Fortified Strength Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
853576252
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022
Location
San Ramon, CA, USA
Phone
9254527076
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Centers, Clubs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$268,682
Expenses
$269,930
Assets
$34,653
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JAMES WIESE (Director & CEO)

People named in this filing

  • JAMES WIESE (Director & CEO)
  • KELLY WIESE (Director & CFO)
  • JANICE MONKOWSKI (Director/Sect.)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

We use strength sports to build well rounded, physically and mentally strong Youth Athletes ready to lead exceptional and successful lives in an effort to combat youth delinquency. We believe this will result in a culture where athletes feel physically and emotionally supported and produce a better society. By cultivating technical excellence in strength sports, we provide frameworks for underserved youths with an athletic foundation that they will carry with them throughout their lives--as competitive athletes and beyond. We nurture and thrive in a diverse facility providing all with equal opportunities which encourage coaches and athletes to achieve individual outcomes. In particular, we leverage the techniques and training methodology of Olympic Weight lifting to achieve these goals. There are currently 81 youths in the program.

What it reported doing in 2025

Key Accomplishments: Fortified Strength concludes another remarkable year of service to the community, we're proud to share the exceptional impact our 501(c)(3)has made in developing strong, confident youth athletes through Olympic Weightlifting. Our key accomplishments in 2024:1. Acheived 2nd place overall for the youth division at the US National Championships, cementing our reputation for excellence. 2. Five athletes earned podium positions at Youth National Championships, including two National Champions winning Gold medals.3.16 youth to USA Youth National Championships in Pittsburgh, PA; 10 Youth to North American Open Finals in Atlanta, GA; 7 Youth to American Open series 1 in Columbus, OH.4. 12 first-time national competitors, representing our commitment to creating new opportunities for youth. Logged over 110 competition results with over 40 active USA Weightlifitng members participating in sanctioned events.5. Continued with a 5 member, independent, non-compensated board for organizational oversight.6. Successfully fundraised sufficient budget to operate in 2024 as per the budget.7. Reviewed nonprofit annual plan with 2 independent, successful charity executives as well as accountants to get experienced feedback.Other Accomplishments throughout out tenure:8. Successfully prepared annual budget, filed IRS form 1023 which resulting in achieved 501(c)(3) status as determined by the IRS as described by section 509(a)(2)9. Successfully negotiated below market lease agreement with Gym to operate classes, including shared use of Olympic Weightlifting equipment to be used by the youth10. Established and acquired appropriate insurance policies for organizational success11. Raised funding to successfully pursue mission.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 64
  • Accountability: 58
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.8%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 89.4%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 0%; rating input score 0; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.5%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.13; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 24.4% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 22.9% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.8% of revenue deployed · 89.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $241K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 23 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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: Governance controls: 6 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.