Pacific Marine Research

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911271685
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2020
Forms available
Form 990 2020, Form 990-EZ 2017
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2063611919
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Marine Science and Oceanography

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$43,195
Expenses
$95,284
Assets
$127,449
Liabilities
$19,647

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Patrick Maxwell (President/Executive Director)
  • Shelly Hall (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Patrick Maxwell (President/Executive Director): $27,500 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The organization's mission is to promote respect and appreciation for Puget Sound by teaching principles of environmental stewardship and inspire observation of and involvement with Puget Sound. Through its Marine Science Afloat program, it is dedicated to furthering people's understanding of and connection to Puget Sound and its watershed.

What it reported doing in 2020

Education excursion cruises on Puget Sound for elementary school students to explore and study marine life

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 81
  • Accountability: 59
  • Sustainability: 20
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 42.1%; rating input score 42
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 11th 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: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 24th 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: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -120.6%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.34; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 28.9%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -38.7% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3% per year; rating input score 0; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.2% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 93% of revenue deployed · 42.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $40K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $28K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 20 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2018 to 2020
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 42/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 25/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.