CalCef Innovations

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
261339988
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2015
Location
Berkeley, CA, USA
Phone
4159570167
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Energy Resources Conservation and Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,317,609
Expenses
$12,155,202
Assets
$27,678,109
Liabilities
$5,550,545

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Danny Kennedy (Executive Director END: 7/2024)
  • Henri Van Eeghen (CEO START: 8/2024)

Highest reported compensation

  • Rebecca Lee (Managing Director of CA): $224,303 total reported compensation
  • Christina Borsum (CFO): $221,375 total reported compensation
  • Grace Nitafan (Controller): $191,803 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Optimizing the clean energy transition - 100%+ clean energy economy for the 100%.

What it reported doing in 2024

Calcef innovations conducted many educational events to bring together stakeholders of the clean energy system to accelerate the clean energy transition. This included significant youth -focused as well as workforce focused initivates in imperial county, ecosystem building to reduce financial barriers to ev adoption in the global south, as well as participation in national initiatives centered around lithium supply chains for storage technologies

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 73% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 66
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70.5%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 76.6%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.7%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.28; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0.9%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 24.4% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 22.7% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 26.3% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70.5% of revenue deployed · 76.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $9.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $224K · 13 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.4M reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 6 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 52/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 58/100.