Society of Petroleum Engineers

Legal name: Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
752001539
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Richardson, Texas, USA
Phone
+1.972.952.9393
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Professional Societies, Associations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$15,423,647
Expenses
$17,265,797
Assets
$52,117,978
Liabilities
$16,651,228

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TERRY PALISCH (2024 SPE PRESIDENT)
  • OLIVIER HOUZE (2025 SPE PRESIDENT)
  • JENNIFER MISKIMINS (2026 SPE PRESIDENT)
  • SIMON D SEATON (CEO AND EXECUTIVE VP)

People named in this filing

  • TERRY PALISCH (2024 SPE PRESIDENT)
  • OLIVIER HOUZE (2025 SPE PRESIDENT)
  • JENNIFER MISKIMINS (2026 SPE PRESIDENT)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

To connect professionals from all corners of the oil and gas sector, fostering collaboration, innovation, and growth.

What it reported doing in 2025

Member programs, including u.s. Sections and student chapters - spe member programs include benefits and activities for spe members. Spe delivers to its members various programs through sections and student chapters. Spe provides the funding for the distinguished lecturer program that allows sections to invite up to 2 distinguished lecturers to their meetings each year. The distinguished lecturer is a spe volunteer who is a technical expert in his/her given area of oil and gas. Spe covers all travel costs related to the travel for the distinguished lecturer to the section. Spe produces programs for its students and young professional members. Activities such as student paper contests, petro bowl, virtual career pathway and leadership alliance programs are just a few of the programs offered to young professional as well as student members.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 95% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.7%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 70.5%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -11.9%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.02; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.32; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -8% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -4% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1.7% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 8 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 79.7% of revenue deployed · 70.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $12.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 23 people listed
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 17 filing years from 2009 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.