Efi Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
873398574
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2026880010
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Research Institutes and/or Public Policy Analysis

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,011,996
Expenses
$12,119,467
Assets
$5,193,792
Liabilities
$2,134,531

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ernest J Moniz (CEO and Director)
  • Alexander Kizer (Senior Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Alexander Kizer (Senior Vice President): $307,519 total reported compensation
  • Stephen Comello (SVP, Strategic Initiatives): $266,265 total reported compensation
  • David Ellis (SVP of Policy Strategy/Outreach): $244,305 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Educating the public on innovative evidence-based technology and policy solutions to complex energy challenges, combining rigorous analysis with a pragmatic approach to bridge the gap towards a low carbon energy future.

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, the three principal program service areas included clean energy finance, federal energy innovation program management, and clean hydrogen market formation. The Energy Futures Finance Forum (EF3) is a novel effort to identify policies and measures to expand the attractiveness of investment opportunities in clean energy to a broader cross-section of the investment community. The foundation issued several reports on this topic, including a framework report identifying potential additional sources of clean energy finance and a report on identifying opportunities to enhance investment opportunities in industrial carbon capture and storage. In 2024, the Foundation launched a new multi-year effort, the Nuclear Scaling Initiative, together with the Clean Air Task Force and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, to enable the expanded deployment of new nuclear energy generation. The foundation formed the Hydrogen Demand Initiative (H2DI), a consortium of six entities, to develop a novel program design to stimulate creation of new markets for clean hydrogen. The consortium conducted an extensive market assessment with outreach efforts to over 200 companies that expressed interest in hydrogen market formation. The project was a follow-on to previous work to identify the need for new policies and programs to enable the formation of regional markets for clean hydrogen in power generation, industrial, and commercial applications. Finally, the foundation continued work on a major study initiative on opportunities to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and agility of federally funded energy innovation programs and projects.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 79% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 83
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69.2%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 80%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $18.44 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • 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: 71.4%; rating input score 71; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13.5%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.43; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.41; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.1%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 75.6% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 73.7% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 37.2% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 69.2% of revenue deployed · 80% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 7 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $9.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $308K · 16 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $5.5M reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 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.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 55/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 36/100.