Center Action Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
825150240
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
5206235252
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$63,632
Expenses
$74,521
Assets
$93,101
Liabilities
$7,272

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • KIERAN SUCKLING (BOARD PRESID): $389,811 total reported compensation
  • BRETT HARTL (SECRETARY): $159,904 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The organization's mission is to promote social welfare, including but not limited to 1) advocating for stronger environmental laws and policies to protect wildlife, the environment and human health, 2) educating the public about the importance of strong environmental laws and the threats they face, and 3) advocating for and against legislators and elected officials to further advance strong environmental protections. Center action fund primarily focuses on issues relating to protections for endangered species, public lands, clean air, clean water, and a safe climate.

What it reported doing in 2025

Social welfare: the center action fund tracked the trump administration's implementation of project 2025 and other critical rollbacks of environmental protections, and provided the public and decision-makers information about the consequences of such rollbacks on the environment. The center action fund continues to track and assess all legislative attacks by democratic and republican federal legislators related to (1) endangered species (2) public lands (3) the environmental protection agency (4) the departments of agriculture and interior and (5) climate change. We provide the public with information regarding these legislative efforts to weaken key envrionmental laws, policies, places, and species protections

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 91% 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 96
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 60
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 90.9%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $88.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 24th 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -17.1%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.25; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 110.1%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -8.9% per year; rating input score 0; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 90.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $70K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $390K · 3 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 2 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: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.