Sports for Exceptional Athletes

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
208886536
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Diego, CA, USA
Phone
8585657432
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Amateur Sports

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$354,331
Expenses
$351,601
Assets
$659,052
Liabilities
$106,020

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Walter Jackson (Executive Director)
  • Ron Choularton (President)
  • Martin Duarte (Vice President)
  • Skip Covell (Past President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Walter Jackson (Executive Director): $68,952 total reported compensation
  • Clara Downes (Associate Diector): $41,580 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To create enhanced opportunities for people with and without disabilities to interact and form lasting bonds of friendship through shared sports and recreational activities in their community.

What it reported doing in 2024

Sports for exceptional athletes provides sports and recreation programs for individuals with developmental disabilities ages 5 and up. We offer 20 sports on a year-round basis. Over 1,000 athletes were registered in our programs and we offered over 33,652 program hours for our athletes. Also 11,520 volunteer hours.

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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 78
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 77.7%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.93 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 25th 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: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.8%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.87; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 31.4%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.1% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81% of revenue deployed · 77.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 13 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $273K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $69K · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 13/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 41/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.