The Years Project Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
831071156
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2018, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Melville, NY, USA
Phone
9172795627
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Natural Resources Conservation and Protection

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,653,798
Expenses
$2,859,862
Assets
$3,773,825
Liabilities
$37,375

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOEL BACH (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOEL BACH (PRESIDENT): $415,038 total reported compensation
  • ANDREW MAGRATTEN (TREASURER AND SECRETARY): $283,720 total reported compensation
  • VERNON CHURCH (MANAGING DIRECTOR): $257,500 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 corporation's charitable and educational purposes are: 1) to generate a sustained emotional connection to the issue of climate change, 2) to galvanize public awareness of climate change, and 3) to promote public and private action to mitigate climate change.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, the years project continued to take action within our stated mandate to move people and businesses to take decisive action on climate change. Our climate action influencer platform, the network, reached more than 375 participants with a combined reach of more than 780 million people. We reached more than 30 million americans with field tested climate messaging as part of our participation in the climate operations room, a collaboration with five other major climate communications organizations. We achieved 34 million targeted impressions within upper management, shareholders and employees of businesses encouraging them to honor their climate commitments achieving a 20-40% attitudinal lift toward proclimate opinions. We continued our collaboration with beyond petrochemicals to create and distribute stories of communities on the frontlines of the fight against polluting industries. We produced seminal videos for columbia business school's climate knowledge initiative about efforts in the concrete, steel amid construction industries to reduce their carbon footprints.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 72
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 64%; rating input score 64
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 60%; rating input score 60; 16th 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -72.9%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.32; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 57.6%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.6% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -6.3% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.5% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 64% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $415K · 11 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 35/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 52/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.