Association of Polar Tour Guides
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 821915584
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2021–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2020
- Location
- Bozeman, MT, USA
- Phone
- 4065991090
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Professional Societies, Associations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $124,774
- Expenses
- $123,454
- Assets
- $34,337
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
People named in this filing
- Colby Brokvist (Board Chair)
- Heather Thorkelson (Vice Chair/Trea)
- Graham Charles (Program Dir.)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To provide an internationally recognized process of performance testing and qualification for guides across all platforms of polar guiding.
What it reported doing in 2024
*Continued working with the scope of a non-profit professional industry association*83 New Certified Guides through the Polar Tourism Guides Association: 9 new Polar Guides (Aspirant), 29 new Polar Guides, 19 new Senior Polar Guides, 24 new Provisional Assessors, and 2 new Senior Assessors*PTGA Members 701 Senior Polar Guides 287 Polar Guides 269 Polar Guide (Aspirant)- 88 Provisional and Full Assessors 66 Senior Assessors - 6*Continued operations in the Arctic and Antarctic regions *PTGA attended international IAATO meeting in Providence, Rhode Island in September 2024 and in Cascais, Portugal in April 2025*PTGA working in collaboration with Trade Associations AECO and IAATO to plan for an international meeting of polar field staff next year in March 2026 in Lisbon, Portugal *Ran 2 Assessor Training Courses internationally *Sarah Merusi continues as the Executive Director and Graham Charles as the Program Director. Alex Hansen remains in the role of Area of Responsibility Manager.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Membership-supported. 71% of the money available for current operations came from membership dues.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 86.9%; rating input score 87
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 1.1%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.28; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 30.1% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 19.5% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -6.8% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 86% of revenue deployed · 86.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $107K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 1 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 24/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.