Sovereign Energy
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 922224097
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2022
- Location
- Albuquerque, NM, USA
- Phone
- 5056996703
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Environmental Quality, Protection, and Beautification N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $949,057
- Expenses
- $450,510
- Assets
- $757,286
- Liabilities
- $40,492
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Mayane Barudin (Executive Director)
- Derrick Toledo (Board President)
Highest reported compensation
- Mayane Barudin (Executive Director): $149,542 total reported compensation
- Marissa Naranjo (Deputy Director): $103,311 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Sovereign Energy builds the individual and collective power of Southwest Pueblos and Tribes to lead the way toward a just, interdependent, and sustainable energy future.
What it reported doing in 2024
Tribal Capacity Building. Many Tribal Nations face considerable barriers to energy development, such as limited technical staff, complex regulatory environments, and inadequate access to funding. The Tribal Capacity Building Program addresses these challenges by providing Southwest Pueblos and Tribes with the legal, technical, and financial resources necessary to successfully manage, implement, and sustain energy projects. Sovereign Energy supports Tribes by offering strategic guidance, technical resources, and valuable connections to industry partners. Our goal is to equip Tribal Nations with the expertise and tools required to lead and sustain their own energy projects, building long-term capacity and resilience in the energy sector.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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 - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 53
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 67
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 33.9%; rating input score 34
- Program expense ratio: 71.4%; rating input score 71
- Fundraising efficiency: $442.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 52.5%; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.68; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 56.1%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 185.1% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 119.7% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 108.9% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 33.9% of revenue deployed · 71.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $322K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $150K · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 34/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 51/100.