Big Water Creative Arts

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
811815580
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Petoskey, MI, USA
Phone
2318812591
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts Education

Reported finances

Revenue
$126,312
Expenses
$86,013
Assets
$54,744

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jeff Wynder (President)
  • Rebeca Otto (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Jeff Wynder (President)
  • Jeff Patton (Treasurer)
  • Sheela Welch (Secretary)

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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Big water creative arts, inc. (bwca or big water) shares the joy of music through education, instruction, and performances that build community and improve the quality of life for youth, students with cofnitive impairments, and lifelong learners across northern Michigan. Bwca achieves its mission by providing free, accessible music education programs throughout emmet and neighboring counties. Ensuring that all students, including girls and women, have opportunities for creative expression, skill-building, and personal growth. These programs foster confidence, collaboration, and a sense of accomplishment that supports overall well-being.

What it reported doing in 2025

Bwca delivered eight distinct programs serving youth and adults across emmet, cheboygan, and otsego counties. Core offereings included rock jam, jazz lab, combo, music exploration, songwriting, beginning guitar, and ukulele classes. Through school-based and community classes, these programs reached a wide range of learners, from students with cognitive impairments to high school musicians and adult beginners.

Operating model

Revenue model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 54
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.1%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 31.9%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.64; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23.1%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 33.5% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 73.7% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.1% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $86K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.