Global Underwater Explorers Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
593489180
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
High Springs, FL, USA
Phone
3864540811
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Physical & Earth Sciences,

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$913,154
Expenses
$958,585
Assets
$545,520
Liabilities
$8,116

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DOROTA CZERNY (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • JARROD JABLONSKI (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • COREY JABLONSKI (EXEC DIR/TREAS/SEC): $54,558 total reported compensation
  • JARROD JABLONSKI (PRESIDENT): $34,500 total reported compensation
  • KIRILL EGOROV (DIRECTOR): $32,500 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Global underwater explorers is building global communities of passionate divers, empowered by high-quality training and organized to support wide-ranging diving activities. These communities contain and partner with dedicated explorers, conservationists and scientific researchers to conduct a diversity of aquatic initiatives around the world.

What it reported doing in 2024

See schedule oglobal underwater explorers, inc (gue) expanded diver training programs new e-learning module, and releasing new course materials, including new versions of both our cave manual and fundamentals book. A new decompression software program was finally released after more than five years in development. Efforts to translate the website and existing course materials also continued, as well as a focused effort in video content creation for both the youtube channel and gue.tv, in order to reach more people. A conservation pledge was released, committing to more ardent efforts to support the environment and reduce our footprint. To this end, digital certifications were made available, the quarterly journal was re-launched as an online publication rather than print, a donation was made to an organization for seagrass growth to offset the carbon from shipping products, and a global cleanup weekend was organized and promoted. In an effort to support and promote our world-wide communities, the fourth annual gue community day took place, as well the publication of a project report that highlights projects from gue divers around the world. Since our inception, we have issued more than 25,000 certifications across our curriculum. In 2024, we trained more than 2,850 people in our courses ranging from our beginning courses such as gue fundamentals to our advanced courses, like our rebreather class. Our membership averaged approximately 1,190 in 2024.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 55
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 64.2%; rating input score 64
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 70%; rating input score 70; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -5%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.57; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.7%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.1% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71% of revenue deployed · 64.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 10 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $616K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $55K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.