Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 264824510
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2012
- Location
- San Diego, CA, USA
- Phone
- 6199179553
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Youth Development Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $541,603
- Expenses
- $374,428
- Assets
- $388,388
- Liabilities
- $25
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- John Sandmeyer (Vice President)
- Ronan Gray (President)
People named in this filing
- John Sandmeyer (Vice President)
- Mary Ann Downing (Secretary)
- Ron Anderson (Treasurer)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The foundation is dedicated to the advancement of water safety through the many programs it supports including waterproofing San Diego, learn to swim programs for intercity youth and scholarships for disadvantaged family participation in the foundation's summer program services.
What it reported doing in 2025
Wateproofing san diego program - the lessons are funded by the prevent drowning foundation of san diego with the goal to teach every child in san diego how to swim.the program includes dozens of free one-hour aquatic education lectures and free swim lessons to numerous schools and organizations. The goal is to save lives, increase confidence and allow all children the opportunity to experience joy in a pool, bay or the ocean. Once complete, the foundation, utilizing trained lifeguards, take groups of new pool swimmers to the beach for a day. Many of the participants have never been to the beach before. The activities mirror those provided to youth in the junior lifeguard program and are designed to introduce youth to the ocean environment including recognition of rip currents and other beach safety education. The goal of this 4-hour/one day program is to increase their confidence in and around the water environment and to motivate them to be more proficient swimmers so they may enroll in the san diego junior lifeguard program.
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 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 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: 56
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 70
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 54.2%; rating input score 54
- Program expense ratio: 78.4%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 18th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: 30.9%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.04; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 54.2% of revenue deployed · 78.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $293K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 21 of 22 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2014 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 54/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 44/100.