Whitefish Lake Institute
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 030556055
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Whitefish, MT, USA
- Phone
- 4068624327
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Pollution Abatement and Control Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $448,624
- Expenses
- $442,817
- Assets
- $2,171,575
- Liabilities
- $3,595
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ANDY FEURY (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- BRIAN AVERILL (BOARD MEMBER)
- JOHN COLLINS (SECRETARY/TR)
- ANDY FEURY (PRESIDENT)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The whitefish lake institute (wli) is a science and education based 501(c) (3) non-profit corporation led by a volunteer board of directors and assisted by a volunteer science advisory committee. Wli is not an advocacy organization-we work through three key program areas, scientific research, education, and aquatic resource initiatives. Within these three focus areas, we establish programs appropriate to achieving the goals of our mission. Wli is funded by a broad base of members, research and education grants, special events, and through programmatic partnerships with other organizations and resource agencies. Together, we're investing in our clean water legacy.
What it reported doing in 2024
See schedule o
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 95
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 6
- Sustainability: 58
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 94.1%; rating input score 94
- Program expense ratio: 94.9%; rating input score 95
- Fundraising efficiency: $1,059.86 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: Limited
- Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 1.3%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.9; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 94.1% of revenue deployed · 94.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 1 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $420K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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: 5 of 6 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 42/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Independent members within voting members did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.