SILVER2020

FLOW - FOR LOVE OF WATER

aka FLOW   |   Traverse City, MI   |  http://www.forloveofwater.org

Mission

FLOW is a Great Lakes water law and policy 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the common waters of the Great Lakes Basin through public trust solutions. The public trust – an ancient and durable legal doctrine – exists in all Great Lakes jurisdictions and provides its 40 million citizens a legal right to use these common waters for drinking, fishing, swimming, recreation, navigation and the like. It also holds state governments accountable for ensuring these waters and public uses are protected for current and future generations. The public trust demands that we all are responsible for protecting water as a common shared resource. The Great Lakes belong to all of us and they are ours to defend.

Ruling year info

2013

Executive Director

Mrs. Liz Kirkwood

Founder

Jim Olson

Main address

440 W Front St Suite 100

Traverse City, MI 49684 USA

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EIN

45-4370935

NTEE code info

Water Resource, Wetlands Conservation and Management (C32)

Research Institutes and/or Public Policy Analysis (C05)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

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Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Public Trust Education

At the heart of our mission, FLOW is dedicated to educating and empowering citizens and leaders to know and use their rights under the public trust doctrine -- with the government as trustee of our shared resources and citizens as beneficiaries -- to solve systemic threats facing our Great Lakes today.

FLOW’s team of legal and policy experts actively works to advance and apply the public trust to key Great Lakes issues through research, policy development, articles, reports, and direct engagement.

We work with, and strive to educate and influence, state regulators, regional decision makers, local governments, and citizen activists in Michigan and across all of the Great Lakes states and provinces, raising key legal issues about the human right to water and the public trust duty to protect it.

Population(s) Served
Adults

Climate change is the most daunting collective challenge that humanity has ever faced. Global leaders gathering at the 2016 World Economic Forum rated climate change’s impacts -- food and water crises, failure of climate-change adaptation, and extreme weather events -- as the greatest risks facing society and industry in the next 10 years.

Population(s) Served
Adults

FLOW is prioritizing Great Lakes Protection in key discussions about our shared future, continuing to demand that the state of Michigan uphold its duty as public trustee of our Great Lakes and prioritize public responsibility over private interests. We are leaders in the Oil and Water Don't Mix coalition, and are pressuring the state legislature to decommission the Line 5 pipelines.

Population(s) Served
Adults

FLOW stands with 7 out of 10 Michiganders in opposing private aquaculture in the Great Lakes. Challenging proposed net-pen and antiquated flow-through aquaculture operations, we seek to uphold the public trust doctrine and prevent degradation of our navigable public trust waters.

Population(s) Served
Adults

Where we work

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Our goals are to:

1. Build deep public awareness and to educate decision makers in government, academia, business, and communities about current and future issues, threats and abuses to the waters of the Great Lakes, Public Trust Principles, and how these principles can be implemented to provide a framework for governance over these waters to protect them now and for future generations.

2. Advocate for the respect of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin, the implementation of public trust principles in our governance of the Great Lakes, the protection of the Lakes themselves, the rich biodiversity they support, and the rights that belong to the people living in the Great Lakes Basin.

Financials

FLOW - FOR LOVE OF WATER
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

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FLOW - FOR LOVE OF WATER

Board of directors
as of 03/24/2022
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Mr. Mike Dettmer

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes