Association of Aquatic Professionals

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
274879025
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2012
Location
Queen Creek, AZ, USA
Phone
2628949772
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Safety Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,116,536
Expenses
$979,594
Assets
$811,882
Liabilities
$940

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CORY HILDERBRAND (PRESIDENT)
  • JOEY LANEVE (PRESIDENT EL)

Highest reported compensation

  • JULIENE HEFTER (EXEC. DIRECT): $182,268 total reported compensation
  • KIRSTEN BARNES (ASSISTANT DI): $124,350 total reported compensation
  • MARK BASNIGHT (DEPUTY DIREC): $20,280 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Promote safe aquatic practices and drowning prevention education. Education and enrichment for acquatic professionals.

What it reported doing in 2025

Promote safe aquatic practices and drowning prevention education with annual conference and membership newsletters. 1,947 people served in 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 93% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67.9%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 76.6%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.11 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 12.3%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.83; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 33.4%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.9% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.8% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 67.9% of revenue deployed · 76.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $750K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $182K · 20 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2013 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 2/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.