Winterfest Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
650059092
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
Phone
9547670686
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,118,558
Expenses
$2,036,902
Assets
$1,933,431
Liabilities
$132,156

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

46 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lisa B Scott-Founds (President/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Lisa B Scott-Founds (President/CEO): $206,863 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To provide quality, wholesome family entertainment while creating national attention for the Greater Fort Lauderdale destination. Most significant activity is the Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest

What it reported doing in 2025

Winterfests main program event is the Fort Lauderdale Boat Parade. The purpose is to promote the Greater Fort Lauderdale area. The Boat Parade provides a major holiday event with an estimated attendance of 1 million and local and national media coverage.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 79% 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. 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: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 60
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 91.4%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.9%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.95; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.2%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88% of revenue deployed · 91.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 48 of 48 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $207K · 46 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $119K reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 39/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.