Project Athena Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
871497738
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Cottonwood, AZ, USA
Phone
6193224846
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Services N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$222,600
Expenses
$208,193
Assets
$93,641
Liabilities
$15,993

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Robyn Benincasa (Director/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Meagen Lane (Secretary): $10,000 total reported compensation
  • Jeri-Ellen Miuccio (Secretary): $4,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Project Athena Foundation empowers survivors of medical or traumatic challenges to achieve new athletic goals and realize their adventurous dreams by providing funding, coaching, equipment, and community support through team-based endurance adventures.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, Project Athena Foundation continued to advance its exempt purpose by empowering survivors of medical and traumatic challenges to rebuild confidence, strength, and purpose through team-based endurance adventures. The organization supported participants as they moved from Survivor to Athlete by providing adventure-based experiences, coaching, travel assistance, equipment support, and a strong community of encouragement.During the year, Project Athena Foundation sponsored and supported multi-day endurance events and related adventure experiences designed to help participants overcome physical and emotional setbacks, regain independence, and experience the power of teamwork, perseverance, and personal achievement.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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 voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 50
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 74.8%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $148.4 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 50%; rating input score 50; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.5%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.45; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.7%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.2% per year; rating input score 0; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.2% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70% of revenue deployed · 74.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $156K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $10K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 50/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.