Switch Energy Alliance

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
814309125
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2016
Location
Austin, TX, USA
Phone
5125532001
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Energy Resources Conservation and Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,791,239
Expenses
$3,116,073
Assets
$3,425,648
Liabilities
$47,451

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GARY HINES (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • GARY HINES (PRESIDENT): $233,761 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The switch energy alliance (sea) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to addressing the dual challenge of energy access for all with minimum impact to the environment. Sea promotes an objective, nonpartisan, and sensible energy-educated future through its films, website, university engagement, and online learning platform.

What it reported doing in 2025

Website, social media and marketing: sea's website (www.switchon.org) allows the public to access the most remarkable film-based energy content in the world. Switch materials have over 28 million trackable views on our website and youtube. Our social media efforts are present across facebook, instagram, linkedin, twitter, and youtube. In addition, sea chairman dr. Scott tinker gives presentations and keynote speeches to tens of thousands of audience members each year.switch on: sea's recent film switch on was one of the first to shine a light on the billions of people with little or no energy, and the benefits and challenges of powering the last third of the planet. Switch on can be streamed online for free on the sea website, on youtube, and on prime video. Switch on the series features seven 20-minute episodes that take us deeper into each location and are streaming on pbs.org. Content from switch on has been incorporated into classroom.switch academy: sea's online platform for professional education has come out of concept phase and is in early stages of development. It will be dynamic, engaging, spark critical thinking, and demonstrate a measurable increase in knowledge about the interplay between energy, the environment, and the economy. Although academy will be free to educators, we will charge a nominal fee for the platform to companies. This revenue will provide ongoing financial stability to sea as an organization.energy makes our world (museum film): sea produced a 5-minute, hollywood-quality film to highlight the importance of energy in our lives to museum visitors of all ages. An original musical score plays under remarkable global images to bring the viewer a dialog-free, immersive experience. This "timeless" film demonstrates the impact of energy on every facet of modern life. Emow is free to museums, and is designed especially for energy exhibit halls, imax, dome, and other large screen theaters. Emow has over 880,000 views and continues to expand nationally and internationally.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.8%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 71.4%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $42.49 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: -11.6%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.1; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.5%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 19.5% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.1% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.6% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.8% of revenue deployed · 71.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $234K · 7 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $1.2M reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.