University of Michigan Flyers Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 382055116
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Phone
- 7349946208
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,459,775
- Expenses
- $1,340,247
- Assets
- $1,542,748
- Liabilities
- $230,101
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JAMES POWER (PRESIDENT)
- AUSTIN CIRULLI (VICE-PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- BRUCE WILLIAMS (GENERAL MANAGER): $13,886 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We promote a passion for aviation through ownership, lease and maintenance of a small fleet of aircraft, and with that fleet, we provide pilot training, flight instruction and flying time to our members.
What it reported doing in 2024
In 2024, the Michigan flyers operated ten cessna aircraft for a combined total of about 10,000 hours of flight time. The club is several hundred members strong, generally with at least 200 unique members flying each month. A handful of our members are also certificated flight instructors (cfis), who help our membership achieve new licenses and ratings, frombasic private pilot through more advanced ratings like instrument, commercial, and cfi. Our club flight instructors are members just like all others who also happen to act as independent contractors. The club maintained an excellent safety record, with zero incidents in 2024. Despite ever-increasing costs, the club continued to emphasize its ethos of safety first, affordability second, and made aviation accessible to those who may not otherwise have sufficient means. An extensive corps of volunteers helps the club maintain this affordability. Volunteer activities included provisioning hangars, cleaning the office, and resupplying aircraft. We also met for many social events, including cookouts, member meetingswith topical presentations by internal and external speakers on subjects like meteorology and aviation safety, and club fly-outs to destinations near and far: niagara falls, chicago, mackinac island, toronto, and the yearly pilgrimage to eaa airventure in oshkosh, wi. Aircraft were maintained both internally by part-time staff, as well as several local maintenance operators.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 99% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 55
- Sustainability: 52
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 87.3%; rating input score 87
- Program expense ratio: 95.9%; rating input score 96
- 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: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 8.2%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.15; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 87.3% of revenue deployed · 95.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $14K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- 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: 6 of 7 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 36/100.