Many TCB readers will probably look at the below information and say, "Why are they doing this?" The answer is simple: Because nobody else is doing it. No one is holding the USTA's section feet to the fire. We showed it to a tennis parent and he said, "You empower the powerless." That is exactly what we're are doing after one league player happened to look at his section's 990 filings and wrote to me, "They're looting our USTA section."

I don't want to go that far, though. No one is looting here, of course, because each section's Board of Directors is watching out for the good of their organization. Or are they?

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One section's Board member told me they never get to know the conditions when a new ED is hired because those decisions are made by the 'good old boys" or Executive Board. In case you forgot, that's this never-changing group of 3 or 4 distinguished servants of the greater good, mostly men, who make sure they all get their regular awards, Hall of Fame induction, and President's Box tickets to the US Open.

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So, we decided to be the first (and probably only) member of the tennis media that looks a little closer at section finances with special emphasis on Executive salaries and the overall health.

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Most of the 990 filings we inspected are from 2019 (except, unfortunately, from Midwest) and we understand that 2020 will look a whole lot different because of COVID. However, as soon as all 2020 forms 990 have come in, we'll update that list and see how each section had come through the pandemic. Did they cut Executive salaries? Did they trim down or reach into the reserves? It'll be interesting to compare all this.

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Profit or Loss? We understand that nonprofits are not required to make a profit. So we decided to not put too much emphasis on losses but still point them out here.

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Definitions

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We are not financial experts. However, we think we know how to read a 990 filing and trust those filings were done correctly by each section accountant. Each section's filings, except the ones for the Caribbean section, can be seen when clicking on the link IRS 990 FORM. We guess, since Puerto Rico is not (yet) a US state, they don't fall under IRS rule.

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In case you are concerned, we are not at all sharing private or illegal information. Form 990 filings are public information nonprofits have to file and allow access to. Some sections have that on their website, others don't. Every state has different interpretations of the so-called Sunshine Laws, but they all state that nonprofits have to publicize the 990 filings.

Here's what the numbers mean:

Revenue/Expenses/Profit/Loss: Self-explanatory We looked at overall expenses without breaking them down.

Reserves: The combination of cash on hand, publicly traded securities, and other investments.

CEO/ED Income: Only salaries over $100K plus "other compensation" like bonuses were listed (Executive Income). Pension plan accruals and contributions, incl. 401 (k) are NOT included.

We believe that a section CEO or ED should not be making less than $125 or, depending on the overall financial situation, should be capped at 3% of expenses.

IPE: The ratio of Income as Part of the Expenses. Should not be more than 3% in our opinion. After all, we think since these organizations are all non-profit, money should be spent on growing tennis and not on growing a person's wealth.
COMP: We wanted to know the sum of all compensation incl. all salaries, "other" benefits, pension plans, and payroll taxes and also show that figure as a percentage of a section's expenses.

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Star Rating

• A top section that has an IPE of 3% or less, COMP below 40%, and reserves that carry their operation for at least 6 months, gets a 5-Star rating.

• When COMP is below 30% of expenses we add 1 Star.

• When the section COMP s over 50% of expenses we deduct 1 Star, over 65% we deduct 2 Stars.

• When a CEO's salary is over 3.5% of expenses, we deduct 1 Star.

• When all Executive salaries are over 10% of expenses, we deduct 1 Star, over 15% we deduct 2 Stars.

• When the reserves fall well below the minimum needed for a 6-month survival, we deduct 1 Star. When they get close to zero we deduct 2 Stars.

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Results