California Association of Building Energy Consultants

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
943037731
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Carlsbad, CA, USA
Phone
7605370009
Rating
57
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$238,652
Expenses
$264,555
Assets
$74,299
Liabilities
$17,550

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

People named in this filing

  • NICK BROWN (Director)
  • ROSEMARY HOWLEY (Treasurer)
  • DAVE INTNER (Director)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

The purpose of CABEC is to further technical expertise and ethics through certification; to foster professional development through training, information, and peer exchange/networking; to represent and enhance the stature of its members to the California Energy Commission and other political entities; and to encourage energy efficiency and regulatory compliance throughout the energy consulting industry

What it reported doing in 2025

To fill the growing educational and training needs in the Energy EfficiencyConsultant community throughout the state of California, and to provide astructured and supervised program which will allow consultants to mentor and passon teir expertise to up-and-coming professionals who want to learn to performcompliance work related to California's Building Energy Efficiency standards.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 72% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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

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

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 0
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 65.8%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

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

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -10.9%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.28; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.7% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73% of revenue deployed · 65.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 9 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 1 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.