Western Golf Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 366002857
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Glenview, IL, United States
- Phone
- 8477244600
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $25,077,578
- Expenses
- $35,896,566
- Assets
- $6,962,029
- Liabilities
- $9,472,251
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
43 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JOHN M KACZKOWSKI (PRESIDENT & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- JOHN M KACZKOWSKI (PRESIDENT & CEO): $1,187,779 total reported compensation
- VINCE PELLEGRINO (SVP, TOURNAMENTS): $669,667 total reported compensation
- STEVE BRUEGGEMAN (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $460,131 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 Western Golf Association conducts championships for professional and amateur golfers, promotes the use of caddies and supports the Evans Scholars Foundation’s efforts to award full tuition and housing college scholarships to hardworking caddies with limited financial means. We’re a driving force in the game of golf, a respected charitable cause for tens of thousands of supporters and a distinguished leader in the nation’s golf community. Western Golf Association.
What it reported doing in 2025
The western golf association sponsors and administers the evans scholars foundation which promotes academic and golf excellence. Funds donated to evans scholars foundation are derived mainly from the bmw championship and other golf tournaments.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 100% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 78% for direct work, and 22% for grants.
The verdict
STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 74
- Accountability: 89
- Sustainability: 8
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 99.4%; rating input score 99
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 97.2%; rating input score 97; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -43.1%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.19; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.36; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 99.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 35 of 36 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $35.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $1.2M · 43 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $300K reported
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 3 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 1/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 50/100.