Democracy Green

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
833652553
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Fuquay Varina, NC, USA
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,205,805
Expenses
$655,549
Assets
$823,687
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Sanja Whittington (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Sanja Whittington (Executive Director): $108,333 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Democracy Green advances environmental fairness conservation and community resilience by providing disaster-relief support clean water and air quality education environmental health programming and nature-based restoration efforts for systemically vulnerable communities across North Carolina.

What it reported doing in 2024

Democracy Green provided education and outreach on utility affordability and consumer protection helping residents understand rate cases energy burdens shutoff protections and how to participate in regulatory processes. The program supported low-income and systemically vulnerable communities in navigating the utility system and accessing essential protections.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 71
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 47.4%; rating input score 47
  • Program expense ratio: 87.2%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $34.05 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 14th 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: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 45.6%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.26; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.5%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 155% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 126.1% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 47.4% of revenue deployed · 87.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $571K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $108K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 43 of 44 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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: Mission deployment rate scored 47/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.