Freshwater Life Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
873663862
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2022, Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Phone
8314306716
Rating
90
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Wildlife Preservation, Protection

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$40,197
Expenses
$71,107
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$1,643

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Graden Froese (CEO)

People named in this filing

  • Graden Froese (CEO)
  • Don Croll (Board Chair)
  • Bernie Tershy (Treasurer)

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

Save freshwater species from extinction

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025 Freshwater Life:1.California- a.continued our work with the National Park Service to protect the Endangered Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog Rana sierrae.2.Argentina- a.continued our work with Fundacin Somuncura to protect four critically endangered species in the Valcheta watershed El Rincon Stream Frog (Pleurodema somuncurense), Naked characin (Gymnocharacnus bergii) Critically Endangered, Freshwater snail (Potamolithus elenae) Critically Endangered*, Freshwater snail (Potamolithus valchetensis) Critically Endangered*b.Continued our work with Fundacin Mac Tobiano (formerly Aves Argentina) to protect the Critically Endangered Hooded Grebe Podiceps gallardoi 3.Global-a.Developed a network for academics, agencies and practitioners to compile records of all invasive freshwater animal eradications and create a 1.0 version of a publicly accessible database.b.Expanded our search for catalytic demonstration projects beyond North and South America to Africa and Asia.4.Organizational-a.Hired Dr. Graden Froese as our first full time CEO

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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 12
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 84.3%; rating input score 84

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -76.9%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.2% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -48% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -48.2% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 84.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $60K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.