Open Source Ecology
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
OSE teaches collaborative design for a transparent and inclusive economy of abundance. We are currently developing an apprenticeship program for builders to make affordable, ecological housing widely accessible.
- Income
- $689,928
- Spending
- $491,858
- Spent on programs
- 100%
- Reserves
- 12.4 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 84%
- Employees
- 0
- Volunteers
- 100
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Strong: 100 out of 100. Higher than 85% of charities in its peer group (environment, $250k to $1m).
Reserves
35 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 12.4 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 0% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 29% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 166% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 15100% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 0 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Good: 78 out of 100. Higher than 50% of charities in its peer group (environment, $250k to $1m).
Independent board
25 of 255 of 5 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
0 of 7Reports no written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
0 of 5Reports that it does not keep minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Independent check of accounts
6 of 15Its accounts were not audited or reviewed by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (3)
- $314,865 spent. First Program Service Accomplishment - Education and Builder Training This year Open Source Ecology expanded its apprenticeship and builder training efforts through development of the Builder Crash Course and Future Builders Academy programs. Initial recruitment efforts in September faced operational and participation challenges, leading the organization to refine its outreach strategy and produce additional public-facing educational and marketing media. A second recruitment effort resulted in a significantly larger turnout for the December 2025 Builder Crash Course, which hosted approximately 50 participants in a hands-on construction and training program centered around production-ready open-source housing. Following the increased participation and infrastructure strain experienced during the December program, OSE continued substantial investments in educational and operational infrastructure to support future cohorts and scalable training operations. This included construction of the new Rapid Learning Facility and construction of a new 10,000 square foot Hangar with multiple bays dedicated to builder training, fabrication, collaborative work, and hands-on technical education. OSE continued development of curriculum, recruitment systems, collaborative training methods, and operational readiness for future cohorts under the Future Builders Academy framework.
- $155,143 spent. Second Program Service Accomplishment - Open Source Housing Development OSE continued development and demonstration of open-source housing systems through construction, deployment, and market validation of Seed Eco-Home models. During the year, OSE completed construction of its first market-ready production build, the Seed Eco-Home 4, which was placed on the market and entered into a signed sale contract near year-end 2025, though the sale had not yet closed as of the end of the reporting period. OSE also sold one completed Seed Eco-Home 6 residence to a local customer. The purchaser had previously participated in OSE's workshop and training programs, representing the first completed cycle in which a participant was trained through OSE educational programs and subsequently became a customer of the affordable housing model developed through those same programs. This provided an initial demonstration of real market demand and fulfillment within OSE's integrated framework of workforce training, open-source housing development, and affordable housing production. These activities support OSE's exempt educational and charitable mission by developing publicly documented, replicable, and affordable housing models intended for broader public use, workforce education, and scalable community-based housing production. During the year, OSE invested substantially in home construction equipment, facilities infrastructure, construction materials, tools, prototyping, and related operational capacity directly supporting housing production and educational construction activities.
- $21,850 spent. Third Program Service Accomplishment - Open Collaborative Design and Documentation Systems In response to rapidly advancing artificial intelligence capabilities and the increasing feasibility of collaborative design automation, OSE initiated development of open collaborative design and documentation systems intended to make technical knowledge for housing, fabrication, and infrastructure more publicly accessible, reproducible, and scalable. OSE has historically published open-source documentation and technical knowledge as part of its exempt educational mission; however, recent advances in AI-assisted workflow generation, documentation systems, and collaborative design tools substantially lowered the cost and complexity of producing and organizing public technical documentation at scale. During the year, the organization began externalizing internal organizational know-how into publicly usable documentation systems, automated workflows, modular design methodologies, and structured collaborative development processes. This work included early efforts to formalize construction knowledge, design logic, workflow sequencing, and production methods into machine-readable and human-readable systems capable of supporting broader public participation in open-source development. These activities laid the groundwork for the early-stage development of the Iconic CAD platform in 2026, envisioned as an open collaborative design environment for distributed development of housing systems and broader civilization infrastructure. The project is intended to expand public access to open-source technical knowledge, collaborative engineering practices, educational design tools, and interoperable design standards capable of supporting large-scale collaborative problem solving and practical workforce education.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since September 2013.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.