North American Electric Reliability Corporation

Legal name: North American Electric Reliability Corp

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
204821888
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, United States
Phone
202-400-3000
Rating confidence
Limited
Sector
Chambers of Commerce & Business Leagues

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$112,373,473
Expenses
$114,410,950
Assets
$113,509,377
Liabilities
$84,724,097

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

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JAMES B ROBB (PRESIDENT AND CEO)
  • MANUEL J CANCEL (SVP & CEO OF THE E-ISAC)

Highest reported compensation

  • JAMES B ROBB (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $1,732,417 total reported compensation
  • MANUEL J CANCEL (SVP & CEO OF THE E-ISAC): $1,068,359 total reported compensation
  • JANET L SENA THRU 022924 (SVP, EXTERNAL AFFAIRS): $877,116 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Assure the effective and efficient reduction of risks to the reliability and security of the bulk power system. We offer a comprehensive and competitive total rewards package designed to support your well-being, both personally and professionally. This includes top-tier medical coverage, parental leave, generous paid time off, continuing education support, retirement plans, performance incentives, and competitive salaries. Our headquarters are in Washington, D.C., but we welcome applicants from across the continental United States. Envision your future with NERC. Be a part of something critical. View Open Positions.

What it reported doing in 2024

Situation awareness and infrastructure security: this activity includes monitoring the conditions of the bulk power system and providing leadership coordination, technical expertise, and assistance to the industry in responding to events as necessary. This activity also includes assisting in the development of tools and other support services for the benefit of reliability coordinators and other system operators to enhance reliability, operations, and planning. This also includes the coordination of electric industry activities to promote critical infrastructure protection of the bulk power system in north america by taking a leadership role so as to reduce vulnerability and improve mitigation and protection of the electricity sector's critical infrastructure.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
  • Transparency & Controls: 64
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: Limited
  • Program expense ratio: Limited
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • 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: 78.4%; rating input score 78; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: -1.8%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.99; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.75; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.2%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
  • Governance: 11 of 12 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments
  • Leadership: top reported pay $1.7M · 27 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $14.8M reported
  • Consistency: 14 of 15 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 28 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.
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.