Representative of German Business

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
825425807
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4152481240
Rating confidence
Limited
Sector
Chambers of Commerce & Business Leagues

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,365,806
Expenses
$3,219,294
Assets
$3,639,896
Liabilities
$3,159,184

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Sven Potthoff (President & CEO)
  • Mirko Wutzler (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Sven Potthoff (President & CEO): $774,409 total reported compensation
  • Mirko Wutzler (Vice President): $217,868 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 Representative of German Business mission is to support, promote and maximize trade and investment relationships between the Federal Republic of Germany and the U.S.A.

What it reported doing in 2025

With its innovation centers in Silicon Valley, Seattle, Los Angeles and Phoenix, the western United States is one of the most important business locations in the world. Especially Silicon Valley is the driving force behind digitalization. Future trends and potential risk can be identified here, and you can easily get in touch with important technologies and business partners. The Innovation Solutions Team of the Representative of German Business (RGB) is building a bridge to the western United States and Silicon Valley. With the help of an established network of industry, technology, and innovation experts, the RGB supports German companies to master challenges of digitalization. This equips German companies with a decisive competitive advantage.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 75% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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: 90
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 32
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

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

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.4%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.13; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.87; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 30.8%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 31% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.1% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments
  • Leadership: top reported pay $774K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 13 of 13 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2018 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 41/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.