Inwater Research Group Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
651090322
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Jensen Beach, FL, USA
Phone
7723495905
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Science and Technology N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,750,460
Expenses
$2,243,104
Assets
$1,076,620
Liabilities
$74,835

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Blair Witherington (Vice President)
  • Dean Bagley (Vice President)
  • Dave Clark (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Michael Bresette (Executive Dir.): $113,254 total reported compensation
  • Carrie Keske (Treasurer): $18,196 total reported compensation
  • Blair Witherington (Vice President): $6,111 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Irg's mission is to provide the scientific community and the general public with information to promote conservation of coastal and marine species and their habitats.

What it reported doing in 2025

IRG made significant progress on sea turtle abundance estimation and deterrent testing projects. In 2025, we completed our second season of saturation tagging on Hutchinson Island, with 1,869 captures representing 901 individual nesting sea turtles. We also collaborated with FPL and another vendor to complete construction of a test tank that will be used to evaluate behavioral deterrents designed to keep sea turtles away from anthropogenic hazards. In addition, IRG deployed three ARIS sonar systems at the end of 2025 to monitor the timing and location of sea turtle entry into the canal system. We also developed transects for offshore abundance surveys, using both visual observations and side scan sonar, to estimate the abundance of sea turtles that could potentially become entrained.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 82% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.1%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 92.1%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $92.86 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings

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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 18.4%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.48; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.1%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.2% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.1% of revenue deployed · 92.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 8 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $113K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 50/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.