Sea Turtle Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
742042030
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
South Padre Island, TX, USA
Phone
9567614511
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,685,886
Expenses
$3,418,616
Assets
$20,844,972
Liabilities
$3,760,056

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • WENDY KNIGHT (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • WENDY KNIGHT (CEO): $115,216 total reported compensation
  • MARIBEL FRAIRE (FINANCE DIRECTOR): $75,376 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Sea turtle inc. Rescues, rehabilitates, and releases injured sea turtles, educates the public, and assists with conservation efforts for all marine turtle species.

What it reported doing in 2025

Our rehabilitation efforts included turtle rescues, rehabilitation, releasing turtles back to the gulf of mexico, and educational programs for school children and general public visiting our facilities. Our rehabilitation center provided care to sick and injured turtles, and sea turtles that live in our facility permanently. We retrieved doa turtles and successfully released turtles into the ocean. The rehabilitation program includes providing sea turtles with medical treatment, medication, scans, surgeries, and any other treatment or rehabilitation needed to treat the injured or sick turtles.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 76% for direct work, 8% for grants, and 16% for affiliated organizations.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 58
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 72
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.3%; rating input score 61
  • Program expense ratio: 71.8%; rating input score 72
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Pass
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 27%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.1; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.6%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.1% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 61.3% of revenue deployed · 71.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $115K · 18 people listed
  • Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and grants
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 37/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 53/100.