Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Feb 2011.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
88 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
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Who runs it and what they're paid
17 people listed on the 990; $998K paid to officers and key staff.
Karen Cowe’s $217K as CEO is at the 88th percentile of top reported officer pay among 1851 $1–10M environment nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 8 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karen Cowe | $217,412 | $225,044 | $192,280 | $187,934 | $192,005 |
| Jilliann Rodriguez M'Barki | $180,092 | $173,712 | $171,183 | $147,052 | $137,308 |
| Andra Yeghoian | $175,301 | $173,846 | — | — | — |
| Roni Jones | $172,038 | $163,846 | — | — | — |
| Kirk Anne Taylor | — | — | — | $123,148 | $121,731 |
| William Parish | — | — | $73,846 | $120,000 | $109,265 |
| Sarah Whiting Watanabe | $119,423 | — | — | — | — |
| Amy Frame | — | $115,865 | $111,204 | — | — |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
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Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Builds partnerships and strategies for environmental literacy for all California K-12 students.
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Climate change and environmental justice program (ccejp). Ccejp will develop k-12 standards-based curricular resources focused on climate change and environmental justice. The program is led by san mateo county office of education in partnership with the california department of education.
California environmental literacy initiative (caeli) program implementation: led and managed caeli, a collective action network, and caeli's leadership council. Worked to implement a system of support in california that enables all students to have local, standards- and environment-based experiences that enhance their learning inside and…
Environmental and Climate Change Literacy Projects (ecclps)
Partnered with the university of california (uc) and california state university (csu) systems to support ecclps as a member of the executive committee. Ecclps focuses on pre-service and in-service teacher professional learning, research, and building relationships with community-based organizations to support the environmental and…
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2024 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY24 | End FY24 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $96K | $201K |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $5.8M | $4.4M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $345 | $0 |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $6.6M | $5.2M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $3.5M | $2.0M |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $3.2M | $3.2M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $288K | $219K | $27K | $42K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $1.1M | $857K | $106K | $163K |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $55K | $42K | $5K | $8K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $87K | $66K | $8K | $13K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $101K | $77K | $9K | $15K |
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $68K | $53K | $6K | $9K |
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $397K | $395K | $483 | $743 |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $34K | $26K | $3K | $5K |
| TravelLn 17 | $102K | $69K | $13K | $20K |
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $5K | $4K | $460 | $707 |
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $345 | $263 | $32 | $50 |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $11K | $9K | $1K | $2K |
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $1.7M | $1.7M | $2K | $3K |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $4K | $3K | $371 | $570 |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $4.0M | $3.5M | $182K | $281K |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest | $4.4M | $3.8M | $638K | $3.8M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 Viewing | $4.0M | $4.0M | $22K | $3.2M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $4.1M | $4.2M | −$80K | $3.2M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $2.6M | $1.7M | $842K | $3.2M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 | $653K | $1.1M | −$474K | $2.4M | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2024 990 (4 parts)
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $3,989,901 across 7 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $3,968,167 across 14 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $5,199,922 assets, 13 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $3,195,046 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2024 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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