Sustainable Economies Law Center

Overview

Mission

We provide legal services, research, education, and advocacy to assist communities in building their own sustainable sources of food, water, housing, energy, jobs, and other aspects of thriving communities.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Sustainable Economies Law Center engages in a wide range of activities to support the development of more sustainable economies. Here are some of the activities we conducted in 2023: - Continued to offer Legal Cafes/Cafecitos Legales online, thereby reaching 475+ coops, mutual aid groups, nonprofits, land trusts, and other social enterprises - Taught and wrote about legal structures for housing justice, land stewardship, land transfers, and land return through our Radical Real Estate Law School - Developed materials and taught workshops on: workplace democracy in nonprofits, democratizing land/housing/food/energy, the Black cooperative movement, democratizing money and finance, and cooperative legal resources generally - Provided legal, policy, financial, and operational support for emerging land stewardship organizations and immigrant-owned co-ops.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 48% for direct work, and 52% for grants.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
462210531
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2014
Headquarters
Oakland, CA, USA
Phone
5103986219
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adult, Continuing Education

Official website

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filed totals do not add up and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 81
  • Sustainability: 63
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67.1%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 80.5%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $25.17 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.2%; rating input score 99; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 18.2%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.91; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.4%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.6% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 67.1% of revenue deployed · 80.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 6 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $144K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 31 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 5 annual filings from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 19 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 9 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Tia Taruc-Myers (Dir. of Legal Educ): $144,121 total reported compensation
  • Javier Roman-Nieves (Co-Dir. - Minnow): $130,694 total reported compensation
  • Jay Cumberland (Staff Attorney): $127,949 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.