Sustainable Princeton Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 454743353
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2016
- Location
- Princeton, NJ, USA
- Phone
- 6094544757
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $481,426
- Expenses
- $591,541
- Assets
- $469,461
- Liabilities
- $8,379
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- EVE COULSON (PRESIDENT)
- BETSY MARSHALL (VICE PRESIDENT)
- CHRISTINE SYMINGTON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- CHRISTINE SYMINGTON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $102,639 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our mission is to inspire our community to develop and implement solutions that positively impact our environment. Our vision is for princeton to be a model town that examines every action through the lens of sustainability ensuring a healthy environment, a strong economy and the well-being of all community members now and in the future.
What it reported doing in 2024
Sustainable princeton has successfully developed a model for community-level sustainablility progress. Through partnership with the government, residents, area businesses, and local non-profits, sustainable princeton works at a grassroots level to create the system and cultural shifts required for a more climate-positive community. Our vision is for princeton to become a model town that examines every action through the lens of sustainability, ensuring a healthy environment, a strong economy, and the well-being of all community memebers now and in the future. We primarily serve the 30,000 residents of princeton, but make our online resources available free of charge to anyone with access to the internet.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 62% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 23
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 93.5%; rating input score 93
- Program expense ratio: 75.9%; rating input score 76
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.39 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 24; 24th 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: 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: -22.9%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.79; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 17.4%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 15.1% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 16.2% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 22.8% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 93.5% of revenue deployed · 75.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $449K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $103K · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 21 of 22 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 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 24/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 12/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.