Shell Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 980368454
IRS 990 coverage: 2020–2024
Official website data refreshed: Sep 2026
Forms available: Form 990 2024
Location: London, London, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0)20 7934 8000
Rating: 65
Verdict: SUPPORTED
Rating confidence: Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $45,331,982
Expenses: $22,671,900
Assets: $697,105,639
Liabilities: $24,951,856

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

MR JONATHAN BERMAN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

MR JONATHAN BERMAN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $448,387 total reported compensation
MR RICHARD GOMES (CHIEF PROGRAMME OFFICER): $291,371 total reported compensation
MS RACHEL SINGH DAVIES (CFO AND COMPANY SECRETARY): $278,988 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Shell Foundation is a philanthropic foundation that enables millions of people in Africa and Asia to increase their incomes with clean energy solutions

What it reported doing in 2024

Microentrepreneurs: urban, peri-urban and rural micro-enterprise owners engaged in the smallscale provision of goods and services for whom reliable and appropriate power can contribute to longer opening hours, lower costs, with net income increase.

Operating model

Revenue model: Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model: Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 63% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 50
Transparency & Controls: 72
Accountability: 91
Sustainability: 86
Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 54.9%; rating input score 55
Program expense ratio: 59.5%; rating input score 59
Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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; 66th 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: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

Operating margin: 50%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 30.75; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 9.3%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: -14.8% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: -7.7% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Details

What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
Where the money goes: 54.9% of revenue deployed · 59.5% of spending went to programs
Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $13.5M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $448K · 19 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Consistency: 28 of 30 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 10 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.

Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 55/100.
Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 59/100.
High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.