UL Standards & Engagement

Legal name: Ulse Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
301211139
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Evanston, IL, USA
Phone
2247140919
Rating
62
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Consumer Protection

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$92,256,605
Expenses
$71,744,742
Assets
$4,508,329,813
Liabilities
$33,249,475

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • D STEEL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ULSE)

Highest reported compensation

  • R ROBINSON (EVP & CFO - UL SOLUTIONS): $5,600,065 total reported compensation
  • T BRADY (FORMER BOARD MEMBER): $3,788,478 total reported compensation
  • T RIVELLI (SVP, CLO, CORPORATE SECRETARY): $940,567 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

UL Standards & Engagement is a nonprofit safety organization that convenes experts and leaders across the world to deliver impact through standards, education, and advocacy.

What it reported doing in 2024

Ulse inc. (the "organization") develops and publishes consensus standards that help guide the safety and sustainability of new and evolving products, technologies, and services by providing assurance to the public that products are designed, constructed, and tested to withstand demanding, normal-use conditions without presenting risk of danger or injury. Standards are developed through a rigorous, collaborative, and transparent multi-stage process that brings together experts, regulators, industry representatives, and consumers to identify criteria that reflect current scientific knowledge, support innovation, and represent the interests of consumers. Once finalized, the organization publishes its standards online and disseminates them to testing, inspection and certification companies, enabling manufacturers, regulators, and end users to access shared reference points that elevate safety, drive responsible development, and protect communities. In addition to its standards, the organization's educational activities include the publication of news and informational resources authored by engineers, technologists, data scientists, and policy experts to help the public understand evolving safety risks in a rapidly changing technological landscape, thereby empowering communities to make informed decisions, adopt safer practices, and reduce the risk of harm in everyday life.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 62% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 35
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 82
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 32.1%; rating input score 32
  • Program expense ratio: 53.4%; rating input score 53
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 97.3%; rating input score 97; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 22.2%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 62.84; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.1%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.5% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -94.6% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 59.8% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 32.1% of revenue deployed · 53.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $38.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $5.6M · 27 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $11.6M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 39 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 35 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 21 filed related-organization links
  • 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: Mission deployment rate scored 32/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 53/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.