World Open Water Swimming Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 993203156
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- Rating
- 89
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Recreation& Sports N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $84,705
- Expenses
- $82,839
- Assets
- $2,314
- Liabilities
- $24,948
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Quinn Fitzgerald (Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Quinn Fitzgerald (Executive Director)
- Kathleen Wilson (Board Vice-Chair)
- Christine Coppola (Board Secretary)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To promote develop and support open water swimming worldwide through education safety certification athlete recognition membership services and event sanctioning.
What it reported doing in 2025
WOWSA provided open water swimming education safety certification athlete ratifications membership services and event support to swimmers coaches and organizations worldwide. Programs included online courses exam certifications event sanctioning conferences and a global membership directory.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 99
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 97.8%; rating input score 98
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.2%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.03; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 10.78; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 67.2% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 133.8% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 200% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 97.8% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $83K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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 — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 1/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.