Sustainable Finger Lakes Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
352311338
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2019
Location
Ithaca, NY, USA
Phone
6072721720
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Natural Resources Conservation and Protection

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$466,274
Expenses
$519,907
Assets
$181,352
Liabilities
$7

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GAY NICHOLSON (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • GAY NICHOLSON (PRESIDENT): $72,800 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Sustainable Finger Lakes has been a leader in laying the groundwork for the transition to a resilient local economy, healthy environment, and strong social fabric. We act as convener, connector, and catalyst to engage both the grassroots and policymakers in the work of redesigning how we work and live. See Sch O

What it reported doing in 2024

We continued our clean energy equity pilot program with grant funding from nyserda to persuade ithaca area landlords to convert from natural gas heating to heat pumps for lower income rental units. The program has faced delays caused by changes to nyserda website portals and backlogs with area installers. Over 30 projects were completed in 2024. We also utilized our tompkins county grant to subsidize heat pumps in lower income mobile homes across the county. This conversion is especially cost saving for those on propane or fuel oil.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 66% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 16
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 97.6%; rating input score 98
  • Program expense ratio: 87.5%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $323.05 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 13th 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: 0%; rating input score 0; 7th 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -11.5%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.35; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.3% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.8% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.6% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 97.6% of revenue deployed · 87.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 8 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $455K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $73K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.