The Florida Aquarium
Legal name: The Florida Aquarium Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 592807815
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Tampa, Florida, US
- Phone
- (813) 273-4000
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Zoo, Zoological Society
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $37,200,637
- Expenses
- $38,522,988
- Assets
- $60,819,534
- Liabilities
- $6,917,743
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
40 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ROGER GERMANN (PRESIDENT/CEO)
- TONI WOFFORD (VICE PRESIDENT OF PHILANTHROPY)
Highest reported compensation
- ROGER GERMANN (PRESIDENT/CEO): $523,732 total reported compensation
- ANDY WOOD (COO (UNTIL APRIL 2025)): $289,691 total reported compensation
- KIMBERLY CASEY (CFO): $267,744 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 entertain, educate, and inspire action to protect the blue planet.
What it reported doing in 2024
Education and community programs - the Florida aquarium's learning center provides technology-rich spaces for innovative learning opportunities, including camps, field trips, and on-site programs for learners of all ages. Our outreach programs bring hands-on environmental science learning experiences into a variety of community spaces. We impact even more students through our professional development workshops for teachers and virtual class programming. In 2024, almost 70,000 participated in the aquarium's learning programs. Over the course of the Florida aquarium's history, over 2 million people have benefited from its science education programs. Aqua camps, educational day camps offered during school holidays and summer break each year, consistently sell out due to community demand and serve over 1,000 students each year. The Florida aquarium's educators also travel up to 75 miles to provide in-person outreach programs in community spaces. (continued on schedule o)
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 88% 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 - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 80
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 87%; rating input score 87
- Program expense ratio: 78.6%; rating input score 79
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.29 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: -3.6%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.58; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 87% of revenue deployed · 78.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 31 of 31 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $30.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $524K · 40 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.2M reported
- Consistency: 43 of 44 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 9 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 13/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 53/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.