Se Si Le

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
853254085
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2022
Location
Bellingham, WA, USA
Phone
3609614554
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$321,748
Expenses
$407,742
Assets
$3,114,761
Liabilities
$3,000,000

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kurt Russo (Executive Director)
  • Jay Julius (President)
  • JoDe Goudy (Vice-President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kurt Russo (Executive Director): $99,240 total reported compensation
  • April Finkbonner (Member): $910 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Se-Si-Le (Saw-See-Lah) is the Lummi language term for our grandmother. Respect for elders is central to native life: to acknowledge grandmother earth is to invoke ancestral and cultural power. Founded by Lummi tribal member Jay Julius, Se-Si-Le reintroduces indigenous spiritual law into the mainstream conversation about climate change and the environment.

What it reported doing in 2024

During the 2024 Tax Year Se'Si'Le designed, organized, coordinated, and implemented an event to bring attention to the plight of the Southern Resident Killer Whales, an important species for Pacific Northwest Tribal Cultures. It also helped document and finalize the editing of the documentation of the event, and distributed the edited version through our networks. Se'Si'Le continued working with the Publisher Braided River to complete the editing process of our book: In the Spirit of Right and Respectful Relations. This book was released in August, 2025.We continued working on a Climate Action partnership with M.I.T. and its Department of Anthropology. The accomplishment included a three-year blueprint for action to inaugurate the first series of exchanges over the subsequent three-years with the first to take place in the summer of 2025.We worked with XR specialists to capture and archive material to be used in our Cultural Enrichment programs. Working with the contractors, we have now in place material we can deploy in our XR programs.We also received title to 2.14 acres of land on Orcas Island with an interest-free loan from an Orcas Island resident. We are working with the Orcas Island community to design and implement Cultural Enrichment programs on the property.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 72% for direct work, and 28% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 78.9%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.51 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -26.7%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.64; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.96; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24.6%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 29.8% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 19.4% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 106.1% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 78.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $322K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $99K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2021 to 2024
  • 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 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.