Spark Northwest

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
912141987
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2063282441
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Energy Resources Conservation and Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,587,472
Expenses
$1,661,004
Assets
$1,521,881
Liabilities
$211,611

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Andrea Axel (Executive Dir.): $126,326 total reported compensation
  • Veena Prasad (Program Director): $114,085 total reported compensation
  • Line Nya Ngatchou (Finance & Ops.): $68,921 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Founded in 2001, Spark Northwest accelerates the just transition to clean energy in the Pacific Northwest. Spark Northwest uses two primary strategies: (1) on-the-ground project consulting, focusing on communities with limited financial resources and (2) systemic advocacy to create opportunities and overcome obstacles to equitable deployment of clean energy.Project Design and Management: Spark Northwest lends technical expertise to people and groups to pursue renewable energy and energy efficiency options to power their homes, workplaces, and neighborhoods. This technical support includes education, outreach, planning, project design, resource evaluation, economic modeling, permitting assistance and contractor selection. Projects are designed to prioritize community involvement and accountability. Systemic Advocacy: Spark Northwest advocates for strong policies to reduce the barriers to clean energy implementation and encourage development at the local level. Spark Northwest supports p

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, Spark Northwest partnered with nearly 50 Tribal, community-based organizations, rural and municipal entities to support their clean energy goals and projects. The grant-writing assistance provided by Spark Northwest resulted in close to $ 5.25 million being awarded. Almost 450 attendees learned about energy basics or clean energy topics like solar, battery storage, energy efficiency and heat pumps. Spark Northwests projects saved low-income families more than $6 million in clean energy installation costs. On the policy front, Spark Northwest met with more than 30 state legislators to lay the groundwork for energy policy improvements like the Safe and Cool Washington campaign and neighborhood scale weatherization programs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 69% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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 a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.6%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 66%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -4.6%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.92; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.6% of revenue deployed · 66% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $126K · 19 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.