Frontwave Credit Union
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 951820763
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Oceanside, CA, USA
- Phone
- 800.736.4500
- Rating confidence
- Limited
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $93,343,572
- Expenses
- $86,086,523
- Assets
- $1,408,445,733
- Liabilities
- $1,297,085,017
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- WILLIAM BIRNIE (PRESIDENT/CEO)
- NATHAN FRICHTEL (VICE PRESIDENT, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY)
- RICHARD CADENA (VICE PRESIDENT OF MEMBER EXPERIENCE)
Highest reported compensation
- WILLIAM BIRNIE (PRESIDENT/CEO): $411,283 total reported compensation
- TODD KERN (CHIEF EXPERIENCE OFFICER): $341,909 total reported compensation
- SARAI RODGERS (CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFI): $340,662 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
A cooperative credit union organized for the purpose of promoting thrift and savings among its members. This isn’t just empty talk. We have a long and proud track record of doing right by our members. We started back in 1952. Then, we were known as Camp Pendleton Federal Credit Union, and we served the financial needs of Marines, sailors, and civilian employees living in Southern California. Since then, we've changed our name a few times, most recently, to Frontwave Credit Union. But the name on our buildings isn't as important as the focus of our mission. For over 70 years, we’ve grown from serving military personnel to welcoming more than 132,000 members worldwide. Today, with 18 branch locations and international ATM access, anyone who lives or works in San Diego, Riverside, Imperial, or Sa.
What it reported doing in 2024
Frontwave credit union provides a wide range of member services including educating members on available products and services, fees involved, and opening and servicing deposit and loan products.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 86% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 63
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: Limited
- Program expense ratio: Limited
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 7.8%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 16.36; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.92; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 68.9% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
- Governance: 6 of 9 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments
- Leadership: top reported pay $411K · 22 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $1.1M reported
- Consistency: 10 of 10 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 32 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.