The Cypress Group

Legal name: The Cypress Club Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
570951170
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Hilton Head Island, SC, US
Phone
(843) 689-7000
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$25,926,090
Expenses
$27,573,206
Assets
$36,815,019
Liabilities
$2,780,253

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Barbara Sepich (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (Partial Year))
  • Michael Fink (Executive Director (Partial Year))

Highest reported compensation

  • Daniel Hart (Dir. of Finance): $118,107 total reported compensation
  • Brigdee Mabelle (Dir. Of Nursing): $114,125 total reported compensation
  • GALEN MILLER (DIR. OF TECHNOLOGY): $111,795 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Delivering On What Retirement Should Be

What it reported doing in 2024

Life care services has been engaged as a management company and is responsible for implementing policies and procedures established by the club, supervising day to day management of the club, and providing/recommending operational projections and goals for the club. As a part of the management agreement, life care services hires and compensates the executive director of the club, sandy griffin-bukoskey and the administrator, monique mcrae. The club reimburses life care services for all such payroll expenses in addition to contracted management fees. Additional information regarding the compensation of the executive director is found on part vii of this 990 as well as schedule j.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 100% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.2%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 78.2%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: 80%; rating input score 80; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 86
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Limited
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -6.4%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.34; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.1%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 83.2% of revenue deployed · 78.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $21.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $118K · 12 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $12.5M reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.