The Spirit Golf Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 311654247
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- The Woodlands, TX, USA
- Phone
- 2812982610
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Amateur Sports Competitions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $10,544,471
- Expenses
- $9,276,303
- Assets
- $14,329,910
- Liabilities
- $11,218,535
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Bettiann Barnard (Membership Director): $213,866 total reported compensation
- Jason Manley (Chief Financial Officer): $141,911 total reported compensation
- Cale Reneau (Marketing Director): $113,257 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We promote amateur sports through our international amateur golf championship, provide facilities and support for other amateur golf events, and support amateur athletes for golf competitions, all as a qualified amateur sports organization under section 501(j)(2).
What it reported doing in 2025
The Spirit Golf Association ("SGA") promotes golf activities at Whispering Pines Golf Club near Houston, Texas, through its Membership Program. The sport of golf provides physical & health benefits. Association membership consists of individuals, corporations, and charitable partners who make annual charitable contributions to support the organization's philanthropic missions.
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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 75
- Sustainability: 50
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 81.2%; rating input score 81
- Program expense ratio: 92%; rating input score 92
- Fundraising efficiency: $55.64 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Limited
- 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: 12%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.54; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.78; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.1%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 20.4% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 81.2% of revenue deployed · 92% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 16 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $8.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $214K · 19 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $919K reported
- Consistency: 30 of 31 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 57/100.