Climate Justice Hive

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
992177830
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Boulder, CO, USA
Phone
3033967505
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Quality, Protection, and Beautification N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$433,081
Expenses
$490,604
Assets
$175,661
Liabilities
$85,000

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lisa Donahue (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Micha Kurz (Treasurer): $84,400 total reported compensation
  • Mark Steele (Secretary): $7,600 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 connect, support, and uplift the various climate justice efforts, inspiring systems change in a metropolitan area.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Climate Justice Hive provides fiscal sponsorship services through the Bee's Nest program, enabling grassroots climate justice initiatives to access funding, manage finances, and scale their impact without needing their own nonprofit status. In the past year, the program supported 4 fiscally sponsored projects, facilitating investments to community-led initiatives. Services include financial administration, compliance management, and capacity-building support. This program ensures that grassroots leaders can focus on their mission while benefiting from a stable financial and legal infrastructure.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 78
  • Sustainability: 16
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 92.1%; rating input score 92
  • 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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -13.3%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.36; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.48; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.8%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 57.1% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -28.1% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 92.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $452K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $84K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.