Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
203682821
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Baltimore, MD, USA
Phone
4437433307
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Community Improvement, Capacity Building N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,504,334
Expenses
$7,813,992
Assets
$10,962,690
Liabilities
$1,030,901

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

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Amber Chavis (Executive Vice President and Director of Finance)
  • Adam Lindquist (Vice President of Healthy Harbor Initiative)

Highest reported compensation

  • Amber Chavis (Executive Vice President and Director of Finance): $317,814 total reported compensation
  • Adam Lindquist (Vice President of Healthy Harbor Initiative): $257,742 total reported compensation
  • Marco Greenberg (Director): $256,500 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing and promoting the waterfront district, parks, and public spaces. We create welcoming programs, events, and recreational experiences while working toward a healthy harbor. We are committed to fostering connections among diverse communities to ensure equitable access to our blue and green spaces.

What it reported doing in 2024

Community Events. We use social media and traditional media to reach and activate our waterfront public spaces and tell the story of who calls the Waterfront and Baltimore home. From the iconic Inner Harbor Amphitheater to the discovery of the new Point Park and Rash Field, we celebrate homegrown talent and community-driven organizations and provide the marketing expertise and infrastructure they can plug into. Our Baltimore-by-Baltimore and Makers Market series saw over 60,000 attendees and engaged over 200 small businesses and artists. In addition to large citywide events, smaller-scale, more consistent programming, like Waterfront Wellness (which draws over 1,000 participants), offers something for everyone to enjoy at the Waterfront.

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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65.4%; rating input score 65
  • Program expense ratio: 94.6%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: $214.28 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 32.1%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.4; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.6%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.6% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65.4% of revenue deployed · 94.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 7 filed program accomplishments · $7.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $318K · 27 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.7M reported
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 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.
  • 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 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.