The Gridwise Alliance Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 260723041
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2014
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2025309740
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,173,695
- Expenses
- $1,163,352
- Assets
- $575,201
- Liabilities
- $544,812
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
23 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KAREN WAYLAND (CEO)
- Gil Quiniones (Past President)
Highest reported compensation
- KAREN WAYLAND (CEO): $210,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The gridwise alliance leads a diverse membership of electricity industry stakeholders focused on accelerating innovation that delivers a more secure, reliable, resilient, and affordable grid to support decarbonization of the us economy. Our core message is that a modern grid is the critical infrastructurecomponent of a decarbonized advanced economy.
What it reported doing in 2024
Grid ecosystem community: gridwise alliance convenes members and electricity industry stakeholders to discuss key grid modernization policies and technologies, through workshops, webinars, meetings, task forces, and other programs. It fosters a common understanding of the transformational technological and policy strategies for grid modernization required to meet decarbonization goals.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 66% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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: 66
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 28
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86.4%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 87.2%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 0.9%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.49; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.95; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 18.1%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14.9% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 86.4% of revenue deployed · 87.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 23 of 23 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $210K · 23 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $509K reported
- Consistency: 21 of 23 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 39/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 6/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.