Sustainable Innovation Initiatives Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
454894825
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Miami, FL, USA
Phone
5033478826
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$305,013
Expenses
$231,070
Assets
$156,630
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Nigel Noriega (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Nigel Noriega (Executive Director): $7,200 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Our mission is to enable ecologically regenerative and sustainable societies in tropical forest regions. We are dedicated to fostering these societies, particularly in the Caribbean and wider Americas, where biodiversity is most critically threatened. By leveraging our regional expertise, we focus on research, capacity building, legal reform, technology development, and collaboration with local communities, governments, NGOs, and other stakeholders. We strive to inspire informed, integrative, and innovative approaches to addressing urgent ecological issues and empowering others to join us in this vital mission. Through our concerted efforts, we aim to create resilient ecosystems and communities that thrive in harmony with nature, ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come.

What it reported doing in 2025

Development of the Caribbean Wildlife Enforcement Network (CAR_WEN) Working Group https://www.car-wen.org/ . This includes Development of the Biodiversity Manager Platform. This is a low-cost, modular database system capable of supporting wildlife-crime monitoring networks across countries and enforcement networks. CAR-WEN endorsement at The Thirteenth Conference of Parties to the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) of the Wider Caribbean Region

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 98% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 59
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 57
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71.6%; rating input score 72
  • Program expense ratio: 94.5%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2,509.45 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • 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: 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 24.2%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.68; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.1%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 41.4% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71.6% of revenue deployed · 94.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $218K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $7K · 5 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 16 of 17 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.