Special Olympics

What it reported doing in 2024

Sports training and competitionduring 2024, special olympics geared up to host the special olympics world winter games in turin, italy, which was held in q1 of 2025. The movement's sport partnership work offered unprecedented support and involvement from international sport federations at the world winter games. Many of the movement's sport federation partners assisted with the recruitment of technical officials, storytelling, and facilitating connections between national federations and local special olympics programs to support the training and preparation for the world winter games. Special olympics continued its efforts in developing sport partnerships, as well as a sport-specific approach to sport development. Global strategic development plans were created for the sports of football, swimming, and golf. Special olympics continued its work in sport partnerships, developing stronger relationships with many of its international sport federation partners, and creating additional opportunities for special olympics athletes to compete in mainstream sporting events. In 2024, the sport partnership survey showed over 1,260 partnerships at the national, regional, and international level, worth over usd $7.39 million in value-in-kind across the global special olympics movement.e-learning 10,494 coach certifications were completed on the online learning portal in 2024. Special olympics transitioned to a new online learning portal (docebo) in september 2024gallagher coach development initiatives - coaching system development grants - so africa: in 2024, special olympics africa's primary focus was capacity building within the four grant markets previously supported (special olympics kenya, special olympics nigeria, special olympics south africa, and special olympics ghana) - coach developer training: special olympics africa conducted a regional coach developer training with 19 coach developers attending from special olympics kenya, special olympics nigeria, and special olympics ghana. Coaches completed special olympics africa's comprehensive master coach (coach developer) training, which included the core principles of special olympics, coaching athletes with idd, and competition planning. All coach developers completed and passed special olympics africa's assessment, including 3 staff members with idd, who will now support further coach education within the region. - grants: kenya, nigeria, south africa, ghana, zambia - due to significant staffing changes, the special olympics africa grants were issued in early 2025 - special olympics asia pacific: - grants: due to delays in fund allocation and grant application processes, special olympics malaysia, nippon, pakistan, and thailand grants were finalized in q3 of 2024. Below is a summary of the grant metrics by the end of 2024, and alongside, the totals as of their final grant reports in q3 2025. Year 2 grant applications are underway for special olympics malaysia, pakistan, thailand, and with the introduction of indonesia. Since special olympics nippon has been successful in securing additional funding, they are now exiting this grant stream. - grant term for 4 x special olympics asia pacific programmes concluded in july 2025. - grant term for special olympics asia pacific programmes commenced in february 2025.2024 coach webinar series (cws) - presented by gallagher - 2 webinars and 4 sport specific workshops, eight languages, 6 athlete leader hosts from 6 regions - highest live attendance- teaching and learning in special olympics (571) - 6,098 registrations representing 1,863 unique coaches from 148 countries - 959 individuals from 123 countries attended, and those unable to attend received links to the recordings - 23% of attendees were coaches outside of special olympics - 84 social medial posts; 301,500 impressions women in sport webinar series (wis) - sponsored by aerie - 2 webinars 8 languages, 2 athlete leader hosts from 2 regions - the women in sport webinar series, presented

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 77.3%; rating input score 77
• Program expense ratio: 84.7%; rating input score 85
• Fundraising efficiency: $8.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Pass
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
  • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
  • Requires narrative reports: Fail
  • Conducts field audits: Fail
  • May suspend future funding: Fail
  • Requires financial reports: Pass
  • Conducts site visits: Fail
  • Requires grant agreements: Fail
  • May require repayment: Fail
• Grant itemization coverage: 99.8%; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 91.9%; rating input score 92; 41st percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • 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: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 9.6%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.97; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 1.9%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings