Open Earth Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
853261449
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Playa Del Rey, CA, USA
Phone
3473985284
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Physical & Earth Sciences,

Reported finances

Revenue
$989,875
Expenses
$1,844,310
Assets
$2,634,213
Liabilities
$74,521

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARTIN WAINSTEIN (BOARD CHAIR/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARTIN WAINSTEIN (BOARD CHAIR/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $165,091 total reported compensation
  • SEAN YOUNG (DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS): $132,231 total reported compensation
  • MELISSA HAUSER (DIRECTOR OF PEOPLE & CULTURE): $102,309 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The open earth foundation is dedicated to creating and deploying open source digital systems and solutions to mitigate climate challenges and support a thriving planet.

What it reported doing in 2025

Citycatalyst is our flagship open-source platform for city-level climate action, with tools to develop ghg inventories, climate change risk assessments and action planning. This year, it was deployed across over 5,000 cities in latin america, improving data accuracy and accessibility, reducing costs and helping municipalities to identify priority reduction actions. It also launched initiatives to leverage ai for analyzing the city climate action plan across 112 cities in europe.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 70% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 86.2%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

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: 75%; rating input score 75; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -86.3%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.43; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21.7%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -55.4% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -20.6% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 86.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $165K · 7 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 33/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.