Geos Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
930880205
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Ashland, OR, USA
Phone
5414824459
Rating
91
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,770,990
Expenses
$2,685,009
Assets
$11,676,718
Liabilities
$11,613,061

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • TONYA GRAHAM (Executive Dir.): $119,918 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Geos institute builds innovative systems to help communities access the support services they need to address the climate crisis regardless of thier size, location, or wealth.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Geos Institute's primary focus is developing Climate Ready America - a nationwide system of climate services to help communities address the causes and impacts of climate change regardless of their location, size, or wealth. Working across all states, territories, and Tribal regions, this system will ensure that local governments can access the help they need to build climate resilience. The Institute's Climate Ready Communities program, an assisted do-it-yourself climate resilience planning program for small to mid-sized and under-resourced communities, sits within the Climate Ready America initiative. The Institute is a Core Team member of the Climate Smart Communities Initiative. In this role, it disburses grant funds to projects selected by the Initiative, communicates project successes, and provides climate resilience support to grantees.

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 liabilities are high compared with assets.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 90
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.8%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 92.5%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $71.3 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 84; 84th 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: 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.1%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.35; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.99; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.5%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.6% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.8% of revenue deployed · 92.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $120K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.