Partner with ATF
Aquatic Therapy Foundation offers grant partners a direct, high-leverage investment in workforce capacity, disability access, and aquatic safety education — with full financial transparency and a lean, low-overhead operating model.
Aquatic Therapy Foundation holds Candid’s 2026 Platinum Seal of Transparency, a distinction earned by fewer than 1% of U.S. nonprofits and reserved for organizations that share detailed, up‑to‑date information on their mission, programs, leadership, and results.
A Solvable Problem at National Scale
More than 17 million Americans live with a physical disability that limits daily activity. For millions of them — people with autism, stroke, spinal cord injury, developmental disabilities, and complex medical conditions — aquatic rehabilitation offers therapeutic outcomes that land-based care cannot replicate: reduced pain, improved mobility, neurological recovery, and sustained community participation.
The barrier to access is not desire. It is workforce. Most communities lack the trained professionals, organizational infrastructure, and educational systems needed to deliver safe, effective aquatic programming. The market does not fix this gap on its own — continuing education serves professionals who are already looking. It does not reach the communities that need it most.
Aquatic Therapy Foundation was built to close that gap. Not by delivering clinical care — but by building the infrastructure behind it.
The Highest-Leverage Grant You Can Make Right Now
ATF is in its founding year. General operating support grants — unrestricted funds that cover leadership, infrastructure, and early program development — are the single most impactful investment a funder can make at this stage. They allow ATF to:
- Launch and deliver its first workforce training programs
- Develop educational frameworks and curriculum infrastructure
- Build the institutional partnerships that multiply impact over time
- Sustain the experienced leadership that makes all of it possible
Founding Year General Operating Support
ATF operates on a lean model by design. There are no buildings, no clinic overhead, and no large administrative staff. Grant dollars go directly to mission-critical work — the education, training, and systems-building that reach professionals and, through them, patients.
Grant Range: $5,000 – $25,000
Ideal for: Community foundations, family foundations, individual major donors.Make a Gift — one-time or recurring, any amount. Fully tax-deductible. Takes 60 seconds.
Fund a Specific Initiative
For funders with specific programmatic interests, ATF offers three active 2026–27 initiatives ready for targeted investment:
I. Pediatric Water Competence & Autism Initiative
Strengthening therapists and aquatic professionals to support children with autism through sensory-informed aquatic readiness, participation, and foundational water-competence practices. Addresses a documented workforce gap in pediatric adaptive aquatics nationwide.
Grant range: $10,000 – $50,000
Ideal for: Autism funders, pediatric health funders, disability access funders
II. Cognition, Communication & Participation Initiative
Developing interdisciplinary educational resources that help providers use aquatic environments to support cognition, communication, sensory regulation, and participation across clinical and community settings. Benefits pediatric, neurological, and aging populations.
Grant range: $10,000 – $50,000
Ideal for: Brain health funders, aging funders, neurological rehabilitation funders
III. Train-the-Trainer Workforce Initiative
Building scalable workforce pathways through coursework, skills labs, mentorship, and implementation support so local organizations can expand aquatic access and sustain quality programs. Priority placement for rural, tribal, and underserved communities.
Grant range: $15,000 – $75,000
Ideal for: Workforce development funders, rural health funders, community capacity funders
Why ATF — Not a CE Platform, Not a Clinic
ATF occupies a position in the aquatic rehabilitation ecosystem that no other organization holds: a public-benefit nonprofit focused exclusively on the educational infrastructure and workforce capacity that make safe, inclusive aquatic programming possible at scale.
- Not a continuing education company — ATF builds the systems behind CE, not transactions within it
- Not a clinic — ATF’s impact multiplies through every professional it trains and every organization it equips
- Not a start-up without a track record — ATF’s founder brings 30 years of field-building, 500+ publications, and a national professional network
- Not overhead-heavy — lean by design, with governance and conflict-of-interest policies built for long-term funder confidence
Who Leads This Work?
ATF is led by Andrea Salzman, MS, PT, a licensed physical therapist with more than 30 years of experience in aquatic rehabilitation, clinical education, and workforce development. She has trained tens of thousands of rehabilitation professionals worldwide, authored five textbooks and 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.
ATF is governed by a five-member independent Board of Directors and advised by nationally recognized leaders in aquatic rehabilitation science, water safety research, and clinical education — including Bruce Becker, MD, one of the most published aquatic rehabilitation researchers in the world.
Full Transparency
- Legal name: Aquatic Therapy Foundation, Inc.
- EIN: 41-3326981
- Tax status: 501(c)(3) public charity, recognized by the IRS
- State of incorporation: Tennessee
- Founded: 2026
- Operating model: Lean — no clinic, no building overhead, founder-led
- Candid/GuideStar profile: http://www.guidestar.org/profile/41-3326981
- Governing documents: Available upon request
- Form 990: Filed annually; available upon request
Ready to Talk?
We welcome conversations with foundations, government agencies, corporate partners, and individual major donors who share our commitment to workforce equity and aquatic access. There is no grant too small to discuss. Founding-year general operating support of any amount directly advances ATF’s mission and helps build the infrastructure for everything that follows.
Contact:
Andrea Salzman, MS, PT — CEO & Founder
Email: info@aquatictherapyfoundation.org
Phone: 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.