Cleantech Open

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
263507343
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2017
Forms available
Form 990 2017
Location
Redwood City, CA, USA
Phone
8889896736
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Energy Resources Conservation and Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$443,907
Expenses
$754,022
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • IAN FORAKER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • KEVIN BRAITHWAITE (VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL PROGRAMS)

Highest reported compensation

  • KEVIN BRAITHWAITE (VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL PROGRAMS): $111,451 total reported compensation
  • IAN FORAKER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $29,139 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To find, fund and foster entrepreneurs with big ideas that address todays most urgent energy, environmental and economic challenges.

What it reported doing in 2017

Global program: in 2013, cleantech open began its international expansion in collaboration with the kaufmann foundation, which funded cleantech open's global ideas competition (a cleantech open lite program). Since then, the global ideas competition has expanded into over 30 counties. The success realized there paved the way for a partnership between cleantech open and both the united nations industrial development organization (unido) and the global environment facility (gef) aimed at deploying the full u.s. Program in 8 emerging economies: south africa, turkey, pakistan, india, malaysia, thailand, and morocco and armenia, in 2016. Today, cleantech open works with in-country teams to deploy its full cleantech acceleration program, and it is working to expand its partnership with unido and gef to reach to 20 emerging countries by 2020.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 68% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 93% 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 a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 81
  • Sustainability: 4
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 98.1%; rating input score 98
  • Program expense ratio: 57.7%; rating input score 58
  • Fundraising efficiency: $76.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: No; rating input score 0
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th 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: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: -69.9%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.6%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -47.9% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -17.1% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -8.5% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 98.1% of revenue deployed · 57.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 16 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $435K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $111K · 17 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and grants
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2011 to 2017
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 58/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Major donor itemization scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization is recorded as not currently operating in California.