Clean Energy Transition Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
830644369
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2065799644
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,302,122
Expenses
$1,269,768
Assets
$706,813
Liabilities
$25,876

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Eileen V Quigley (Executive Director)
  • Liz Thomas (President)
  • Robb Davis (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Eileen V Quigley (Executive Director): $180,486 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 Clean Energy Transition Institute (CETI) is an independent, nonpartisan research and analysis nonprofit whose mission is to accelerate an equitable clean energy transition in the Northwest.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, the Clean Energy Transition Institute accomplished the following: Oregon Energy Study: successfully completed energy pathways modeling; jobs and workforce analysis; and other complementary technical and economic analyses for the Oregon Department of Energy that aided in the development of the strategy. SCALE 2030: Produced SCALE 2030: Clean Buildings Ecosystem Assessment for Washington and SCALE 2030: Clean Buildings Transition Framework for Washington, which provides specific strategies and the basis for an analytically substantiated building decarbonization policy agenda. Community-Defined Decarbonization: Deepened our understanding of how to enable community-defined decarbonization strategies in rural areas through a contract with the Washington Department of Commerce to assess Community Benefits Agreements. Informed policies and programs to increase opportunities for rural Washington to benefit from renewable energy development with a grant from the University of Washington that funded The Sun Also Rises in Washington, an interactive data-driven web product that shows the health, emissions, and economic potential for developing community-scale solar in Washingtons rural and tribal communities. Decarbonization Forums: Produced Data Center Energy Use and Impact on the Clean Energy Transition forum, which provided key stakeholders with clear and actionable analysis and education about the explosive growth of data centers and their demand for power. WestTEC: Contributed to examining the challenge of expanding transmission and determining how to reliably and adequately supply the clean electricity needed to power the Northwest economy. NW Clean Energy Atlas: Produced multiple new interactive visualizations and updated several existing ones.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 61% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.8%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 78.7%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.8 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.5%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.56; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.2%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.1% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.9% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.7% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 76.8% of revenue deployed · 78.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $999K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $180K · 8 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $258K reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 43/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.