St Louis Soaring Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
431519581
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Hazelwood, MO, USA
Phone
3145502267
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$218,816
Expenses
$209,021
Assets
$3,735,643
Liabilities
$132,000

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • RICHARD LIVINGSTON (PRESIDENT)
  • PAT BRANNAN (VICE PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • RICHARD LIVINGSTON (PRESIDENT)
  • PAT BRANNAN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • JIM ST CLAIR (SECRETARY)

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

To instruct the art of motorless flight

What it reported doing in 2025

The SLSAs glider flight training program has approximately 20 students being instructed by qualified instructors. All new students are provided with a log book and a copy of the Soaring Handbook. There was a total number of 507 flights with an instructor for a total of 198 hours. Additionally there are many hours of ground instructions. Most of the students also undergo supervised training with the Condor flight simulator.

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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 56
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91.6%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 63.5%; rating input score 64
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75.6%; rating input score 76; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • 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: 4.5%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 17.87; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.6% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 91.6% of revenue deployed · 63.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 65 of 86 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $133K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 20 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 46/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.