Build It Green
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 200939449
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Oakland, CA, USA
- Phone
- 5105903360
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Professional Societies, Associations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $861,880
- Expenses
- $2,557,259
- Assets
- $4,687,241
- Liabilities
- $209,358
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KAREN KHO (BOARD PRESIDENT)
- JEREMY MADSEN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- JEREMY MADSEN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $201,139 total reported compensation
- KURT KNIEL (SR. MANAGER): $125,543 total reported compensation
- CERENA HARRISON (DIRECTOR OF PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION): $123,344 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Build it green connects and nutures changemakers to craft actions that transform California's communities into affordable, equitable and healthy spaces.
What it reported doing in 2024
Housing system innovators network: bringing folks from across the housing system together to build collaborative relationships, generate ideas to holistically address housing challenges in California and partner together to work on those challenges.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 84% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 93% 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 61
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 27
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 72.2%; rating input score 72
- Fundraising efficiency: $0.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 60%; rating input score 60; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: -196.7%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.83; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 17.8%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -8.8% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -8.5% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 72.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $201K · 11 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $402K reported
- Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 4 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 2/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.