Environmental Health Watch

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
341443935
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Cleveland, OH, USA
Phone
2169614646
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,034,955
Expenses
$4,116,746
Assets
$4,036,483
Liabilities
$1,862,136

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KENT WHITLEY (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • KIM FOREMAN (EXECUTIVE DI): $137,250 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Environmental health's mission is to create healthy homes and sustainable communities by identifying and removing hazards, engaging people, and advancing environmental solutions.

What it reported doing in 2024

Ehw has been focused on building capacity, expanding our executive leadership and focusing on board and organizational development. We have hired a development director who has secured over 300k in foundation grants and two program managers allowing the ceo to spend more time on development and reducing time on program implementation, while also developing and elevating our climate justice approach. We have been able to cultivate and strengthen existing relationships with funders and engage new funding partners- mcknight foundation. Due to the growth, we have worked with the lead safe cleveland coalition to support our office expansion, which includes some support from our general operating budget to cover increased rent/utilities. With multi-year support, most recently, the ceo and contractors have applied for a 20-million-dollar community change grant (pending) , with support of our local funders and mayors office of sustainability. In september of 2024, the ceo and healthy communities and climate program manager attended nyc climate week for the first time. - hired development director, healthy people and healthy communities program managers - submitted over 6 grant applications - engaged additional consultant to support grant writing, leveraged support from elevate to pay 20k - engaged 4 communities within region 5 through the epa regional thriving communities technical assistance center - invited to participate as advisors and partner with the city of cleveland bloomberg american sustainable cities- securing 80k general operating - secured 200k in funding from mcknight foundation- new relationship - expanded offices - formed a resident led steering committee in buckeye community to support an ecovillage buckeye initiative - secured 300k from buildhealth challenge to support central kinsman food justice work, plus 225k from sisters of charity foundation over 3 years - fresh fest had over 11,100 attendees - ehw is holds 2 administrator positions for the lead safe cleveland coalition; lead resource center administrator and newly added relocation support administrator - deployed over 300k in incentives for landlords through the lead safe resource center - secured 40k in healthy homes dollars from epa - secure 150k from joyce foundation for power and policy - selected to receive a 500k gift from gund foundation, kim foreman ceo is now a gund foundation board member

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 70% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 62% for direct work, and 38% for grants.

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 90
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.3%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 90.5%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $44.17 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 76; 76th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -2%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.98; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.46; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.3%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.7% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.6% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.3% of revenue deployed · 90.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $137K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.