SustainEnergyFinance

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
923892976
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2024
Location
Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Phone
5102890143
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$821,852
Expenses
$472,245
Assets
$10,628,763
Liabilities
$10,195,177

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Shawna Cuan (Chief Executive Officer & Board Member)

Highest reported compensation

  • Shawna Cuan (Chief Executive Officer & Board Member): $74,848 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Transform our communities with accessible, equitable, and creative financial solutions that build a clean energy economy.

What it reported doing in 2025

During the year, SustainEnergyFinance (SEF) accomplished the following: 1) Served 398 Utah households. 2) Created or supported 1,446 jobs. 3) Achieved $52,000 in annual energy cost savings. 4) Avoided 644 metric tons of CO2e in annual greenhouse gas emissions.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Liabilities are high compared with assets and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 81
  • Sustainability: 73
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 88.2%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $625.33 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 42.5%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 22.51; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.96; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.8%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71% of revenue deployed · 88.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $416K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $75K · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.