Energy Wise Alliance

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
463503751
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2020
Forms available
Form 990 2020
Location
New Orleans, LA, USA
Phone
5048626665
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$553,259
Expenses
$610,065
Assets
$149,066
Liabilities
$74,521

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • F CHRISTOPHER WOOTTEN (VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCE)
  • JAMIE WINE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • SYDNEY DOYLE (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JAMIE WINE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $67,286 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Energy Wise Alliance builds community power through energy education.

What it reported doing in 2020

Adult Outreach: We speak one-on-one with approximately 1,800 individuals about their specific home energy use. We were at over 70 community events and locations per year (e.g. senior centers, festivals, community groups), we teach about home retrofit and behavioral tactics to reduce residential energy bills, and provide follow up services to help local families implement energy efficiency solutions in their homes. We had high hopes... but the pandemic happened.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 91
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 15
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 99.2%; rating input score 99
  • Program expense ratio: 89.9%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.65 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st 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: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -10.3%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.24; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.5; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 25.3% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 21.8% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 28.6% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 99.2% of revenue deployed · 89.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $549K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $67K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 22 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2014 to 2020
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.