Charleston Port & Seafarers Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
571035599
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024
Location
Mt Pleasant, SC, USA
Phone
8436930383
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Christianity
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$178,701
Expenses
$94,351
Assets
$234,072
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Peter Ward (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Clark Cromwell (Administrator, Contract employee): $54,850 total reported compensation
  • Christy Basler (Book keeper, contract employee): $3,600 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The Charleston Port and Seafarers' Society is a Christian organization that exists for the purpose of welcoming and serving the needs of those men and women who make their livelihood in the port or at sea, without regard for nationality, race, ethnicity, politics or religion.

What it reported doing in 2025

The chaplain and volunteers visit ships, meet and interact with seafarers, transport them to various places in the community: shopping, houses of worship, banks medical facilities, etc. Telephones and computers are available, at no charge, for them to contact their families. Trailers are located on the S.C. Ports Authority property for seafarers to utilize the phones and computers and to meet with the chaplain and volunteers. The chaplain provides counseling and crisis management as needed. The chaplain and volunteers seek to be helpful and supportive to the seafarers who work in a stressful environment and are often separated from their families for a year or more. Over 600 seafarers are currently served monthly. Facilities are available 24/7 without charges of any sort.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 94% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 70
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 52.3%; rating input score 52
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 47.2%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.48; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: Limited

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.9% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 52.3% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $94K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $55K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 52/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.