Friends of the Pool Inc.

Legal name: Friends of the Pool Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
300537276
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Islamorada, FL, US
Phone
3053938681
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$298,882
Expenses
$107,559
Assets
$688,860
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ROB DIXON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • LORI LALONDE (PRESIDENT)
  • JAMIE NIEDBALSKI (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ROB DIXON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $42,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Preserve, Educate and Illuminate

What it reported doing in 2025

During the year, the organization operated a comprehensive swimming program designed to support and enhance aquatic opportunities for residents and visitors of all ages. The program offered a variety of swim lessons, safety training, and recreational swimming sessions aimed at promoting water safety, physical fitness, and enjoyment of aquatic activities. Through structured instruction and supervised swim times, the program fostered skill development for beginners and advanced swimmers alike, ensuring accessibility and inclusion for diverse age groups and skill levels. This initiative directly aligns with the organization's mission by providing high-quality aquatic experiences that encourage community engagement and lifelong healthy habits in a safe and supportive environment.

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 89% 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 most voting board members are independent. 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: 48
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 78
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 28.6%; rating input score 29
  • Program expense ratio: 72.9%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $38.54 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st 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: 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: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 64%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.4; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 39%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -7.1% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.2% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.8% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 28.6% of revenue deployed · 72.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $78K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $42K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 29/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.