GridLab Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
824198360
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Berkeley, CA, USA
Phone
4153053235
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Energy Resources Conservation and Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,692,842
Expenses
$11,746,324
Assets
$3,143,617
Liabilities
$524,200

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Curtis Seymour (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Ric O'Connell (Executive Dir.): $338,237 total reported compensation
  • Priya Sreedharan (Sr. Program Dir.): $232,774 total reported compensation
  • Nikhil Kumar (Program Director): $228,231 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

GridLabs mission is to provide expert capacity and thought leadership to address technical challenges and reliability questions in the implementation of clean energy policies.

What it reported doing in 2025

GridLab provides targeted technical support on energy issues to local and regional advocates, and provides education to regulators and other policymakers.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 72% for direct work, and 28% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 96
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 78
  • Sustainability: 20
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 97.3%; rating input score 97
  • Program expense ratio: 96.8%; rating input score 97
  • Fundraising efficiency: $147.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.5%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.27; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.5%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 34% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 30.9% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 21.8% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 97.3% of revenue deployed · 96.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $11.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $338K · 10 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.5M reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2018 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 56/100.