Groundswell

Legal name: Groundswell Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
270201126
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, US
Phone
(202) 505-3051
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Energy Resources Conservation and Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,552,781
Expenses
$6,257,011
Assets
$6,061,141
Liabilities
$165,743

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • LORI MICHELLE MOORE (CHIEF EXECUT): $332,835 total reported compensation
  • DAVID ABRAMS (CHIEF OPERAT): $267,596 total reported compensation
  • KRISTAL VIRGIL (VP FINANCE I): $175,037 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Building community power.

What it reported doing in 2024

Energy and development programs groundswell works in the rapidly emerging fields of community solar and energy equity to provide access to affordable clean energy to households that are currently excluded from participating in solar savings because of low credit scores and other financial barriers. We work with municipalities, congregations, local utilities, and other partners to develop, build, and manage solar projects that align the value of solar with community values. We collaborate with local partners to deliver related job training, energy efficiency, and other aligned community benefits to maximize the impact of our work.groundswell has developed a replicable, scalable model for sharing power with equitable community solar that works across multiple states. We partner with local nonprofits to expand our work into emerging state community solar markets. We are currently working with multiple local partners in the district of columbia, Georgia, Maryland, and New York state and are expanding our program in Hawaii and Illinois. Groundswell is building equitable community solar projects in the district of columbia and in Maryland that will provide more than 1.5 million in electricity cost relief to low income households in the region. We are collaborating with Washington dc and the city of baltimore to implement municipal programs that deliver electricity cost reductions through solar power. We are further working with the city of baltimore to deploy solar and energy storage solutions to support local community resilience. We are also working with local nonprofit partners and municipal utilities in Georgia to deliver solar projects and related low-income energy efficiency programs that will deliver electricity cost relief and other community economic development benefits to low-income communities.in pursuit of our mission, groundswell also provides service directly to lowincome households. We enroll, deliver customer support, and provide ongoing benchmarking and reporting on savings and other metrics to community solar subscribers.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 87% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 32
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 59
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 31.7%; rating input score 32
  • Program expense ratio: 43.3%; rating input score 43
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 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: 26.8%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.97; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.1%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 16.5% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.1% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 11 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 31.7% of revenue deployed · 43.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $333K · 14 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $744K reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 32/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 43/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.