Home Empower

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
471791195
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Portland, OR, USA
Phone
5035057879
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Home Improvement and Repairs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$621,082
Expenses
$695,727
Assets
$281,433
Liabilities
$14,702

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Charles E Lewis (President and CEO)
  • Elizabeth Brumm (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Charles E Lewis (President and CEO): $232,258 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Home Empower's (dba Nonprofit Home Inspections) mission is to broaden access to and improve the quality of information readily available to homeowners by training home inspectors to deliver a higher level and variety of inspection services, making sure quality home inspection services are available to every home owner, regardless of their ability to pay, and disseminating free information. We believe everyone is entitled to a healthy, safe, environmentally sound, and energy efficient place to live.

What it reported doing in 2025

Safety and Maintenance Inspections: Professional evaluations of homes on a sliding scale for 695 families. Each client educated on significant structural and safety problems for the home, including environmental issues (such as exposure to asbestos, lead and radon), and critical maintenance needs. Continued free radon testing program by partnering with Oregon Health Authority to offer free radon testing for low and moderate income families in Oregon. Continued partnership with state licensed engineers to conduct foundation certifications for mobile/manufactured homes in Oregon and Washington. Renewed certification as an EPA Lead Safe Certified Firm. Continued compiling and distributing data for research related to environmental and safety hazards in the home. A market analysis of similar services provided by similarly rated multi-inspector firms in the region indicated that Home Empower (dba Nonprofit Home Inspections) provided home inspections for approximately 34% less than similar for profit companies. This significantly reduced pricing helped to ensure training opportunities for our educational programs while providing the public with significantly reduced pricing compared to similar for profit companies providing similar services. During the 2025 calendar year, Home Empower (dba Nonprofit Home Inspections) distributed approximately 695 home maintenance manuals to individuals in the community worth an estimated $20,850 based on comparable manuals in the marketplace. These manuals help to better educate the public about potential hazards in the home and how to properly address those issues. In 2025, Home Empower (dba Nonprofit Home Inspections) partnered with numerous other nonprofit agencies and educational programs by providing reduced rate home inspection services or home inspection training for their clients. A few partners included the Oregon Community Foundation, Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives, New Narratives Residential Mental Health Services, Habitat for Humanity, Proud Ground Community Land Trust, Community Services, Inc., Sikh Society of Oregon, and many others. As part of its educational efforts, Home Empower (dba Nonprofit Home Inspections) has created a library of free instructional materials that empower consumers to identify and correct significant hazards in the home including hazards posed by radioactive radon gas, electrical hazards, fire safety, etc. Home Empower's efforts to provide free educational materials concerning health and safety hazards is rapidly gaining traction and is providing free valuable resources for the community. For example, Home Empower's instructional page on electrical hazards like "Zinsco Electric Panel" a dangerous and recalled electrical panel, and is providing homeowners across the United States with actionable information to increase safety in their homes. This distribution of free information empowers community members to protect their own health by researching and addressing safety issues, helps reduce the burden of government, and fulfills a critical need in the community. Home Empower partnered with the Oregon Health Authority to distribute 200 DIY radon testing kits per year for low and moderate income families all over the State of Oregon. Free testing kits were sent to all Oregon or Washington residents who applied and self-verified that they were at 80% or below of the median family income. Because radioactive radon gas is the leading cause of lung cancer for non-smokers, this partnership with the Oregon Health Authority is reducing the burden of government while helping to directly improve public health outcomes.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 99% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 80
  • Sustainability: 17
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 93.4%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.01 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 79%; rating input score 79; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -12%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.4; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 33.4%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.6% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 93.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $650K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $232K · 6 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2017 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.