Green Seal Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
133553974
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2028726400
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,698,081
Expenses
$3,734,342
Assets
$1,563,053
Liabilities
$744,763

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DOUGLAS GATLIN (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • DOUGLAS GATLIN (CEO): $274,194 total reported compensation
  • MICHAEL CHAUDRON (VP, CUSTOMER SUCCESS): $213,010 total reported compensation
  • JEFFREY KUZIEMKO (CFO/COO): $207,737 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To protect human health and the environment by accelerating the adoption of products that are safer and more sustainable.

What it reported doing in 2024

Green seal is a global nonprofit committed to making safety and sustainability everyone's business. The ecolabeling movement we pioneered decades ago has driven permanent shifts in the marketplace, empowering informed purchasing decisions and rewarding industry innovators. Green seal's hallmark is to lead with science to spur innovation for a more sustainable economy, exposing the false choice between environmental and economic health. From prompting a nationwide shift toward recycled-content paper, to catalyzing a movement toward low-voc products, the green seal certification mark is a trusted symbol that products meet truly comprehensive health and sustainability leadership standards. Green seal's flagship certification program and its other initatives are designed to (continued on schedule o)accelerate the market adoption of safer and more sustainable products. As part of this work, green seal leads multi-stakeholder initiatives to align consumer-packaged goods, retail, institutional, and industrial product communities around the core elements of safer and more sustainable everyday products to reduce marketplace confusion. In 2025, our standards encompass approximately 1,750 certified products and services across more than 30,000 product skus from the world's leading companies. With global recognition and trusted expertise, companies and consumers can look for, partner with, and lean on green seal to make healthier, safer choices with confidence.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 99% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.7%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 80.3%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.42; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.48; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 31.4%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.7% of revenue deployed · 80.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $274K · 14 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $396K reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 29/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.