The Fire Watch Project Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 853790585
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2021, Form 990-N 2021
- Location
- Jacksonville, FL, USA
- Phone
- 9048349420
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Mental Health, Crisis Intervention N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $846,795
- Expenses
- $823,310
- Assets
- $178,954
- Liabilities
- $21,308
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- NICHOLAS HOWLAND (EXECUTIVE DI): $122,189 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of the fire watch project, inc. Is to end veteran suicide in Florida and across the united states by partnering with local and state governments, corporations, and other non-profit organizations to develop "ground up" community-led programs in their respective geographic areas. The cornerstone program is the watch stander program, which trains members of the community to recognize the signs of veterans in crisis and to direct them to the care and resources they need. The fire watch also collects veteran suicide data to track its effectiveness and inform the future growth of watch stander program. That data is available at www.thefirewatch.org.
What it reported doing in 2025
Our primary veteran suicide prevention innovation is the watch stander program. It was launched in may 2020 and is an upstream, on-line and in- person, early intervention network of community volunteers trained to identify risk factors of veterans in crisis and to direct those veterans to the resources they require, including the 988, 211, and 844-myflvet. Modeled after cpr, our watch stander program is the first of its kind in the country. It is free and takes just 45 minutes. As of december 31, 2025, we have trained 10,653 watch standers, who, together, will refer more than 12,700 veteran to life-saving services over the next 12 months. Our goal is to have a watch stander network of 30,000 strong by the end of 2030.
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
STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 87
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 28
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 97.2%; rating input score 97
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.8%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.22; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.8%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 18.9% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.6% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 97.2% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $823K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $122K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 39/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 32/100.