Ecological Marine Adventures

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
331658227
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Surf City, NC, USA
Phone
9102654491
Rating
57
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$441,802
Expenses
$414,916
Assets
$49,518
Liabilities
$22,632

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Taylor Maready (Director): $49,000 total reported compensation
  • Morgan Salge (Director of Operations): $45,085 total reported compensation
  • Amber Maready (Director): $42,500 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 organization provides hands-on marine science education and conservation programming that builds understanding of marine ecosystems and promotes environmental stewardship through immersive learning opportunities.

What it reported doing in 2025

School, Homeschool & Youth Educational Outreach: Ecological Marine Adventures delivers interactive, curriculum aligned marine science education to homeschool students, schools, and youth groups through homeschool classes, field trips, school visits, and related outreach programs. Students engage in hands on activities such as experiments, live animal encounters, touch tanks, guided exploration, and data collection that reinforce academic concepts while fostering curiosity, conservation awareness, and a deeper understanding of ocean ecosystems. During the year, these outreach programs served a total of 2,343 participants, consisting of 147 homeschool students and 2,196 students through field trips and school visits, provided 249 program days, and held 249 educational sessions.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 99% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 23
  • Sustainability: 27
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65.2%; rating input score 65
  • Program expense ratio: 69.4%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.1%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.12; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.46; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 41.7%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65.2% of revenue deployed · 69.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 4 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $288K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $49K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.