awarded by Columbia University's Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life for early-career scholars' first book manuscripts.
• American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerAAR signed onto an ACLS statement regarding OMB proposals for new criteria and process for federal science research grants, demonstrating advocacy partnership on matters affecting humanities research.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Modern Language Association: The MLA is a major humanities scholarly society with membership dues, a flagship annual convention, publications, and member directories, serving an analogous role for language and literature scholars as AAR does for religion scholars.
• International Association for the History of Religions: IAHR is AAR's international counterpart, co-hosting the 'Religion and America at 250' webinar series and joint workshops; it serves the same scholar community globally with conferences, publications, and member services.
• American Historical Association: The AHA is the largest scholarly society for historians in North America and operates an analogous model: membership dues, annual meeting, publications, awards, and a member directory that serves as the central community for the discipline.
• Society of Biblical Literature: SBL is the closest peer scholarly society focused on the academic study of biblical texts; it runs annual meetings, regional sections, journals, and member services that overlap directly with AAR's offerings in religious studies.
• American Political Science Association: APSA runs a similar full-service scholarly society model with annual meetings, peer-reviewed journals, awards, and a member community serving academic political scientists in the same way AAR serves religion scholars.
• American Philosophical Association: APA serves academic philosophers with regional meetings, membership dues, publications, and a member directory; it is structurally analogous to AAR in scale and service mix for a humanities discipline.
• American Sociological Association: ASA is a large discipline-based scholarly society operating a member-funded model with annual meetings, peer-reviewed journals, awards, and a member community that is structurally similar to AAR.
• Association for Asian Studies: AAS is a regional scholarly society for Asian studies with annual meeting, member directory, publications, and awards that follow the same membership-society model as AAR.

Broad incumbents

• National Council of Teachers of English: NCTE is a comparable large scholarly society in education/humanities with annual conventions, member dues, publications, and awards that operate as a community hub for a discipline, similar to how AAR operates for religion studies.
• American Council of Learned Societies: ACLS is an umbrella organization of which AAR is a constituent member; it operates larger-scale programs, advocacy, and grantmaking for humanities scholarship broadly, including the joint statement on OMB grants that AAR signed on to.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/AARWeb
• YouTubevimeo.com/aar
• Facebookfacebook.com/americanacademyofreligion
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/american-academy-of-religion
• Instagraminstagram.com/americanacademyofreligion

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about American Academy of Religion