Aprovecho Research Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
204402181
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Cottage Grove, OR, USA
Phone
5417670287
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
International Relief

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$704,181
Expenses
$674,562
Assets
$611,454
Liabilities
$52,794

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ERIC RESNER (PRESIDENT)
  • NORDICA MACCARTY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DEAN STILL (RESEARCH DIRECTOR): $45,395 total reported compensation
  • NORDICA MACCARTY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $25,232 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To research, develop and disseminate technological solutions for meeting the basic human needs of low income and impoverished people and communities in third world countries in order to help relieve their suffering, improve health, enhance their safety, and reduce their adverse impacts on their environment. Aprovecho research center is especially dedicated to creating effective and widely usable technology solutions to problems such as cooking and heating with biomass. Aprovecho research center also provides technical assistance to related appropriate technology projects worldwide.

What it reported doing in 2024

Emissions monitoring equipment: aprovecho research center designs, develops, prototypes, tests, modifies, and supplies custom emission monitoring equipment for use in lesser-developed and developing countries. Universities, ngos and others use this equipment to measure for multiple pollutants. This testing allows stove designers to modify local stoves to burn less fuel, improve cooking time, and produce less pollutants. Aprovecho continues to help the global alliance for clean cookstoves and others achieve higher cook stove standards.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 57
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.3%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 82.8%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 50%; rating input score 50; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.2%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.91; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.5%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.2% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79.3% of revenue deployed · 82.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 4 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $559K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $45K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 50/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 48/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.