Black Owners of Solar Services
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 871152840
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2021
- Location
- Oxford, NC, USA
- Phone
- 7712031122
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Education N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,584,878
- Expenses
- $2,168,429
- Assets
- $876,471
- Liabilities
- $131,119
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- AJULO OTHOW (PRESIDENT)
- SHERYL RIGGS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (FORMER))
- DRESDEN FARRAND (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- ANTHARA CARR (PROGRAM MANAGER): $138,177 total reported compensation
- DRESDEN FARRAND (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $48,917 total reported compensation
- SHERYL RIGGS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (FORMER)): $48,775 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The organization's mission is to provide sustained access to equitable opportunities in clean energy.
What it reported doing in 2024
2024 equitable clean energy advancement initiative: in 2024, our organization supported minority-owned businesses in the southeast region, empowering them to engage, expand, and build sustainable growth within the clean and renewable energy sector. Through this initiative, we promoted equitable access to resources, helping these businesses overcome barriers and contribute to the clean energy landscape. The program serviced 18 businesses in 2024.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 63% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 62
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 73
- Sustainability: 47
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 57.1%; rating input score 57
- Program expense ratio: 68.1%; rating input score 68
- Fundraising efficiency: $36.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 17th 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: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 16.1%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.4; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10.9%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 93.5% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 85% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 63.3% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 57.1% of revenue deployed · 68.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 12 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $103K reported
- Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 57/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 51/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.