Access does not equal participation.
The lift gets you in the pool. Aquatic Therapy Foundation (ATF) takes it from there. ATF builds the systems that make safe, effective, inclusive aquatic participation possible.
Your gift helps Aquatic Therapy Foundation develop educational frameworks, practical tools, research translation resources, and partnerships that strengthen the professionals and organizations serving people with disabilities, functional limitations, and other impairments.
We build reusable infrastructure that helps communities create, sustain, and improve aquatic participation opportunities over time.
The Problem We’re Solving
Aquatic participation can change lives, but access depends on more than having a pool. Communities need prepared professionals, practical educational tools, safe implementation models, and organizations that know how to sustain programs.
In many places, especially rural and under-resourced communities, aquatic knowledge is fragmented. Programs often depend on one skilled person, one short-term class, or one organization with limited capacity.
ATF exists to strengthen the system behind the service.
What Your Gift Supports
Your gift helps ATF build the educational and organizational infrastructure that makes future access possible.
Donations support:
- Development of practical educational frameworks
- Creation of reusable templates, toolkits, and implementation guides
- Translation of aquatic research into usable resources
- Workforce readiness and train-the-trainer systems
- Organizational partnerships and community capacity-building
- Evaluation tools that help programs improve and sustain their work
Your gift does not pay for individual tuition or direct clinical care. It supports shared resources and systems that can serve many professionals, organizations, and communities over time.
Your Gift at Work
| Gift | What It Helps Fund |
|---|---|
| $50 | Foundational education access for one clinician |
| $500 | Scholarship support for one community-based provider in a rural or underserved setting |
| $1,000 | Train-the-trainer cohort support — one clinician who returns home and trains others |
| $5,000+ | A full program component during ATF’s founding year |
Three Ways to Give
Make a Gift — one-time or recurring, any amount. Fully tax-deductible. Takes 60 seconds.
Sponsor a Student — $50 helps provide one clinician with access to foundational aquatic therapy education. Give in honor of a colleague, a patient, or someone who changed your understanding of what water can do.
Corporate & Organizational Sponsorship — mission-aligned support structured in accordance with IRS qualified sponsorship guidelines, with recognition on ATF educational materials and platforms. We welcome conversations with healthcare organizations, aquatic industry partners, and mission-aligned companies.
Questions? Contact Andrea Salzman directly at info@aquatictherapyfoundation.org or 651-587-4811.
Who Your Gift Reaches
ATF does not provide direct clinical care. It equips the professionals and organizations that do — with priority emphasis on communities where that infrastructure barely exists:
- Children with autism, developmental disabilities, and sensory processing challenges
- Adults with spinal cord injury, stroke, and neurological complexity
- Older adults at risk of falls, loss of independence, and social isolation
- Individuals in behavioral health, trauma recovery, and peer-support programs
- Military families, veterans, and communities with elevated aquatic risk
- Clinicians in rural Appalachia, tribal nations, and Medicaid-dependent organizations who have never had access to specialized aquatic training
When you give to ATF, you are not funding a service. You are funding a system — one that reaches populations the market has no financial incentive to reach on its own.
Founded by Someone Who Has Spent 30 Years in the Water
ATF is led by Andrea Salzman, MS, PT — a licensed physical therapist, educator, and author who has trained tens of thousands of rehabilitation professionals across her career. She has written five textbooks, developed more than 500 hours of continuing education content, and received the American Physical Therapy Association’s Judy Cirullo Leadership Award — the highest honor in aquatic physical therapy.
She built ATF because she knows exactly where the gaps are, and exactly what it takes to close them.
Transparency You Can Verify
We hold the Candid Gold Seal of Transparency — a recognition earned by fewer than one in four nonprofits registered on Candid — because funders and donors deserve to know exactly where their money goes.
- Legal name: Aquatic Therapy Foundation, Inc.
- EIN: 41-3326981
- Tax status: 501(c)(3) public charity
- State of incorporation: Tennessee
- Operating model: Lean — no clinic, no facilities overhead, systems-focused by design
- Candid/GuideStar profile: guidestar.org/profile/41-3326981
- Governing documents and financial records: available upon request
Give Today
Questions? Contact Andrea Salzman directly at info@aquatictherapyfoundation.org or 651-587-4811.
Aquatic Therapy Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. EIN: 41-3326981. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
