Center for Transportation & the Environment

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
582052891
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Atlanta, GA, USA
Phone
6782444150
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Science and Technology N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,957,271
Expenses
$14,145,144
Assets
$9,992,547
Liabilities
$5,950,854

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • DANIEL RAUDEBAUGH (Executive Dir.): $407,372 total reported compensation
  • STEPHEN CLERMONT (DIRECTOR OF PLANNING AND DEPLOYMENT): $278,664 total reported compensation
  • JAIMIE LEVIN (DIRECTOR OF WEST COAST OPERATIONS): $253,856 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To improve the health of our climate and communities by bringing people together to develop and commercialize clean, efficient, and sustainable transportation technologies.

What it reported doing in 2025

Develop, demonstrate and deploy clean, sustainable transportation technologies in support of fleets in the medium- and heavy-duty markets.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 81% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 60
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65.6%; rating input score 66
  • Program expense ratio: 69.4%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Limited
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5.4%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.71; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.6; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.8%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -9.1% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -7.1% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65.6% of revenue deployed · 69.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $9.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $407K · 19 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $420K reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 12 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.
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.