Novara Energy Alliance
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 814753150
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
- Location
- Spokane, WA, USA
- Phone
- 5099541996
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $699,140
- Expenses
- $662,175
- Assets
- $183,429
- Liabilities
- $42,007
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Mason Burley (~ CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Mason Burley (~ CEO): $138,413 total reported compensation
- Brian Kraft (~ Chief Research Officer): $18,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Novara Energy Alliance brings people, ideas, and investment together to solve the Inland Northwest's most pressing energy and related water challenges - turning innovation into real-world solutions that are resilient, affordable and built to scale. (Program accomplishments reported for the 2025 fiscal year were achieved under the Organization's former name, Urbanova, prior to its 2026 name change to Novara Energy Alliance.)
What it reported doing in 2025
Funded by the Washington State Department of Commerce, the Organization was awarded an Innovation Cluster Accelerator Program (ICAP) grant in mid-2025 to advance the development of a regional energy innovation cluster. Building on foundational research, the program supported the transition of cluster leadership toward a new nonprofit governance structure and facilitated the formation of Novara Energy Alliance. The program successfully hosted a two-day Energy Innovation Summit that convened utilities, tribal leaders, educators, and technology innovators to address regional energy reliability and resilience.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 64
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 77
- Sustainability: 29
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 70.3%; rating input score 70
- Program expense ratio: 74.3%; rating input score 74
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- 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; 64th 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: 5.3%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.28; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 23.6%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 15.9% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -17.3% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 70.3% of revenue deployed · 74.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $492K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 11 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $102K reported
- Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2018 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.