Potential Energy Coalition

Legal name: Potential Energy Coalition Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
824652837
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2019
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
6313794679
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$42,610,622
Expenses
$24,413,870
Assets
$40,343,437
Liabilities
$2,081,380

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOHN F MARSHALL (Chief Executive Officer)
  • Eric Todd Asche (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOHN F MARSHALL (Chief Executive Officer): $718,702 total reported compensation
  • Eric Todd Asche (President): $512,020 total reported compensation
  • Sergio Velazquez-Rose (HEAD OF STRATEGY AND ANALYTICS): $336,295 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 accelerate the energy transition by driving public demand for solutions.

What it reported doing in 2025

CAMPAIGN: The Organization develops and implements research-driven, human-centered campaigns that shift public understanding of climate change and clean energy through communications. Its campaigns apply research, strategic messaging, and proven marketing approaches to increase public awareness and understanding of climate solutions.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 88% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 90% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 92
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 50.6%; rating input score 51
  • Program expense ratio: 85.5%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $74.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Pass
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 16th 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: 42.7%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.65; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 24.1% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 22.9% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 26.9% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 50.6% of revenue deployed · 85.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $20.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $719K · 13 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $8.5M reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 16 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 11 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 51/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.