Northwest Energy Efficiency Council

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911678969
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2065884985
Rating
65
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,565,661
Expenses
$2,337,243
Assets
$3,315,739
Liabilities
$8,799

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kerry Meade (Executive Director)
  • Perry England (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kerry Meade (Executive Director): $208,682 total reported compensation
  • Melanie Danuser (Chief Program Officer): $163,735 total reported compensation
  • Rebecca Sheppard (Senior Project Manager): $110,658 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To eliminate carbon emissions from building energy use through market based thought leadership, education, and advocacy.

What it reported doing in 2025

Training and credentialing program efforts for operations staff of commercial buildings to make them more efficient. Over 10,000 building operators are trained and certified. Smart Buildings Center is a program to create a learning center, provide digital resources and events, and provide tool lending library for commercial building operators to learn about energy efficient smart building technologies. Education and awareness building of energy efficiency business opportunities through member newsletters, website, forums, webinars and conferences.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 89% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 60
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 77
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 64.3%; rating input score 64
  • Program expense ratio: 73%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • 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: Limited
  • 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: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.9%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.42; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 29.9%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -7.6% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -5.8% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 64.3% of revenue deployed · 73% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $209K · 12 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.