Bank Climate Advocates

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
882047353
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
3104398702
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$210,693
Expenses
$169,887
Assets
$93,650
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Maricela Morales (Director, President)
  • Jason Weiner (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jason Weiner (Executive Director): $129,400 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Bank Climate Advocates (BCA) combats climate change and its adverse effects primarily by using legal advocacy and action to align public financial institutions' investment policies and practices with the 1.5 degrees C warming limitation objective. Our aim is to drive systemic change in financial institutions to help save the world and its inhabitants from global warming. BCA recognizes the importance of, and is committed to, fostering Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) within its staff, Board of Directors, members, and volunteers and in all our efforts as provided in BCA's JEDI policy. This also maximizes the effectiveness of BCA as a whole and benefits the diverse people and communities we strive to serve around the world, including those who are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

What it reported doing in 2025

BCA focused its efforts to align public financial institutions' (PFIs') investment policies and practices with the 1.5 degrees C warming limitation objective on the following Multilateral Development Banks: The World Bank Group (including IFC, IBRD and MIGA), Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and European Investment Bank. Closely coordinated and pursued with support from leading civil society organizations from the Global South and North, BCA's campaigns with these PFIs include: (1) BCA led written and oral legal advocacy to PFI management, member state shareholders, and accountability mechanisms; (2) legal research and analysis; (3) creation and use of evidentiary databases documenting a PFI's systematic failures to adhere to its climate policies and obligations under international law across all its investments; and (4) public outreach. BCA's efforts to improve and programmatically enforce PFI climate change policies that apply prior to financing decisions across a PFI's entire portfolio is needed to drive the systemic internal behavioral, cultural, and structural changes for a PFI to: cease financing fossil fuels; shift its financial flows to fair, just, and sustainable renewable energy infrastructure; fully account for and publicly disclose each investment's GHG emissions; and achieve as close to net zero GHG emissions as possible all investments. Without these significant reforms, PFIs will not be able to align their finance flows with the 1.5 degrees C objective and their human rights obligations.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 58
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67.4%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 83.6%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $75.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 19.4%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.55; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 76.2%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 30.9% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 34.5% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 78.3% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 67.4% of revenue deployed · 83.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $142K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $129K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.