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Texas · Nonprofit

The Spirit Golf Association

The Spirit Golf Association (Texas) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $996,912 to it, the largest being THE WILL ERWIN HEADACHE RESEARCH FOUNDATION ($250,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$11M
Funders on record
15
Grants received
$997k
Net assets
$3.1M
9/15 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 4%
01What it does

What The Spirit Golf Association does

Mission

We promote amateur sports through our international amateur golf championship, provide facilities and support for other amateur golf events, and support amateur athletes for golf competitions, all as a qualified amateur sports organization under section 501(j)(2).

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The Spirit Golf Association ("SGA") promotes golf activities at Whispering Pines Golf Club near Houston, Texas, through its Membership Program. The sport of golf provides physical & health benefits. Association membership consists of individuals, corporations, and charitable partners who make annual charitable contributions to support the organization's philanthropic missions.

    $8,418,975 spentof which $16,000 as grants$5,391,726 earned by the program
    99% of program spending
  2. The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship is a biennial event showcasing the world's best amateur golfers from around the globe. The Texas Golf Association governs the competition.

    $112,217 spent$444,840 earned by the program
    1% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $8,531,192.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($5.2M) Expenses 100 ($5.1M) Net assets 100 ($1.0M)2018 Revenue 105 ($5.5M) Expenses 99 ($5.1M) Net assets 139 ($1.4M)2019 Revenue 144 ($7.5M) Expenses 143 ($7.3M) Net assets 150 ($1.6M)2020 Revenue 119 ($6.2M) Expenses 120 ($6.2M) Net assets 150 ($1.6M)2021 Revenue 141 ($7.3M) Expenses 168 ($8.7M) Net assets 23 ($244k)2022 Revenue 147 ($7.7M) Expenses 143 ($7.4M) Net assets 53 ($549k)2023 Revenue 182 ($9.4M) Expenses 150 ($7.7M) Net assets 219 ($2.3M)2024 Revenue 186 ($9.7M) Expenses 196 ($10M) Net assets 177 ($1.8M)2025 Revenue 203 ($11M) Expenses 181 ($9.3M) Net assets 299 ($3.1M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (203)Expenses (181)Net assets (299)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $3.4M to $15M (+330%).

$1.6M
$1.9M
$3.4M
$15M
$13M
$13M
$14M
$12M
$14M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

How it's funded, over time

Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

43% of The Spirit Golf Association’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (11% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 336 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$57k
’17
$404k
’18
$114k
’19
$2k
’20
−$1.3M
’21
$305k
’22
$1.7M
’23
−$428k
’24
$1.3M
’25
3.6
months of
reserve

Leadership and staff

The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.

Board chair

Corbin J Robertson Jr

Chairman

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed272023232524232319
Joined·+1+5+7+3+1+0+1+3
No longer listed·82712117
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $62k → $101k.

6 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

From the IRS filings of The Spirit Golf Association’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How concentrated its funding is

The Spirit Golf Association has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

71% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund The Spirit Golf Association.

25%
largest funder
52%
top three
~7
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 55% · 2019 44% · 2020 31% · 2021 80% · 2022 21% · 2023 20% — diversifying over time.

“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How long its funders stay

75% of The Spirit Golf Association's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.

Where its funders are

88% of The Spirit Golf Association's grant income comes from Texas funders.

UT
TX

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Texas out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $405k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

The Spirit Golf Association runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 184 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.

Operating margin12% · above the median
Months of reserve3.6mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)9% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 184 recreation & sports nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Organizations like The Spirit Golf Association

Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In Texas

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

92% of spending goes to programs.

Program 92%Management 7%Fundraising 1%

Governance

16
board members
75%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

98%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Spirit Golf Association: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.

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Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds The Spirit Golf Association?
The Spirit Golf Association (Texas) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $996,912 to it, the largest being THE WILL ERWIN HEADACHE RESEARCH FOUNDATION ($250,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does The Spirit Golf Association have?
IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $996,912 in grants to The Spirit Golf Association, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of The Spirit Golf Association?
THE WILL ERWIN HEADACHE RESEARCH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like The Spirit Golf Association find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 15 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing