Sustainable Jersey

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
453848336
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Ewing, NJ, USA
Phone
6097712938
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,046,693
Expenses
$2,566,668
Assets
$4,260,992
Liabilities
$1,494,687

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • RANDALL SOLOMON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • RANDALL SOLOMON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $150,999 total reported compensation
  • RENEE HAIDER (DEPUTY DIRECTOR): $129,001 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 jersey's mission is to empower New Jersey communities to build a better world for future generations with the tools, training, technical assistance, and financial incentives necessary to pursue critical sustainability initiatives.

What it reported doing in 2024

Municipal certification program: sustainable jersey, launched in 2009, is a free municipal certification program that identifies specific actions communities can take to be more sustainable, address the causes and impacts of climate change, save money, and sustain their quality of life over the long term. By the end of calendar year 2025, 468 New Jersey municipalities (representing 83% of the state) were registered to participate in the program and were working to implement sustainability measures with 191 certified. In addition to certification, municipalities can earn gold stars in key dimensions of sustainability such as energy, health and water. Since its inception, New Jersey municipalities have successfully completed 19,637 program actions and achieved 6 gold stars.in 2014, sustainable jersey launched the sustainable jersey for schools certification program in collaboration with leading New Jersey school-focused organizations including the New Jersey school boards association and the New Jersey education association. It is is a free, voluntary certification program for New Jersey pre-kindergarten through twelfth-grade public schools. By the end of calendar year 2025, 67% on New Jersey public school district were participating in the program, 367 schools were certified with 58 also earning digital schools star recognition. Collectively, schools have successfully documented over 10,614 program actions.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 94% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 73% for direct work, and 27% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 69
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 63
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73.5%; rating input score 74
  • Program expense ratio: 85.9%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 63%; rating input score 63; 17th 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: 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: 15.8%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.66; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.35; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0.1%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73.5% of revenue deployed · 85.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $151K · 19 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 31 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 32 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 46/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 55/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.